Question 1

What is trust litigation?

Accepted Answer

Trust litigation is a lawsuit about a trust. In Florida it takes one of two forms, and they are governed by different statutes, proved with different evidence, and run on different clocks. A trust contest. You are challenging how the trust or an amendment was made — undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, or a settlor who lacked capacity. This runs under §736.0406. A breach of trust claim. You are disputing what the trustee has done since — self-dealing, a missing accounting, money that left the trust. This runs under §736.1001 and §736.0802. People search for this in a dozen different ways — how to contest a trust, how to challenge a trust, disputing a trust, suing a trustee, a trust lawsuit. They are the same two fights underneath. The rest of this page answers both, statute by statute.

Question 2

Can a trustee sell trust property without all the beneficiaries approving?

Accepted Answer

Often yes — but not if the trustee is on both sides of the sale. A trustee generally holds the power to sell trust property without a vote of the beneficiaries. What the trustee cannot do is sell it in a way that serves the trustee. §736.0802(1) states the rule plainly: a trustee shall administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries. Subsection (2) is the one that decides cases. A sale or transaction entered into by the trustee "for the trustee's own personal account or which is otherwise affected by a conflict between the trustee's fiduciary and personal interests is voidable by a beneficiary." Voidable by a beneficiary — meaning you can undo it. Not merely complain about it. And subsection (3) does the hardest work for you. The statute presumes a conflict when the trustee transacts with: the trustee's spouse the trustee's descendants, siblings or parents, or their spouses certain affiliated persons and entities So a trustee who sells the family house to their own brother has not merely made a questionable decision. The conflict is presumed, and the transaction is voidable unless the trustee can bring it inside one of the statutory exceptions — the trust

Question 3

Can a trustee go to jail for stealing from a trust?

Accepted Answer

It is possible, but the criminal case is not your case. Charging is a State Attorney's decision, and it turns on proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Your recovery runs through the civil side, and the civil side is far more powerful than most beneficiaries realize. Three tracks, and they stack: Breach of trust. §736.1001 lets the court trace and claw back — see the remedies table below. Civil theft, potentially trebled. Where the conduct amounts to exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult, §772.11 gives a person injured by a violation of §825.103(1), proved "by clear and convincing evidence," a claim for threefold the actual damages — subject to a written pre-suit demand and a 30-day compliance window. Criminal exposure. §825.103 makes exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult a felony graded by value: third degree under $10,000, second degree from $10,000 to under $50,000, first degree at $50,000 or more. The practical order is civil first. Build the civil case, let the criminal referral follow if the facts warrant it. A jail sentence returns nothing to the trust. If a trustee stole money from the trust, the question that matters to you is where the money

Question 4

How do you contest a trust in Florida?

Accepted Answer

Two entirely different attacks, and confusing them costs cases. Contesting how the trust was made. §736.0406: "If the creation, amendment, or restatement of a trust is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence, the trust or any part so procured is void." Three features matter: Amendments and restatements are covered, not just the original trust. The single most common Florida trust contest is not an attack on a twenty-year-old trust — it is a challenge to the suspicious trust amendment signed eleven weeks before the death that moved everything to one child. Only the part so procured is void. The rest survives. You do not have to take down the whole instrument. A procured revocation is also void. If someone pressured the settlor into revoking a trust, that act is attackable on its own. Capacity is a separate ground. §736.0402(1)(a) makes settlor capacity an element of creating a trust at all. A trust or amendment signed by someone who lacked capacity was never validly created — a different argument from undue influence, and often pleaded alongside it. Disputing what the trustee has done since. That is breach of trust, and it runs under §736.1001 and §736.0802

Question 5

How long do you have to contest a trust in Florida?

Accepted Answer

Shorter than almost anyone expects, and the trustee controls when the clock starts. §736.0604 bars an action to contest the validity of a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death unless it is commenced within the earlier of: the time provided in chapter 95; or "Six months after the trustee sent the person a copy of the trust instrument and a notice informing the person of the trust's existence, of the trustee's name and address, and of the time allowed for commencing a proceeding." Three things follow from the way that is written, and each one costs people cases: The trustee is not required to send it. Sending it is optional. What sending it does is shorten your window to six months. A trustee who wants the contest window closed sends the packet early — and a beneficiary who files it away has six months from the day it went out. It runs from sending, not receipt. Compare §736.1008 below, which runs from receipt. Two clocks, two different triggers, on the same page of the same statute book. The bar runs to the earlier date. Chapter 95 is the outer limit, never an extension. If a packet containing a trust instrument and a notice has arrived, the date on it is the most

Question 6

Is a no-contest clause enforceable in a Florida trust?

Accepted Answer

No. Florida is one of the states that will not enforce a penalty clause for contest. §736.1108(1): "A provision in a trust instrument purporting to penalize any interested person for contesting the trust instrument or instituting other proceedings relating to a trust estate or trust assets is unenforceable." One limitation worth knowing. Subsection (2) applies the rule to trusts created on or after October 1, 1993 — and "a revocable trust shall be treated as created when the right of revocation terminates," which for most people means the settlor's death. In practice that puts nearly every modern Florida revocable trust inside the rule. So the in terrorem clause your sibling is waving at you — the one that says you forfeit your share if you contest the trust — is very probably unenforceable. In Florida you can challenge a trust without losing your share to the clause that threatens it. It is still worth reading before you file, because the clause's existence tells you something about who drafted the trust and why.

Question 7

How much does a trustee get paid?

Accepted Answer

More than beneficiaries expect, and it is challengeable. Where the trust says nothing, §736.0708 entitles a trustee to "compensation that is reasonable under the circumstances." There is no fixed percentage in the statute. Where the trust does specify an amount, the court may still adjust it if: "the duties of the trustee are substantially different from those contemplated when the trust was created," or "the compensation specified by the terms of the trust would be unreasonably low or high." That second ground is the one that gets used. A trustee taking a percentage fee on a trust holding a single house, and doing almost nothing, is taking compensation a court can reduce. And under §736.1001 the court can reduce or deny compensation entirely as a remedy for breach — which is often the fastest money back into a trust.

Question 8

Can a trustee also be a beneficiary?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is extremely common — the eldest child is named both trustee and beneficiary. Florida does not prohibit it. What it does is put that person in permanent tension with §736.0802(1), the duty to administer "solely in the interests of the beneficiaries" — all of them, not just the one in the chair. Where that combination produces litigation: Distributions. The trustee-beneficiary takes distributions and finds reasons the others must wait. Occupancy. The trustee-beneficiary lives in the trust's house rent-free while the other beneficiaries wait for a sale. Purchases. The trustee-beneficiary buys trust property — self-dealing under §736.0802(2), voidable. Fees. The trustee-beneficiary pays themselves a trustee fee and takes their share. None of these is automatically improper. All of them are worth an accounting.

Question 9

What is a successor trustee?

Accepted Answer

The person or institution who takes over when the original trustee dies, resigns, or is removed. In most Florida revocable trusts, the settlor is their own trustee while alive, and the successor trustee steps in at death — which is the moment nearly every trust dispute actually begins. Three things a successor trustee owes you from the moment they accept, under §736.0813: Within 60 days of accepting, notice of the acceptance and their name and address. Within 60 days of the trust becoming irrevocable, notice of its existence, the settlor's identity, and your right to request a copy of the trust instrument. A trust accounting at least annually, on termination, and on a change of trustee. A successor trustee who has not told you the trust exists is already in breach of the statute's opening sentence: "The trustee shall keep the qualified beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration."

Question 10

What happens when cotrustees disagree?

Accepted Answer

§736.0703(1) is short: "Cotrustees who are unable to reach a unanimous decision may act by majority decision." If a vacancy occurs, the remaining cotrustees — or a majority of them — may act for the trust. What the statute does not do is break a tie. Two cotrustees who split evenly have no majority, and §736.0703 supplies no answer. A genuine co-trustee deadlock is resolved in court, either by a proceeding for instructions under §736.0201 or by removing one of them — and note that "lack of cooperation among cotrustees that substantially impairs the administration of the trust" is its own removal ground under §736.0706. Two more subsections matter if you are the cotrustee being outvoted. A cotrustee who does not join in an action is not liable for it, and a dissenting cotrustee who goes along with a majority decision but notifies the others of the dissent is protected. But every cotrustee must "use reasonable care to prevent a cotrustee from committing a serious breach of trust" and to compel redress if one occurs. Staying quiet is not a defense.

Question 11

Can a trustee change a trust?

Accepted Answer

Generally no. A trustee administers the trust; they do not rewrite it. The power to amend belongs to the settlor, and only while the trust is revocable. Where beneficiaries get confused — and where real disputes hide: A trust amendment signed near the end of the settlor's life is not the trustee changing the trust. It is the settlor doing so, and it is attackable under §736.0406 if procured by undue influence. Decanting, judicial modification, or termination by agreement or court order are real mechanisms — but they are not the trustee acting alone on their own authority. See the next section. A trustee exercising discretion — deciding whether to distribute — is not changing the trust, though it can be a breach if exercised in bad faith or for the trustee's own benefit. If a trustee tells you the trust "was changed" and cannot produce the signed instrument that changed it, that is the whole case.

Question 12

Can a trust be fixed instead of fought over?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes, and it is worth asking before anyone files. Florida gives four routes that are cheaper than litigation and are not trust contests at all. Trust reformation. §736.0415 lets a court reform the terms of a trust "even if unambiguous" to conform them to the settlor's intent — but only on clear and convincing evidence that a mistake of fact or law affected both the settlor's intent and the terms. The court may consider evidence that contradicts the plain meaning of the document. Judicial modification. Trust modification by court order. §736.04113 permits a trustee or a qualified beneficiary — not any interested person — to ask a court to modify or terminate an irrevocable trust where its purposes have become "illegal, impossible, wasteful, or impracticable to fulfill," where unanticipated circumstances would defeat a material purpose, or where a material purpose no longer exists. Decanting. §736.04117 lets an "authorized trustee" — one who is neither the settlor nor a beneficiary — pour the assets of one trust into a second trust with better terms. It requires written notice to all qualified beneficiaries at least 60 days before it takes effect, with copies of

Question 13

Is a trustee the same as an executor?

Accepted Answer

No. Different appointment, different oversight, different court involvement — and in Florida the words are different too. Personal representative (what most people call the executor) Trustee Governed by Florida Probate Code, Chapters 731–735 Florida Trust Code, Chapter 736 Appointed by The court, in an open probate case The trust document, usually with no court involvement Supervised by The probate court throughout Nobody, unless a beneficiary goes to court Handles Assets that pass under the will Assets titled in the trust Accounting Filed with the court Sent to beneficiaries, not filed That third row is the one that matters. A trustee operates with no automatic oversight at all. No judge reviews their accounting unless a beneficiary brings it to one. That is why trust abuse frequently runs for years before anyone notices, and why the duty-to-inform rules in §736.0813 do so much work. The same person is often both — trustee of the trust and personal representative of the estate. That is legal, and it doubles the places a conflict can arise.

Question 14

Does a trustee own the trust property?

Accepted Answer

Legally yes, beneficially no, and the distinction is the entire foundation of trust law. The trustee holds legal title — their name is on the deed, on the account. The beneficiaries hold equitable title — the benefit. The trustee is holding it for you. Which is why "it's in my name" is not a defense to anything. A trustee whose name is on the account and who spends from it has not exercised ownership; they have committed a breach of trust, and every remedy in §736.1001 is available.

Question 15

Is breach of fiduciary duty a crime?

Accepted Answer

Usually not by itself. Breach of trust is a civil wrong. It becomes criminal when the conduct also amounts to theft or elder exploitation — see §825.103 above. But civil does not mean toothless, and this is the section beneficiaries most need to see. Under §736.1001(2), to remedy a breach of trust that has occurred or may occur, the court may: # Remedy 1 Compel the trustee to perform the trustee's duties 2 Enjoin the trustee from committing a breach of trust 3 Compel redress — by paying money or restoring property 4 Order the trustee to account 5 Appoint a special fiduciary to take possession of the trust property and administer the trust 6 Suspend the trustee 7 Remove the trustee under §736.0706 8 Reduce or deny compensation to the trustee 9 Void an act, impose a lien or constructive trust, or trace trust property wrongfully disposed of 10 Order any other appropriate relief Read remedies 5, 6 and 9 together. A court can take the trust away from the trustee, hand it to a neutral, and trace the money into whatever it was turned into — a car, a condo, another account. "It's already spent" is not the end of the conversation.

Question 16

What is a surcharge action against a trustee?

Accepted Answer

Surcharge is the word Florida practitioners use for making a trustee pay the trust back personally. It is remedy 3 in the table above, and §736.1002 supplies the measure. A trustee who commits a breach of trust "is liable for the greater of": "The amount required to restore the value of the trust property and trust distributions to what they would have been if the breach had not occurred, including lost income, capital gain, or appreciation that would have resulted from proper administration"; or "The profit the trustee made by reason of the breach." Two points that change how a case is valued. First, the measure is not simply what left the trust — it is what the trust would have been worth, including the appreciation a properly managed asset would have produced. A house sold below market in 2019 is measured against what it would be worth now. Second, where several people are liable, §736.1002 provides for pro rata contribution among them — but there is no contribution for anyone "who committed the breach of trust in bad faith."

Question 17

What do you do if the trustee has already spent the money?

Accepted Answer

You trace it. This is the single most common thing beneficiaries assume is hopeless and is not. Remedy 9 in §736.1001(2) lets a court "impose a lien or a constructive trust on trust property, trace trust property wrongfully disposed of and recover the property or its proceeds." Money that left the trust and became a boat is still recoverable as the boat. Money that went into a third party's account can be followed there, subject to the protections that innocent purchasers get. Combined with §736.1002's damages measure and remedy 8 — reducing or denying the trustee's compensation — the practical answer is that "there is nothing left" is a claim to test, not a fact to accept. What determines whether tracing works is records, and records is why the accounting fight below usually comes first.

Question 18

What are your rights as a beneficiary of a Florida trust?

Accepted Answer

More than most beneficiaries are ever told. §736.0813 opens with a duty, not a discretion: "The trustee shall keep the qualified beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration." The term qualified beneficiary is defined in §736.0103 and is narrower than "beneficiary." It means a living beneficiary who, on the date qualification is determined, is a distributee or permissible distributee of income or principal — or would be one if the current interests terminated, or if the trust terminated by its terms that day. If you are a remainder beneficiary who takes only after your parent dies, read that definition closely; you may well be inside it. Concretely, you are entitled to: Notice within 60 days of the trustee accepting the trust — name and address. Notice within 60 days of the trust becoming irrevocable — its existence, the settlor's identity, and your right to request a copy of the trust instrument. A copy of the trust instrument, on request. A trust accounting at least annually, on termination, and whenever the trustee changes. Relevant information about the assets and liabilities and the particulars of administration. A trustee who

Question 19

What if the trustee refuses to give you an accounting?

Accepted Answer

You file. This is the most common first move in Florida trust litigation and the cheapest one. The trust accounting is not a courtesy. §736.0813 requires it annually, on termination, and on a change of trustee. When a trustee will not produce one — or produces something that is not an accounting at all — remedy 4 in §736.1001(2) lets the court "order the trustee to account," and remedy 1 lets the court compel performance of the trustee's duties generally. What a petition to compel a trust accounting does, beyond producing the document: It creates a record. A trustee who refuses a court-ordered accounting is demonstrating the third removal ground in §736.0706 — persistent failure to administer effectively. It starts the tracing. You cannot follow money you cannot see. It is narrow. A beneficiary asking for what the statute already requires is not launching a trust contest, and the trustee cannot characterize it as one. The same is true of a trustee who is not communicating with beneficiaries at all — no accounting, no answers, no distributions. A written demand for an accounting, sent and dated, is the document that turns silence into a removal ground.

Question 20

How do you remove a trustee in Florida?

Accepted Answer

§736.0706 — the settlor, a cotrustee or a beneficiary may ask the court to remove a trustee, and the court may also act on its own initiative. Four grounds: A serious breach of trust. Lack of cooperation among cotrustees that substantially impairs the administration. Unfitness, unwillingness, or persistent failure to administer effectively, where removal best serves the beneficiaries' interests. A substantial change of circumstances, or removal requested by all qualified beneficiaries — where removal serves all beneficiaries, is not inconsistent with a material purpose of the trust, and a suitable successor is available. Note the third ground. "Persistent failure to administer effectively" does not require dishonesty. A trustee who is simply not doing the job — no accountings, no distributions, no answers — is removable on that basis alone. And note the fourth. Where all qualified beneficiaries agree and a suitable successor exists, trustee removal does not require proving misconduct at all.

Question 21

How long do you have to sue a trustee?

Accepted Answer

This is the clock that quietly kills Florida trust claims. §736.1008 bars a beneficiary from suing for breach of trust over any matter "adequately disclosed in a trust disclosure document" unless the proceeding is commenced within six months after receipt. Read that again with the emphasis where it belongs: receipt, not discovery. Not when you understood it. Not when you had it reviewed. Six months from the day it landed. An accounting that discloses a questionable transaction, sent with a proper limitation notice, starts a six-month fuse on that transaction. Filing it in a drawer does not stop the clock. Beneficiaries routinely lose good claims this way — not because the claim was weak, but because the paperwork was received and never read. Read every accounting the week it arrives, and if anything in it is unclear, ask that week. Two clocks, not one. §736.1008 governs breach-of-trust claims and runs from your receipt of a disclosure document. §736.0604 above governs trust contests and runs from the trustee's sending of the instrument and notice. A case can be inside one and outside the other. Neither is the ordinary statute of limitations. Both are shortening provisions

Question 22

Can you sue a trustee personally?

Accepted Answer

For breach of trust, yes — that is what a surcharge action is, and §736.1002 measures it against the trustee, not the trust. The section people misread is §736.1013, "Limitation on personal liability of trustee." It protects a trustee from third parties — a contractor, a tort claimant — where the trustee properly disclosed the fiduciary capacity, and it makes a trustee personally liable for torts or for obligations arising from control of trust property "only if the trustee is personally at fault." It is not a shield against beneficiaries. A trustee who cites §736.1013 in response to a beneficiary's surcharge claim is citing the wrong statute. Subsection (4) says so directly: issues of liability between the trust estate and the trustee individually may be determined "in a proceeding for accounting, surcharge, or indemnification."

Question 23

Can you be the trustee of your own irrevocable trust?

Accepted Answer

Frequently the answer is that you can, and frequently it is a bad idea — and in Florida trust litigation it shows up as the reason a trust failed to do what it was set up for. Where a settlor keeps too much control over an irrevocable trust, the protective purposes it was created for — creditor protection, tax treatment, Medicaid planning — can be undermined. Whether that has happened is a document-and-conduct question, not a label question. For litigation purposes, the relevant point is narrower: a settlor-trustee is still a trustee, and every duty in Chapter 736 applies to them — loyalty under §736.0802, the duty to inform and account under §736.0813, and exposure to every remedy in §736.1001. For the planning-stage version of this question — and what § 736.0505(1)(b) means before a dispute starts — see choosing a trustee in Florida.

Question 24

What is a spendthrift trust, and can creditors reach it?

Accepted Answer

A spendthrift trust is one whose terms stop a beneficiary from giving away or borrowing against their interest, and stop creditors from seizing it before it is paid out. §736.0502(1) sets a strict test: "A spendthrift provision is valid only if the provision restrains both voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary's interest." A clause that restrains only one is not a valid spendthrift provision. Subsection (2) supplies the shortcut — saying the interest is "held subject to a spendthrift trust, or words of similar import" is enough to restrain both. Where a spendthrift clause is valid, subsection (3) means a creditor "may not reach the interest or a distribution by the trustee before receipt of the interest or distribution by the beneficiary." Once the money is in the beneficiary's hands, it is fair game. The exceptions. §736.0503(2) makes a spendthrift clause unenforceable against a beneficiary's child, spouse or former spouse holding a support or maintenance judgment; a judgment creditor who provided services protecting the beneficiary's interest in the trust; and claims of the state or the United States where a statute so provides. Those exceptions are narrower

Question 25

What is a corporate trustee, and can you remove one?

Accepted Answer

A bank or trust company serving as trustee. They bring recordkeeping and neutrality, and they bring fee schedules and slow decisions. They are removable on exactly the same grounds as an individual — §736.0706 does not distinguish. In practice the two arguments that work against a corporate trustee are the fourth ground (substantial change of circumstances, all qualified beneficiaries agreeing, suitable successor available) and, on compensation, §736.0708's "unreasonably high" standard.

Question 26

How do you choose a trustee?

Accepted Answer

The question this office sees most often is the reverse — how do you undo a bad choice — but the litigation record points at the same three answers every time: Do not name a beneficiary who is in conflict with the others unless the trust says clearly how that conflict resolves. Name a successor, and a successor to the successor. A vacancy is its own expensive proceeding. Say what the compensation is. §736.0708 defaults to "reasonable," and "reasonable" is what gets litigated. Planning side: if you are choosing a trustee rather than trying to remove one, see our full guide to how to choose a trustee in Florida.

Question 27

Who pays for trust litigation in Florida?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes the trust. Sometimes the losing party. Sometimes you, out of your own share. §736.1004 is the fee statute, and it reaches two categories: actions for breach of fiduciary duty or challenging a trustee's exercise of (or failure to exercise) their powers, and proceedings arising under §§736.0410–736.0417. In those, the court "shall award taxable costs as in chancery actions, including attorney fees and guardian ad litem fees." Two qualifications matter more than the word "shall." "As in chancery actions" imports equitable discretion. Florida courts do not read this as a guaranteed fee award in every case. Anyone who tells you a fee recovery is automatic is overselling it. Where the money comes from is discretionary too. Subsection (2) lets the court "direct payment from a party's interest, if any, in the trust or enter a judgment that may be satisfied from other property of the party, or both." A beneficiary who litigates badly can end up paying out of their own share. The fee hook is also narrower than the whole field — it is not a general trust-litigation fee statute, and a trust contest under §736.0406 is not on the list. Contingency. Some Florida trust cases can

Question 28

What does trust litigation cost, and how long does it take?

Accepted Answer

It depends on whether the fight is about the document (§736.0406 — how the trust or amendment was made) or the conduct (§736.1001 and §736.0802 — what the trustee has done). Conduct cases turn on records; document cases turn on witnesses and medical history. What drives the number: how many years of accountings must be reconstructed, and whether the trustee kept any whether trust assets include Florida real property, a closely held business, or out-of-state accounts whether the trustee is also a beneficiary — which merges two disputes into one whether a guardianship or power of attorney ran alongside the trust whether the six-month bar in §736.1008 is in play for some transactions and not others What you will not read here is an estimate of your odds. Rule 4-7.13 prohibits promises about outcomes, and no honest lawyer prices a case they have not seen.

Question 29

How do most Florida trust disputes actually end?

Accepted Answer

In writing, before trial. That is not a softener — it is what the Trust Code is built to encourage. §736.0111 lets interested persons enter a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement "with respect to any matter involving a trust," and the listed subjects cover most of what people actually fight about: construction of the trust's terms, approval of a trustee's report or accounting, a trustee's resignation or appointment, a trustee's compensation, transfer of the principal place of administration, and the liability of a trustee for an action relating to the trust. The limit is the one worth quoting: an NJSA "is valid only to the extent the terms and conditions could be properly approved by the court," and may not be used "to produce a result not authorized by other provisions of this code." Any interested person may ask the court to approve or disapprove one. Court-ordered mediation resolves a further share. Cases that go the distance are usually the ones where a trustee will not produce records, which is why the accounting fight above is where leverage is built.

Question 30

Where is a Florida trust lawsuit filed?

Accepted Answer

In circuit court, and Florida gives you more than one correct county. §736.0201 provides that judicial proceedings concerning trusts are commenced by filing a complaint and are governed by the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, and that "a trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless ordered by the court." A trust case is a civil case, not a supervised probate administration. The same section lists what a court can be asked to do, and not all of it is adversarial. Alongside removal of a trustee, review of fees and settling accounts, §736.0201 covers proceedings for trust construction, for instructions, and for declaratory relief — the route for a beneficiary who needs a term interpreted rather than a trustee punished. §736.0204 is the venue statute — not §736.0201 or §736.0202, which are frequently miscited for this. Venue "may be laid in" any of three places: any county where venue is proper under chapter 47; any county where the beneficiary suing or being sued resides or has its principal place of business; or the county where the trust has its principal place of administration. These are alternatives, not a hierarchy — which is why the county table

Question 31

Can you handle this if you live out of state or overseas?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A large share of Florida trust litigation is brought by beneficiaries who do not live here — adult children in New York, siblings in Bogotá or Caracas, a remainder beneficiary in Madrid, while the trust's real property and the trustee sit in South Florida. You do not need to be in Florida to be a party. §736.0204 lets venue be laid where the trust is administered, and an out-of-state beneficiary is represented here in the ordinary way. Documents are exchanged electronically, hearings are frequently remote, and the consultation happens by phone or video in English or Spanish. What does require attention is where the trust's principal place of administration actually is, and whether trust assets sit in more than one state. That question is worth asking on the first call, because it decides which court hears the case.

Question 32

What does "trust litigation specialist" mean in Florida?

Accepted Answer

It is a regulated term. The Florida Bar certifies in Wills, Trusts and Estates, and Rule 4-7.14 permits specialist or expert only where the claim is objectively verifiable — by that certification, or by the lawyer's training, record and substantial involvement in the area. What is verifiable about this office: Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002, licensed and in active practice in Florida since 2005. Anyone can confirm it free in The Florida Bar's member directory. Practice concentrated in probate, wills, trusts and the transfer of Florida real property. Solo practice: the same person answers the phone, files the petition and appears in court. The trust litigator who takes your call is the one who tries the case. Service in English and Spanish, in all 67 Florida counties. What you will not read here is that this is the best trust litigation law firm in Florida. Rule 4-7.13 prohibits unsupported comparisons.

County	Circuit	Page	What that county turns on
Miami-Dade	Eleventh	Miami probate litigation attorney	Ancillary administration, foreign families, §733.304 qualification
Broward	Seventeenth	Fort Lauderdale probate litigation attorney	Fee objections, the elective share, Local Rule 10A
Palm Beach (north)	Fifteenth	West Palm Beach probate litigation attorney	Five clerk locations, the P.O. Box 4667 will rule
Palm Beach (south)	Fifteenth	Boca Raton probate litigation attorney	Domicile fights, part-year residents, ancillary probate
Hillsborough	Thirteenth	Tampa probate litigation attorney	Acknowledgment of venue, no e-filing of original wills
Pinellas & Pasco	Sixth	Pinellas County probate litigation attorney	Two counties, two clerks, §825.1035 injunctions
Orange & Osceola	Ninth	Orlando probate litigation attorney	Trust administration for relocated retirees, out-of-state successor trustees
Duval	Fourth	Jacksonville probate litigation lawyer	Corporate trustees, trustee malfeasance claims against institutions
Sarasota & Manatee	Twelfth	Sarasota probate attorney	Seasonal residents, domicile, multi-state trust assets
Monroe (the Keys)	Sixteenth	Florida probate litigation	Islamorada and Key West real property held in trust, remote hearings

Florida trust litigation attorney