Trust Distribution Calculator: Equalizing What Each Beneficiary Receives
Enter each beneficiary's share and what they've already received, plus the amount available to distribute now. Get each beneficiary's entitlement, who's ahead or behind, and the exact split of today's distribution that closes the gap as far as the available amount allows.
Free · no signup · runs in your browser — nothing you type leaves your device.
Beneficiaries
One row per beneficiary. Sample figures are filled in — replace them with yours. Shares must add up to 100%.
Who's level, who isn't
- Shares add up to
- Base for shares (received + available)
- —
- Still owed, total
- —
- Available to distribute now
- —
Beneficiary by beneficiary
Keep it, don't recalculate it
Track this all year with Successor Trustee & Trust Administration OS
Successor Trustee OS keeps the full asset inventory, a ledger that keeps principal and income apart, every distribution logged against each beneficiary's share, and a one-click accounting for the beneficiaries — so this leveling math updates automatically instead of getting rebuilt by hand after every distribution. One offline file, no subscription, yours forever — one-time $28.
How the calculator works
Everything is measured against one number: the base, which is everything that has ever been divided among beneficiaries — what they've already received, plus what's available right now.
- Base = total already received across everyone + the amount available now. In the sample: $395,000 + $311,500 + $150,000 already received, plus $33,500 available = $890,000 base.
- Each beneficiary's entitlement = their share % × the base. At a 40% share, Rosa is entitled to $356,000 of that $890,000.
- The gap = entitlement − already received. Rosa received $395,000 against a $356,000 entitlement, so she's $39,000 ahead. Mateo received exactly his $311,500 entitlement — level. Ines received $150,000 against a $222,500 entitlement — $72,500 still owed.
- The $33,500 available now goes to whoever is behind, in proportion to how far behind they are. Here only Ines is behind, so she gets the full $33,500 — still $39,000 short of level, because the amount on hand isn't enough to close her gap. If more than one beneficiary were behind and the available amount couldn't cover both, each would get a share of it proportional to their own shortfall, not an equal split.
- If the available amount is more than everyone behind needs to reach level, each behind beneficiary gets their full gap and the leftover is split by share percentage among everyone — the ordinary rule once nobody is owed a makeup amount.
What it deliberately leaves out
This calculator does not know your trust document's actual terms, state law, or whether an over-distribution should be corrected, reported, or left alone — those are questions for the trust instrument and an attorney, not arithmetic. It also doesn't account for assets that are still titled outside the trust, income versus principal character, or anything the full ledger would track; it only works with the share percentages and received-so-far figures you type in.
Why "ahead" matters more than "behind"
A beneficiary who's behind just hasn't been paid their share yet — ordinary, and this calculator shows exactly what closes it. A beneficiary who's ahead has already received more than their share of everything divided so far, which is the more expensive mistake to catch late, since it usually means money has to come from somewhere else to make the rest of the family whole. That's why the calculator flags "ahead" at all, instead of only tracking shortfalls.
Questions
- What does "entitled" mean here?
- It’s each beneficiary’s share percentage applied to everything that has been divided so far — what they have already received plus what is available right now. It is a running check against their percentage, not a legal calculation of what the trust document actually requires in every circumstance.
- A beneficiary is "ahead" — does the trustee have to claw that money back?
- This calculator only reports the gap; it does not tell you what to do about it. Whether an over-distribution gets corrected from a future share, handled another way, or left alone is a decision for the trust document and an attorney familiar with trust administration in your state, not this page.
- Why doesn’t the available amount fully level everyone?
- Because there usually isn’t enough cash on hand yet to close every gap at once. When that happens, the calculator shrinks each shortfall proportionally rather than pretending a partial payment makes anyone level.
- Do the shares have to add up to 100%?
- Yes — otherwise every number past that point is wrong. The calculator warns you plainly when the shares you entered don’t add up to 100%, so you can fix the percentages before relying on anything below.
- Does anything I type get saved or sent anywhere?
- No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser and stores nothing. Close the tab and it is gone.
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