log_transaction
Record a financial transaction in the estate ledger when the user mentions money moving — an expense they paid, income the estate received, a debt payment, or a distribution to an heir. Examples: "I paid $4,200 for the funeral", "the estate got a $1,300 tax refund", "my brother covered the $800 headstone". ALWAYS confirm the amount, what it was for, and (for expenses) who paid before calling. Administration expenses are direction='disbursement'. If someone paid out of pocket, set paid_by='individual' so it's tracked as reimbursable: leave payer_name empty if the user themselves paid, or set payer_name to the person's name if someone else (e.g. a family member who isn't the estate) paid. Records a bookkeeping entry only; does not move money. Duplicate detection is time-limited, so repeating later may add another entry.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| notes | No | Optional free-text note. | |
| amount | Yes | Positive dollar amount (the direction conveys whether it's in or out). | |
| heir_id | No | Optional ID of the heir who received a distribution. | |
| paid_by | No | Only for disbursements. 'individual' means a person paid out of pocket and is owed reimbursement (the user, unless payer_name is given). Defaults to 'estate'. | |
| asset_id | No | Optional ID of a related asset (e.g. sale proceeds from a specific account or property). | |
| category | Yes | For disbursement: funeral, court_fees, attorney_fees, executor_fee, property_maintenance, appraisal, insurance, taxes, debt_payment, other_expense. For receipt: opening_balance (physical cash or funds NOT held in a bank account that's been added as an asset — for a bank account's date-of-death balance, set that asset's date_of_death_value instead (on create_asset when recording the account, or update_asset if it already exists); it flows into the ledger's starting balance automatically), asset_collected (funds brought into the estate from the decedent's holdings, e.g. closing an account or life insurance payable to the estate — but NOT internal transfers between the estate's own accounts), income_dividend, income_interest, income_rent, refund, asset_sale (record the full gross sale price; log payoffs/closing costs as separate disbursements), other_receipt. For distribution: cash_distribution, asset_distribution. | |
| direction | Yes | 'receipt' = money into the estate; 'disbursement' = money out, including expenses and debt payments; 'distribution' = money/assets paid to an heir. | |
| estate_id | Yes | The estate to act on. Call list_my_estates first to get this id. | |
| payer_name | No | Only when paid_by='individual' AND someone other than the user paid (e.g. a family member). The person's name. Omit if the user themselves paid. | |
| document_id | No | Optional ID of a document (e.g. a receipt or invoice the user uploaded) to attach to this transaction as its receipt. The document is treated as a ledger receipt and kept out of the Documents library. | |
| payee_or_source | No | Who was paid (for money out) or the source (for money in), e.g. 'Travis County Clerk' or 'Fidelity dividend'. Optional. | |
| transaction_date | Yes | Date the money moved, as YYYY-MM-DD. |