Free Download · Florida Trusts
Just became successor trustee of a Florida trust?
Here is what to do first.
A free, plain-English kit for Florida successor trustees: the first steps, the notices the law requires, and how to avoid the mistakes that turn a family trust into a family lawsuit.
If your parent or spouse just died with a revocable living trust, the trust made you successor trustee the moment they passed. Nobody swears you in and no court supervises you, but Florida law still hands you real duties with real deadlines, and getting them wrong can make you personally responsible. This free kit lays out what to do, in order, under Florida law.
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What is inside
- The first 30 days as successor trustee: what to secure, order, and leave alone
- The certification of trust under Fla. Stat. 736.1017, so banks release accounts without handing out the whole trust
- The notices Florida law requires you to send qualified beneficiaries, including the 6-month limitations notice that protects you from late trust contests
- A trust inventory and record-keeping system that satisfies your accounting duties
- How to handle the decedent’s debts, taxes, and final expenses without paying out of your own pocket
- The homestead question: what to do when the family home is titled in the trust, and when it is not
- When a trust still needs probate (pour-over wills and left-out assets), the mistakes that make trustees personally liable, and when to bring in an attorney
A look inside: the first steps
A sample straight from the kit, no email required.
Order at least 10 certified copies of the death certificate. Banks, brokerages, title companies, and life insurers will each want one.
Locate the original trust, every amendment, and the will. Do not write on them, remove staples, or let anyone borrow the originals.
Secure trust property. Keep insurance in force, change locks if the home is vacant, and pay only the bills that protect trust assets.
Do not distribute anything to beneficiaries yet, not even keepsakes. Required notices, debts, and expenses come first, and early distributions can come out of your own pocket.
What Florida law expects from a successor trustee
Your first paperwork job is a certification of trust under Fla. Stat. 736.1017. It is a short document that proves to banks and title companies that the trust exists and you are the trustee, without handing them the full trust and everyone’s inheritance details. Most institutions will not release accounts without it.
Then come the notices. Under Fla. Stat. 736.0813, you must tell the qualified beneficiaries, generally the people currently entitled to distributions and those next in line, that the trust exists, who the settlor was, that you are serving as trustee, and that they may request a copy of the trust. That notice is due within 60 days. You can also serve the limitations notice under Fla. Stat. 736.0604, which generally gives recipients 6 months to contest the validity of the trust. Served correctly, it converts an open-ended risk of a lawsuit into a fixed window that closes.
From there the job is bookkeeping with legal consequences. You must inventory the trust assets, keep them separate from your own money, keep clear records, and provide beneficiaries a reasonably informative trust accounting. You pay the decedent’s legitimate debts, final expenses, and taxes from trust funds, never your own, and you do not distribute until you know those obligations are covered. Distribute early and a shortfall can land on you personally.
Two Florida wrinkles catch trustees off guard. First, the homestead: even when the family home was deeded into the trust, Florida’s homestead rules can control who gets it and protect it from most creditors, so treat the house as its own legal question before you sell or transfer it. Second, a trust does not always avoid probate. If any asset was left outside the trust, the pour-over will moves it into the trust, but only through a probate case. Many trust administrations run alongside a small probate for exactly that reason.
When should you hire an attorney? At minimum, when there is a house, a business, a blended family, an unhappy beneficiary, or any asset left outside the trust. Reasonable attorney fees are a proper trust administration expense, so getting advice does not come out of your inheritance or your pocket.
Rated 4.8 stars across 53 client reviews. Trust administration here is quoted per matter after a free call, so you know the cost before you commit. And it is administered by an attorney who litigates trust disputes, so problems get spotted before they become lawsuits. See our pricing for how the firm charges across estate work.
Sorting out trust versus probate?
The kit pairs with the free resources on this site. If some assets were left outside the trust, the Florida probate timeline shows what that side of the process looks like, and the probate cost estimator shows what it may cost. Still deciding how an estate plan should be structured for your own family? Start with trust vs. will and the estate planning and probate practice page.
Common questions
What does a successor trustee have to do first in Florida?
Get certified death certificates, take control of the original trust documents, and secure trust assets. Florida law then requires you to notify the qualified beneficiaries within 60 days that the trust exists, who the trustee is, and that they may request a copy. The kit walks through each step in order.
Does a living trust avoid probate in Florida?
Usually, for the assets that were actually titled in the trust. Anything left outside it, a car, an old bank account, a forgotten brokerage account, may still need probate through the pour-over will. The kit shows how to spot those assets early.
What is the 6-month notice I keep hearing about?
After the settlor dies, a Florida trustee can serve beneficiaries with a copy of the trust and a formal notice under Fla. Stat. 736.0604. Once served, a person generally has 6 months to contest the validity of the trust. Serving it correctly starts that clock and protects the trustee from late challenges.
Can I be personally liable as trustee?
Yes. Trustees who distribute before debts and expenses are handled, favor themselves or one beneficiary, skip required notices, or fail to keep records can be personally responsible for the loss. Florida courts hold trustees to a fiduciary standard, which is why the kit is built around a paper trail.
Do I need an attorney to administer a Florida trust?
Not always, but most successor trustees hire one, and Florida law lets the trust pay reasonable attorney fees as an administration expense. We quote trust administration per matter after a free call, so you know the cost before you commit.
Paul Kogan
Fort Lauderdale Litigation Attorney, The Kogan Firm, P.A.
- 17+ years
- Florida Bar
- Martindale Peer Rated
Trust Administration, Handled
Let us take the trustee job off your shoulders.
Tell us what happened in a free 15-minute call at (954) 281-8888, or book online. We will tell you what the trust requires, whether any probate is needed, and quote the work per matter before you commit.
This kit is general information about Florida law and does not constitute legal advice. Downloading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Trust administration duties and deadlines turn on the specific terms of each trust and the facts of each family, so confirm your situation with an attorney before acting.