Guide · Trust Administration
Florida trust
administration.
No judge is watching, which is the advantage. It is also why the trustee carries the exposure personally.
Short answer
When the settlor of a revocable trust dies, the successor trustee takes over under Chapter 736, the Florida Trust Code. The job: secure the assets, file a notice of trust with the court in the settlor’s county, keep the qualified beneficiaries informed and accounted to, handle the settlor’s creditors and final taxes, and distribute per the document. It usually runs 4 to 12 months. No court supervises it, and a trustee who gets it wrong is exposed personally.
People agree to serve as successor trustee the way they agree to be a groomsman. It sounds like an honor, the person asking is someone they love, and the request arrives years before the work does. Then the settlor dies and the role turns out to be a fiduciary office with statutory duties and personal liability attached.
The good news is that trust administration is genuinely faster, cheaper, and more private than probate. The catch is that the absence of court supervision cuts both ways. Nobody is checking your work, and nobody is protecting you either.
At a glance
- Governing law
- Chapter 736
- Notice of trust
- Filed with the court
- Duty to inform
- Qualified beneficiaries
- Typical timeline
- 4 to 12 months
- Court supervision
- None by default
- Trustee exposure
- Personal
the Florida Trust Code
in the county of the settlor’s domicile
notice on accepting, then accountings
faster than probate, not instant
which is the point, and the risk
breach of duty is not covered by the trust
What the job actually consists of
Accept, then locate and secure everything
Acceptance makes you a fiduciary, so do it deliberately rather than by drifting into the role. Then inventory what the trust actually holds. Assets the settlor never retitled into the trust are not trust assets, and finding them is what determines whether a probate has to be opened alongside the trust administration. This is the single most common surprise: a trust that was drafted well and funded incompletely.
File the notice of trust
On the settlor’s death, Florida requires a notice of trust be filed with the court in the county of the settlor’s domicile. It is a short document, it is easy to overlook because nothing else about trust administration involves a courthouse, and it exists so the estate’s creditors can find the trust. Skipping it does not make the trust private; it makes the trustee look evasive later.
Inform the qualified beneficiaries and keep accounting
Chapter 736 imposes an affirmative duty to keep qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed, beginning with notice of the trust’s existence and of your acceptance shortly after you take the role, and continuing with accountings. Trustees who go quiet, even honest ones administering a clean trust, generate most of the litigation we see. Beneficiaries who are told nothing assume the worst and hire someone.
Deal with the settlor’s creditors and taxes
A revocable trust does not shield the settlor’s assets from the settlor’s creditors at death. The trustee may have to contribute toward enforceable claims and the expenses of estate administration. Final income tax returns are filed, the trust obtains its own taxpayer identification number once it becomes irrevocable, and a fiduciary income tax return may be required.
Distribute according to the document, not according to consensus
Your obligation runs to the terms of the trust, not to what the family agrees would be fairer. Distributions to a subtrust get made, ongoing trusts for minors or spendthrift beneficiaries get funded and administered, and receipts are obtained. Where the document is ambiguous, the fix is a construction proceeding or a properly documented non-judicial settlement, not a handshake.
The unfunded trust problem
The most common thing we find on day one is a trust that does not hold what everyone assumed it held. The settlor signed a well-drafted document and then never retitled the brokerage account, or refinanced the house and the lender put it back in their individual name, or opened a new bank account after the plan was done.
Whatever was left outside the trust does not pass under it. If enough was, a probate has to be opened alongside the trust administration, and the family gets both the cost they were trying to avoid and the trust they paid for. Check titling before you tell beneficiaries anything about timing. Our trust vs will guide covers why funding is the step that actually determines whether a trust works.
Where trustees get sued
Overwhelmingly for two things: silence and self-dealing. Self-dealing is obvious and most people avoid it. Silence is not obvious at all, and it is where ordinary, well-meaning trustees end up defending claims. A trustee who is busy, grieving, and not naturally a communicator stops responding to a beneficiary’s emails for a few months. The beneficiary concludes something is being hidden. By the time the accounting arrives, positions have hardened and there is a lawyer on the other side.
Chapter 736’s duty to keep qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed is not a formality; it is the cheapest litigation insurance available to a trustee. Send the notices, send the accountings, answer the questions in writing.
When the trust is contested
Trusts are challenged on grounds that will look familiar from will contests: capacity, undue influence, fraud, and improper execution. The limitations period for contesting a revocable trust can be triggered by the trustee serving a proper notice, which converts an open-ended exposure into a defined window. If the family situation is tense, that notice should go out early and correctly, because it is what eventually lets a trustee distribute and close without looking over their shoulder.
Should you serve at all?
A fair question, and the answer is sometimes no. If the beneficiaries are already fighting, if the trust holds a business or property you cannot realistically manage, or if you would be both trustee and a beneficiary in a way that puts you in conflict, declining or resigning in favor of a professional trustee can be the responsible choice. Our free Florida Trustee’s Kit walks through the first thirty days if you do serve.
Trust administration, common questions
Does a trust avoid probate entirely?
Only for the assets actually titled in it. A funded revocable trust passes what it holds without court involvement, which is the whole point. Anything the settlor left in their own name with no beneficiary designated still has to be probated, which is why families frequently run a trust administration and a probate at the same time. Funding is what determines this, and it is the step most often left half-done.
How long does Florida trust administration take?
Commonly 4 to 12 months. It is faster than probate because there is no court calendar and no three-month creditor claim period to sit through, but it is not instant. Real property has to be transferred, tax returns filed, creditors of the settlor addressed, and accountings prepared. A trust holding only marketable securities and a bank account can finish much faster.
What is a notice of trust and do I really have to file it?
It is a short filing made with the court in the county where the settlor lived, recording that the trust exists and that the trustee is administering it. Yes, file it. It is the one point of contact between an otherwise private administration and the court system, and its absence is the kind of thing that gets raised against a trustee later even when the administration was otherwise clean.
What are my duties to the beneficiaries?
Loyalty, impartiality among beneficiaries, prudent administration, keeping trust property separate from your own, and keeping qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed, including accountings. In practice the informing duty is where trustees get into trouble. Silence is read as concealment, and a beneficiary who cannot get answers will eventually go get a lawyer to ask for them.
Can a trustee be held personally liable?
Yes, and this is the point people underestimate when they agree to serve. A trustee who self-deals, commingles funds, invests imprudently, favors one beneficiary, or distributes before addressing the settlor’s creditors can be surcharged personally. The trust’s assets are not a shield for the trustee’s own breach. Serving as trustee for a family member is a real legal exposure, not a courtesy.
How long does someone have to challenge the trust?
Shorter than most people assume, and the trustee can shorten it further. An action contesting the validity of a revocable trust is subject to a limitations period that can be triggered by the trustee sending a proper notice to the beneficiary, which starts a months-long window rather than a years-long one. Sending that notice correctly and early is one of the most valuable things a trustee can do to bring finality.
Keep reading
Paul Kogan
Fort Lauderdale Litigation Attorney, The Kogan Firm, P.A.
- 17+ years
- Florida Bar
- Martindale Peer Rated
Serving as Trustee
You do not have to do this alone.
We represent successor trustees through administration, from the notice of trust through final distribution, and we defend trustees when beneficiaries challenge them. A free 15-minute call will tell you what the job involves here.
This guide is general information about Florida trust administration and does not constitute legal advice. Trustee duties and deadlines are fact-specific and depend on the terms of the particular trust.