Florida trust litigation attorney
A trust litigation attorney is who you need when a trust is being fought over rather than simply administered — a trustee who will not account, a trust amendment signed weeks before a death, money moving out of the trust and into someone else’s name.
Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. handles contested trust matters in all 67 Florida counties, in English and in Spanish. The initial consultation is free.
Updated August 6, 2026. Every statute on this page was read against the current Florida Trust Code this week. The deadline that quietly ends most trust cases is §736.1008 — six months from the day an accounting reaches you.
Can a trustee sell trust property without all the beneficiaries approving?
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 authorised it, the court approved it, you consented or ratified it, or you waited too long to sue.
That last exception is why the six-month clock below matters so much.
Can a trustee go to jail for stealing from a trust?
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 realise.
Three tracks, and they stack:
1. Breach of trust. §736.1001 lets the court trace and claw back — see the remedies table below.
2. 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.
3. 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 answer: pursue the civil remedies, and let the criminal referral follow if the facts warrant it. A jail sentence returns nothing to the trust.
How do you contest a trust in Florida?
Two entirely different attacks, and confusing them costs cases.
Attacking 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 case is not an attack on a twenty-year-old trust — it is an attack on the 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.
Attacking what the trustee has done since. That is breach of trust, and it runs under §736.1001 and §736.0802 rather than §736.0406. Different proof, different remedies, different clock.
⚠️ Timing. §736.0207 provides that an action to contest the validity of a revocable trust may not be commenced until the trust becomes irrevocable by its terms or by the settlor’s death. You cannot pre-empt the fight while the settlor is alive — which is exactly why the evidence has to be preserved before then.
How much does a trustee get paid?
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 one house and a brokerage account, while 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.
Can a trustee also be a beneficiary?
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.
What is a successor trustee?
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.”
Can a trustee change a trust?
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, modification, or termination by agreement or court order are real mechanisms, but they are not the trustee acting alone on their own authority.
- 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.
Is a trustee the same as an executor?
No. Different role, different document, 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.
Does a trustee own the trust property?
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 defence 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.
Is breach of fiduciary duty a crime?
Usually not by itself. Breach of trust is a civil wrong. It becomes criminal when the conduct also amounts to theft or 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, restoring property, or other means |
| 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.
What are your rights as a beneficiary of a Florida trust?
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.”
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 answers “you’re not entitled to see that” is, in most cases, simply wrong.
How do you remove a trustee in Florida?
§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, removal does not require proving misconduct at all.
How long do you have to sue a trustee?
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.
Can you be the trustee of your own irrevocable trust?
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.
What is a corporate trustee, and can you remove one?
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.
How do you choose a trustee?
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.
What does trust litigation cost, and how long does it take?
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.
What does “trust litigation specialist” mean in Florida?
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.
- 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.
What to do this week
If an accounting has arrived, the six-month clock in §736.1008 is already running. That is the single most urgent item on this page.
Bring three things:
- The trust instrument and every amendment — especially anything signed in the settlor’s final two years.
- Every accounting or disclosure the trustee has sent, with the date each arrived.
- Anything showing what the trustee has actually done — bank statements, deeds, closing documents, the name of anyone who bought trust property.
Speak to a trust litigation attorney directly. Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. — (305) 224-6811. Free consultation in English or Spanish, in all 67 Florida counties. You can also write from the contact page.
Related: Florida probate litigation lawyer · Florida guardianship litigation · contesting a will in Florida. Metro pages: Tampa · Pinellas County · West Palm Beach · Orlando. Esta página en español: impugnar un testamento en Florida.
Contested trusts and estates by county
Trust and probate litigation is filed in the circuit where the estate belongs, and the local filing and hearing rules differ county by county in ways that decide how fast a case moves. Each page below carries the court address, the filing traps and the deadlines for that county.
| 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 | Acknowledgement of venue, no e-filing of original wills |
| Pinellas & Pasco | Sixth | Pinellas County probate litigation attorney | Two counties, two clerks, §825.1035 injunctions |
Contested matters are handled in all 67 Florida counties, in English and in Spanish. Esta página en español: impugnar un testamento en Florida.
About this page. Author and reviewer: Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002, in practice in the state since 2005. Every statute cited was read against the Florida Trust Code on August 6, 2026.
This page offers general information about Florida law and does not constitute legal advice for a specific case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every trust turns on its own facts, and the law changes.