How to Choose a Trustee in Florida

Reviewed by Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002 — trusts and estates attorney, Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale. Hablamos español. Last updated August 2026.

Most people spend months deciding what their trust will say and about ten minutes deciding who will run it. That ratio is backwards. A well-drafted trust administered by the wrong trustee produces litigation. A plain trust administered by a good one usually produces nothing at all — which is the point.

This guide covers who is legally eligible to serve as trustee in Florida, how individual and corporate trustees actually differ, what happens when your trustee lives in another state or another country, what a Florida trustee gets paid, and the drafting mechanics that let your family fix a bad choice without a lawsuit.

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What Does a Trustee Do in Florida?

Competitor pages describe the job with adjectives — trustworthy, organized, fair. Florida describes it with statutes. Here is what your trustee is actually signing up for:

Duty	Statute	What it means in practice
Duty to administer the trust	§ 736.0801	Administer in good faith, according to the trust’s terms and purposes, and in the beneficiaries’ interests.
Duty of loyalty	§ 736.0802	Administer solely in the beneficiaries’ interests. A transaction affected by a conflict is voidable by an affected beneficiary unless a statutory exception applies. Florida presumes a conflict where the other party is the trustee’s spouse, descendant, sibling, parent or a parent’s spouse; an officer, director, employee, agent or attorney of the trustee; or a corporation or enterprise in which the trustee has an interest that might affect the trustee’s judgment.
Duty of impartiality	§ 736.0803	Where there are two or more beneficiaries, act impartially with due regard for their respective interests. This is the duty that breaks blended families.
Duty of prudent administration	§ 736.0804	Act as a prudent person would, exercising reasonable care, skill and caution.
Duty to inform and account	§ 736.0813	Notify qualified beneficiaries within 60 days of accepting the trusteeship; notify within 60 days of learning either that an irrevocable trust has been created or that a formerly revocable trust has become irrevocable; provide the instrument and information about assets and administration on reasonable request; deliver a trust accounting to the qualified beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust at least annually, on termination, and on a change of trustee.

A qualified beneficiary may waive the annual accounting in writing, and may withdraw that waiver going forward. The two 60-day notices are mandatory and cannot be waived by the trust instrument. What a trust accounting must actually contain is set out separately at § 736.08135.

Two consequences follow. First, the person you name will have real reporting deadlines with real liability attached — not a ceremonial title. Second, a trustee who cannot produce an annual accounting is in breach whether or not a dollar is missing. Ask yourself whether the person you have in mind has ever kept a set of books.

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Who Can Be a Trustee in Florida? Legal Requirements Explained

This surprises almost everyone, including lawyers who practice mostly in probate. Florida regulates who may serve as personal representative in detail and regulates who may serve as trustee not at all:

Condition	Personal representative (probate)	Trustee (trust)
Convicted of a felony	Disqualified — § 733.303(1)(a)	No statutory bar
Convicted of abuse, neglect or exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult (§ 825.101)	Disqualified — § 733.303(1)(b)	No statutory bar
Mentally or physically unable to perform the duties	Disqualified — § 733.303(1)(c)	No statutory bar (but grounds for removal under § 736.0706)
Under 18 years of age	Disqualified — § 733.303(1)(d)	No statutory bar (practical bar: a minor cannot hold title or contract)
Non-resident of Florida	Disqualified unless closely related — § 733.304	No general residency requirement (narrow exception: a Florida community property trust under Part XV must have at least one qualified trustee — a Florida-resident individual, or a company authorized to act as trustee in Florida — though either or both spouses may also serve, §§ 736.1502, 736.1503)
Non-U.S. citizen	No citizenship bar (residency rule still applies)	No citizenship bar — but see the foreign-trust warning below
A corporation or bank	Permitted only if qualified	Permitted only if qualified under § 660.41

Why this matters to you. Nothing in Florida law will stop you from naming a trustee who is a poor choice. There is no clerk who screens the appointment and no judge who signs off before the trustee takes office. Under § 736.0701, a trustee accepts by substantially complying with the acceptance method in the trust — and, where the trust provides no method or does not expressly make its method exclusive, simply by accepting delivery of trust property, exercising a trustee’s powers, or otherwise indicating acceptance. The screening is your job, done at the drafting table.

Can a corporation or an out-of-state bank serve as trustee of a Florida trust?

Only if it qualifies. Chapter 660 governs which corporate entities may exercise trust powers in Florida. Section 660.41 restricts corporate fiduciary functions, and expressly does not apply to Florida-incorporated banks, associations and trust companies having trust powers; banks resulting from an interstate merger with a Florida bank that have trust powers; or national banking associations and federal associations authorized and qualified to exercise trust powers in Florida.

A foreign bank, association or trust company gets only a narrow role. It may act as trustee of a charitable foundation or endowment, or of an employees’ pension, retirement or profit-sharing trust, and in that capacity make, acquire, service and enforce loans and hold or manage the Florida property securing them. It may not maintain an office in Florida under that carve-out — which is why an out-of-state institution is rarely a workable choice as trustee of an ordinary Florida family trust, whatever the trust document says.

The practical rule: the trust company your out-of-state financial advisor recommends may not be able to serve. Confirm the institution’s Florida trust powers before the document is signed, not after. If a substitution becomes necessary later, § 660.46 allows a joint petition to the circuit court, and the court must order the substitution unless it finds material detriment to the trust or its beneficiaries.

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Can I Be the Trustee of My Own Trust in Florida?

Revocable trusts: name yourself, then name who follows you

If your trust is revocable, you can be settlor, trustee and beneficiary at once. You keep signing authority, you keep control of investments, and nothing about your income tax reporting changes. One thing that also does not change, and that clients routinely assume otherwise: under § 736.0505(1)(a), property in a revocable trust remains reachable by your creditors during your lifetime to the extent it would not be exempt if you held it outright. A revocable trust avoids probate; it is not an asset protection device. The real work is naming who takes over — see successor trustees below, and our guide to living trusts in Florida.

Irrevocable trusts: the sentence most Florida pages get wrong

You will read on many law firm websites that you “must” name someone else if your trust is irrevocable. That is not accurate. A settlor can serve as trustee of an irrevocable trust in specific configurations. The reason it is usually a bad idea is different, and worth understanding:

• Estate tax. Retaining possession, enjoyment, or the power to control beneficial enjoyment can pull the trust assets back into your gross estate under IRC §§ 2036 and 2038 — defeating the exclusion the trust was created to achieve.
• Creditors. Under § 736.0505(1)(b), where you are a beneficiary of your own irrevocable trust, your creditors may reach the maximum amount that could be distributed to you. Florida does not recognize general self-settled spendthrift protection. The one statutory softening is § 736.0505(1)(c): assets are not reachable merely because the trustee holds a discretionary power to pay income taxes on trust income to the taxing authorities, or to reimburse you for them.

If asset protection or estate tax exclusion is the purpose, an independent trustee is not a formality — it is the mechanism. See our page on Florida irrevocable trusts.

Can a beneficiary also serve as trustee?

Yes, and it is extremely common — the adult child who is both trustee and one of three beneficiaries. The trustee still owes the duty of loyalty under § 736.0802 and the duty of impartiality under § 736.0803 to every other beneficiary. The standard drafting fix is to limit the beneficiary-trustee’s discretion over distributions to themselves to an ascertainable standard — health, education, maintenance and support (HEMS) — and to give an independent co-trustee or trust director authority over any discretionary distribution beyond it.

The one combination Florida law does not permit

The same person cannot be the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary. Under § 736.0402(1)(e), that is a defect in the creation of the trust: the legal and equitable interests merge and there is no trust at all.

Florida courts read the doctrine narrowly, which is worth knowing before you panic about a beneficiary-trustee. Hansen v. Bothe, 10 So. 3d 213 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009), explains the rationale — where the trustee is the only beneficiary, the trust is no longer needed to carry out the settlor’s intent — but declined to apply merger because intended remainder beneficiaries still held an equitable interest. Accord Contella v. Contella, 559 So. 2d 1217 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990) (merger applies only where the legal and equitable interests are coextensive and commensurate); Miller v. Kresser, 34 So. 3d 172 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (no merger even where the trustee effectively rubber-stamped the beneficiary’s decisions, because legal title was never conveyed to the beneficiary).

This matters more than it sounds. A trust that names one child as sole trustee and, after everyone else has died, sole beneficiary can collapse into outright ownership — losing the creditor and divorce protection the trust was built to provide. Naming a co-trustee or a remainder beneficiary prevents it.

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Individual vs. Corporate Trustee in Florida: Which Should You Choose?

Factor	Individual trustee (family member or friend)	Professional fiduciary	Corporate trustee (bank or trust company)
Typical annual fee	Often waived, or under 1%	Roughly 0.5%–1.5%	Roughly 1%–2%, commonly with a $3,000–$10,000 annual minimum
Continuity	Dies, moves, gets sick, loses interest	Individual — same exposure, but with a firm behind them	Perpetual. Does not die or relocate
Impartiality	Weakest point. Often a beneficiary and a sibling	Strong	Strongest. No stake in the family
Investment capability	Variable. Delegation permitted under § 736.0807	Usually competent or delegates well	In-house tax, legal, investment and real-estate depth
Flexibility on discretionary distributions	High — sometimes too high	Moderate	Lower. Institutional policy, documented requests
Recourse if there is a breach	Whatever the individual owns	Errors-and-omissions coverage, usually	Regulated, audited, capitalized
Knows your family	Yes — the whole reason to name them	Sometimes	No. Staff turns over
Florida eligibility	No statutory restriction	No statutory restriction	Must qualify under § 660.41

The hybrid most South Florida families end up with: a corporate trustee handling custody, accounting, tax filings and investments, and a family member serving as co-trustee or as a trust director with power to remove and replace the corporate trustee. You get the institution’s competence and continuity without surrendering the family’s voice. See trust directors below for the statutory mechanism.

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Can My Trustee Live Outside Florida — or Outside the United States?

This section exists because our practice sits in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale, where a large share of clients have adult children in Bogotá, Caracas, São Paulo, Madrid, Buenos Aires or Mexico City. Naming that child as trustee is the natural instinct and the expensive one.

An out-of-state trustee is fully eligible

Florida’s residency restriction, § 733.304, applies only to personal representatives — which is why an out-of-state relative can serve as your trustee but often cannot serve as your executor. (We cover the probate side separately in out-of-state executors in Florida.) The practical costs are friction, not legality: distance from the property, delays on urgent local matters, unfamiliarity with Florida homestead rules, and Florida long-arm jurisdiction if a dispute arises.

A non-U.S. trustee can reclassify the entire trust

A trust is domestic for U.S. federal tax purposes only if it satisfies both parts of the test in IRC § 7701(a)(30)(E):

1. The court test — a court within the United States can exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust.
2. The control test — one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust.

Fail either and the trust becomes a foreign trust. The consequences include annual information reporting on Forms 3520 and 3520-A, potential withholding on distributions, FATCA reporting obligations, and real friction obtaining an EIN — where the responsible party has no SSN or ITIN and cannot get one, the IRS instructions direct the applicant to enter “foreign” on line 7b of Form SS-4 and to apply by international phone, fax or mail rather than online, and U.S. banks routinely refuse to open accounts until it is resolved.

The four drafting fixes

1. Name a U.S.-based co-trustee who holds authority over all substantial decisions, so the control test is satisfied regardless of where the other trustee lives.
2. Add a savings clause that automatically removes — or strips the decision-making power from — any trustee whose service would cause the trust to fail the control test.
3. Use a directed-trust structure under the Florida Uniform Directed Trust Act so the foreign family member holds a defined, non-substantial role rather than the trusteeship itself.
4. Keep at least two successor trustees stateside so the bench does not run out to a foreign name.

One affirmative point in Florida’s favor: Florida imposes no state income tax on trusts. Keeping Florida as the principal place of administration is worth protecting, and the trustee you name is one of the facts that determines it — see § 736.0108, which governs a trust’s principal place of administration and how it may be transferred.

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How to Choose a Successor Trustee (and What Happens If Yours Can’t Serve)

A vacancy in the trusteeship occurs when the person named declines, cannot be identified or does not exist, resigns, is disqualified, is removed, dies, or becomes incapacitated. Section 736.0704 then fills a noncharitable trust’s vacancy in this order:

1. The successor designated in the trust instrument. This is the only step where you control the outcome.
2. A successor selected by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries. Unanimous. In a family with three children who disagree, this step fails.
3. A successor appointed by the court. Filed, litigated and paid for out of your trust.

Two mechanics worth knowing before you sign:

• Silence is a declination. Under § 736.0701, a designated trustee who does not accept within a reasonable time is deemed to have declined. Your named successor does not have to say no; they can simply do nothing. A person who is undecided is not trapped: § 736.0701(3) lets a designated trustee act to preserve trust property, or inspect it for environmental liability, without accepting the office, provided a written declination is sent to a qualified beneficiary within a reasonable time.
• Resignation takes 30 days. Under § 736.0705, a trustee may resign by following the trust’s method, or on at least 30 days’ notice to the qualified beneficiaries, the living settlor and any co-trustees, or with court approval. Resigning does not erase liability for what already happened.
• A successor is not automatically on the hook for the last trustee’s mistakes. Section 736.08125 protects successor trustees in defined circumstances — including where an eligible beneficiary does not deliver a written request to sue the prior trustee within six months after the successor trustee’s acceptance, and only where the successor gave proper written notice of acceptance warning the beneficiary of that deadline. Tell your successor this. Fear of inherited liability is the most common reason a good candidate says no.

New in 2026 — a way out without a courthouse. Section 736.10081, created by ch. 2026-54 and effective April 29, 2026, lets a trustee who is in substantial compliance with § 736.0813 settle accounts and obtain a discharge nonjudicially. It becomes available when the trust terminates, or when the trustee resigns or is removed — in either case only where that event occurs six months after the trustee’s acceptance — and it runs on a trust disclosure document that opens a 60-day window for beneficiaries to object. By its applicability provision, the procedure reaches trusts that are irrevocable, or that become irrevocable, on or after April 29, 2026. This is new, it is already in force, and it materially lowers the cost of changing trustees. Very few Florida sites have caught up to it.

Practical rule: name a first successor, a second successor, and then a named person or office (a trust director, the beneficiaries acting by majority, or your law firm) empowered to appoint further successors. That third layer is what keeps your family out of court in year twenty.

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Should You Name Co-Trustees in Florida?

Section 736.0703 also settles the question every prospective co-trustee asks: am I responsible for what the other one does? The answer is layered. A co-trustee who does not join in an action is generally not liable for it. But each co-trustee has an affirmative duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent a breach by another co-trustee and to compel a co-trustee to redress one. Silence is not safety.

Other mechanics that matter at the drafting table:

• Co-trustees must participate in administration unless unavailable or the function has been properly delegated.
• Functions the settlor reasonably expected to be performed jointly generally cannot be delegated between co-trustees — investment functions being the notable exception, under § 518.112.
• A co-trustee who joins in an action at the majority’s direction but notifies a co-trustee of the dissent at or before the time of the action is not liable for that action. Silent acquiescence carries no such protection.
• On a vacancy in a co-trusteeship, the remaining co-trustees — or a majority of them — may act, so a co-trustee vacancy often need not be filled at all (§ 736.0703(2)).

When co-trustees work: one family member who knows the beneficiaries paired with one institution or professional who knows fiduciary administration; or a split of roles, where one trustee handles distributions and another handles investments.

When they fail: two siblings with a history. Naming both children as co-trustees to avoid hurting one of them is the single most common cause of Florida trust litigation we see. If you cannot choose between them, that is the signal to name a neutral third party — not to name them both.

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Trust Protectors and Trust Directors Under Florida Law

Most websites still call this role a “trust protector,” which is what the public searches for and what the drafting bar said before 2021. The statutory vocabulary is now different, and it matters, because the Act supplies rules the old common-law protector never had:

• § 736.1406 — the scope of a trust director’s power over the trust.
• § 736.1408 — the director’s own duty and liability. By default a director is a fiduciary as to the powers held, subject to the same duty and liability as a trustee in a like position; the trust terms may vary that to the same extent they could for a trustee, and a health-care professional acting in that capacity is excepted.
• § 736.1409 — the directed trustee liability shield. This is the provision that makes the structure work: a directed trustee must take reasonable action to comply with the trust director’s direction and is not liable for doing so — but may not comply where following the direction would constitute willful misconduct.
• § 736.1411 — no duty to monitor, inform or advise between the trustee and the director.
• § 736.1415 — Florida jurisdiction over a trust director.

One consequence people miss: under § 736.1416, a trust director is treated as a trustee for a long list of statutory purposes — including acceptance (§ 736.0701), bond (§ 736.0702), resignation (§ 736.0705), removal (§ 736.0706), compensation (§ 736.0708) and damages for breach (§ 736.1002). The person you empower to fire your trustee is himself subject to court removal and to liability.

The Act applies to trusts whose principal place of administration is in Florida, whenever created. For trusts created before July 1, 2021, it reaches only decisions or actions occurring on or after that date; and where a trust moved its principal place of administration to Florida on or after that date, only decisions or actions on or after the move (§ 736.1403).

What to give a trust director. The single most valuable power is the authority to remove the trustee and appoint a successor, without cause and without going to court. It converts an unfixable problem into a phone call. Common additional powers: changing the trust’s situs, vetoing or directing discretionary distributions, and resolving construction questions.

Who should hold it. Not you, if the trust is meant to be outside your estate. Not a beneficiary, if impartiality is the point. In practice: a trusted professional advisor, a CPA, a family friend with no stake, or a committee.

Worth saying plainly, because most pages do not: whether a trust director’s or protector’s powers can be treated as a retained power of the settlor for federal estate tax purposes under IRC §§ 2036 and 2038 is not fully settled. That uncertainty is a reason to keep the settlor well clear of the role, and a reason to have the powers drafted rather than copied from a form.

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How Much Does a Trustee Get Paid in Florida?

Three things to understand before you write a compensation clause:

1. The court can override what your document says. Section 736.0708(2) allows a court to allow more or less than the trust specifies where the trustee’s duties are substantially different from those contemplated, or where the specified compensation is unreasonably low or high. A clause is a starting point, not a lock.

2. Reasonableness is measured by the West Coast factors, not by an hourly rate. Florida courts weigh the amount of capital and income involved; the wages or salary customarily granted to agents for like work in the community; the success or failure of the administration; unusual skill or experience; fidelity or disloyalty; the risk and responsibility assumed; the time consumed; the custom in the community; the character of the work, ordinary or extraordinary; the trustee’s own estimate; and any payments made by the beneficiaries intended as compensation. The lodestar method used for attorney’s fees does not govern trustee compensation. See Robert Rauschenberg Foundation v. Grutman, 198 So. 3d 685 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016).

3. If your attorney is named trustee, a disclosure statute applies. Under § 736.0708(4), an attorney — or a person related to that attorney — who prepared or supervised execution of the instrument naming them as trustee is not entitled to compensation for serving as trustee unless either (a) the attorney or appointee is related to the settlor, or (b) the required disclosures were made before execution and the settlor signed a separate written acknowledgment. The three disclosures are that any person, regardless of state of residence and including a family member, friend or corporate fiduciary, is eligible to serve unless the trust disqualifies them; that any trustee is entitled to reasonable compensation; and that trustee compensation is in addition to any attorney’s fees for legal services. Failure to obtain the acknowledgment does not disqualify the trustee from serving and does not affect the validity of the trust. The restriction applies to trust agreements executed by a Florida resident on or after October 1, 2020, and to amendments made by a Florida resident on or after that date that nominate as trustee the attorney who prepared or supervised execution of the amendment, or a person related to that attorney. Ask any lawyer who proposes to serve as your trustee to walk you through it.

4. Co-trustees usually share one fee. Under West Coast Hospital, where two or more co-trustees serve, total compensation is ordinarily the same as if there were a single trustee — unless the trust’s terms or a statute provide otherwise, or the nature of the trust assets requires particular or specialized services. Note also that a percentage-of-assets schedule is not automatically valid; it still has to satisfy the reasonableness standard.

5. Other services are separately compensable. Section 736.0708(3) allows a trustee who renders other services in connection with the administration — legal, accounting or investment services, for example — to receive reasonable compensation for those in addition to trustee compensation.

Observed market practice (this is market data, not law, and it varies by institution and asset mix): family trustees frequently waive compensation or take under 1% annually; professional fiduciaries commonly charge roughly 0.5%–1.5%; corporate trustees commonly charge roughly 1%–2% with an annual minimum in the $3,000–$10,000 range.

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Who Is Responsible for Investing the Trust — and What Standard Applies?

Four points a prospective trustee should hear before they agree to serve:

• The portfolio is judged as a whole. No single holding is evaluated in isolation. A trustee is not liable because one position lost money.
• There is a duty to diversify unless the fiduciary reasonably determines that, given the trust’s purposes, the assets are better served without diversifying.
• The clock starts at acceptance. Within a reasonable time after accepting, the trustee must review the portfolio and decide what to retain and what to dispose of. This is the first real task of the job.
• Your document can change the rule. Section 518.11(2) permits the trust instrument to expand, restrict, eliminate or otherwise alter the prudent investor standard. This is the drafting relief that lets a trustee hold concentrated stock, a family business or a single piece of commercial real estate without being second-guessed for failing to diversify. If your trust will hold any of those, say so expressly in the document.

A trap worth naming: if the trust will own life insurance, § 736.0902 carves the policy out of the prudent investor rule. Where the policy insures a "qualified person" — the insured, or the insured’s spouse, who supplied the trustee with the funds used to buy the policy or pay its premiums — the trustee has no duty to determine whether the policy remains a proper investment, to investigate the insurer’s financial strength, to decide whether to exercise policy options, to diversify, or to inquire into the health or finances of any insured. Every one of those protections is conditional: under § 736.0902(5) they apply only if the trust instrument invokes the section by reference, or the trustee gives notice that it applies. (One separate protection does apply automatically unless the trust says otherwise — relief under § 736.0902(1)(a) from any duty to verify that the policy was procured in compliance with Florida’s insurable-interest statute, § 627.404.) The carve-out does not reach a policy bought from an affiliate of the trustee, or one on which the trustee or an affiliate takes a commission, unless the duties have been delegated under § 518.112. For an irrevocable life insurance trust, that reference is the difference between a routine trusteeship and a lawsuit.

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Trustee vs. Personal Representative vs. Power of Attorney in Florida

	Trustee	Personal representative (executor)	Agent under power of attorney
Governing law	Ch. 736 — Florida Trust Code	Ch. 733 — Florida Probate Code	Ch. 709 — Florida Power of Attorney Act
Court appointment required?	No	Yes — Letters of Administration	No
Controls	Assets titled in the trust	Probate assets titled in the decedent’s name alone	Your assets, during your lifetime
When authority begins	On acceptance (§ 736.0701)	On issuance of letters	On execution (or on incapacity, if springing)
When authority ends	On resignation, removal, or termination of the trust	On discharge	At your death
Felony bar	None	Yes — § 733.303(1)(a)	None
Non-resident permitted	Yes — no general residency restriction	Only if closely related — § 733.304	Yes
Public record?	No	Yes	No

The most consequential line in that table is the last authority row. A power of attorney dies when you do. An agent who has been managing a parent’s accounts for years has no authority the moment the parent dies, and cannot sign as trustee unless separately named. Related reading: choosing your personal representative, how to become personal representative in Florida, and the Florida power of attorney.

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Myth vs. Reality: Choosing a Trustee in Florida

Common belief	What Florida law actually says
“My trustee has to live in Florida.”	False. The residency rule, § 733.304, applies to personal representatives only. Chapter 736 has no residency requirement for trustees.
“A convicted felon can’t be a trustee.”	False. Section 733.303(1)(a) disqualifies felons from serving as personal representative. The Florida Trust Code has no equivalent bar — a felony conviction disqualifies a trustee only if your trust document says so.
“If my trust is irrevocable, I can’t be the trustee.”	Overstated. A settlor can serve as trustee of an irrevocable trust. The reason not to is tax and creditor exposure — IRC §§ 2036/2038 and § 736.0505(1)(b) — not a prohibition.
“Naming both my children as co-trustees is the fair choice.”	It is the deadlock choice. Section 736.0703(1) lets co-trustees act by majority when they cannot be unanimous. Two co-trustees have no majority.
“My trustee only has to account if a beneficiary asks.”	False. Section 736.0813 requires a trust accounting to qualified beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust at least annually, plus 60-day notices on acceptance and on the trust becoming irrevocable.
“Trustees in Florida get the same statutory percentage as executors.”	False. There is no trustee fee ladder. Section 736.0708 provides for reasonable compensation under the West Coast Hospital factors.
“Any bank can serve as trustee.”	Not any bank. Section 660.41 exempts from its fiduciary prohibitions only Florida-chartered banks, associations and trust companies with trust powers, institutions resulting from an interstate merger with a Florida bank that hold trust powers, and national banking associations and federal associations authorized and qualified to exercise trust powers in Florida. A foreign institution’s carve-out is narrow — charitable and employee-benefit trusts and loan activity — and it may not maintain a Florida office.
“My child is the only beneficiary, so making them sole trustee is simplest.”	It may destroy the trust. Section 736.0402(1)(e) prevents the same person from being sole trustee and sole beneficiary — the interests merge and no trust exists.
“Once I name a trustee, my family is stuck with them.”	Only if you draft it that way. Section 736.0706 allows judicial removal on four grounds, and a trust director under §§ 736.1401–736.1416 can be given power to remove and replace without going to court.
“My revocable trust protects my assets from my creditors.”	False. Section 736.0505(1)(a) makes revocable trust property reachable by the settlor’s creditors during life, to the extent it would not be exempt if held outright. A revocable trust avoids probate; it is not an asset protection device.
“A trustee has to be a financial expert.”	No. Section 736.0807 permits a trustee to delegate functions a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate. The shield is conditional: the trustee must exercise reasonable care, skill and caution in selecting the agent, in setting the scope and terms of the delegation, and in periodically reviewing the agent’s performance — and, for investment functions, must comply with § 518.112. A trustee who does that is not liable for the agent’s acts. Judgment and integrity matter more than an investment background.

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How to Choose Your Trustee: A 7-Step Process

1. List every candidate, then strike anyone who is in conflict with a beneficiary today. (30 minutes.) Present conflict predicts future litigation more reliably than any other factor.
2. Test each remaining candidate against the five statutory duties. (30 minutes.) Not “do I trust them” — can they keep books, meet a 60-day notice deadline, and tell a beneficiary no?
3. Decide the trust’s expected lifespan. (15 minutes.) A trust that terminates when the youngest child turns 25 can be run by a person. A trust designed to last 40 years should not depend on one.
4. Choose the structure: individual, professional, corporate, or hybrid. (One meeting.) Use the comparison table above. If beneficiaries are in conflict, the answer is almost always a neutral or a hybrid.
5. Ask the person, before the document is drafted. (One conversation.) Tell them what the job involves, that they will be paid reasonable compensation under § 736.0708, and that § 736.08125 protects a successor from a predecessor’s acts in defined circumstances. If they hesitate, you have learned something valuable at no cost.
6. Build the escape hatch into the document. (Drafting stage.) Two named successors, a named appointer of further successors, and a trust director with removal power. This is the step that separates a document from a plan.
7. Review the appointment every three years, and after every death, divorce, relocation, or change in a beneficiary’s circumstances. (Ongoing.) A trustee chosen in 2015 may be 80 years old, living in another country, or estranged today.

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When to Handle It Yourself vs. When to Retain a Florida Trust Attorney

Your situation	What we would tell you
Single revocable trust, you serve as trustee, one adult child as successor, everyone in Florida, modest assets, no conflict	Low complexity. A competently drafted document and a named backup may be all you need. Confirm the successor has agreed.
Blended family, stepchildren, or a second marriage	Retain counsel. The duty of impartiality under § 736.0803 is where these trusts fail. The trustee choice is the plan.
Any beneficiary who is a minor, has a disability, or receives needs-based benefits	Retain counsel. See Florida special needs trusts and special needs trust funding and management.
A trustee or beneficiary who lives outside the United States, or who is not a U.S. person	Retain counsel. The IRC § 7701(a)(30)(E) control test has to be engineered into the document.
An irrevocable trust intended for estate tax exclusion or asset protection	Retain counsel. Naming yourself trustee can defeat the entire purpose.
Closely held business interests, commercial real estate, or concentrated stock in the trust	Retain counsel. Prudent investor obligations under § 736.0901 and Ch. 518 need express drafting relief.
You are already in conflict with a trustee, or a trustee will not account	This is litigation, not planning. See Florida trust litigation.
Siblings who do not get along, and you were planning to name them jointly	Retain counsel. This is the most common and most expensive drafting mistake in Florida trust practice.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Choosing a Trustee in Florida

Who can be a trustee in Florida?

Florida imposes almost no statutory qualification on individual trustees. Chapter 736 sets no minimum age, no capacity test, no residency requirement and no citizenship requirement, which is why the choice is governed almost entirely by the trust instrument and by your judgment rather than by statute. The narrow exceptions are corporate trustees, which must hold Florida trust powers under Chapter 660, and attorneys who drafted the instrument naming themselves, whose compensation is restricted by § 736.0708(4).

Does my trustee have to live in Florida?

No. Florida’s residency restriction, § 733.304, applies only to personal representatives; the Florida Trust Code contains no equivalent for trustees, so an out-of-state trustee is fully eligible. The costs are practical — distance from the property and delay on urgent local matters — not legal.

Can a convicted felon serve as trustee in Florida?

Yes. Section 733.303(1)(a) disqualifies a convicted felon from serving as personal representative, but the Florida Trust Code contains no corresponding bar for trustees. A felony conviction disqualifies a trustee only if the trust instrument says so — though it remains relevant to a removal petition under § 736.0706 and will often cause financial institutions to refuse the account.

Can a non-U.S. citizen be trustee of my Florida trust?

Yes, but naming a trustee who is not a U.S. person can convert the trust into a foreign trust under IRC § 7701(a)(30)(E), which requires one or more U.S. persons to control all substantial decisions. The consequences include Forms 3520 and 3520-A, withholding exposure and EIN difficulties. Naming a U.S.-based co-trustee with authority over substantial decisions usually solves it.

Can a bank from another state serve as trustee of my Florida trust?

Usually not, as a practical matter. Section 660.41 prohibits corporations from acting in specified Florida fiduciary capacities — including as a court-appointed trustee or receiver — and it does not apply to Florida-chartered banks, associations and trust companies with trust powers, institutions resulting from an interstate merger with a Florida bank that hold trust powers, or national banking associations and federal associations authorized and qualified to exercise trust powers in Florida. A foreign bank, association or trust company gets only a narrow carve-out: it may serve as trustee of a charitable foundation or endowment, or of an employees’ pension, retirement or profit-sharing trust, and make, acquire, service and enforce loans and hold or manage the Florida property securing them — but it may not maintain an office in Florida. Confirm an out-of-state institution’s Florida trust powers before you name it.

Can a minor serve as trustee in Florida?

Not as a practical matter. Chapter 736 sets no age floor, but a minor cannot hold legal title or enter binding contracts, which makes the office unworkable. Name an adult and, if you want the child involved later, give a trust director the power to appoint them as a successor once they come of age.

Can I be the trustee of my own trust?

Yes, and for a revocable living trust it is the normal arrangement — you remain settlor, trustee and beneficiary at once, and nothing about your income tax reporting or control changes. The important work is naming who takes over when you cannot serve.

Can I be the trustee of my own irrevocable trust in Florida?

Sometimes, but it usually defeats the purpose. Retaining powers over an irrevocable trust risks estate inclusion under IRC §§ 2036 and 2038, and § 736.0505(1)(b) lets your creditors reach the maximum amount that could be distributed to you. Where exclusion or asset protection is the goal, an independent trustee is the mechanism, not a formality.

Can a beneficiary also be the trustee?

Yes, and it is common. The trustee still owes the duty of loyalty under § 736.0802 and the duty of impartiality under § 736.0803 to every other beneficiary. Discretion over distributions to oneself is normally limited to an ascertainable standard — health, education, maintenance and support — with an independent co-trustee or trust director controlling anything beyond it.

Can the same person be sole trustee and sole beneficiary?

No. Section 736.0402(1)(e) makes that a defect in the creation of a trust: the legal and equitable interests merge and no trust exists. Florida courts apply the doctrine narrowly — Hansen v. Bothe, 10 So. 3d 213 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009), states the rationale but found no merger where remainder beneficiaries held an equitable interest, and Contella v. Contella, 559 So. 2d 1217 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990), limits it to interests that are coextensive and commensurate.

How many successor trustees should I name?

At least two in sequence, plus someone empowered to appoint more. If the trust runs out of named trustees, § 736.0704 requires unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, and if they cannot agree the court appoints the trustee — at your trust’s expense.

What happens if everyone I named as trustee has died or refuses to serve?

Section 736.0704 supplies the order for a noncharitable trust: the successor named in the instrument, then a successor selected by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, then a trustee appointed by the court. Note also that under § 736.0701 a designated trustee who does not accept within a reasonable time is deemed to have declined.

Should I name co-trustees?

Co-trustees add oversight and subtract speed. Under § 736.0703(1), co-trustees who cannot reach a unanimous decision may act by majority — which is why naming exactly two is a structural mistake. Two siblings with a history are the most common cause of Florida trust litigation we see.

Is a co-trustee liable for what the other co-trustee does?

A co-trustee who does not join in an action is generally not liable for it, but § 736.0703 imposes an affirmative duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent a breach by a co-trustee and to compel a co-trustee to redress one. A co-trustee who joins in an action at the majority’s direction but notifies a co-trustee of the dissent at or before the time of the action is not liable for that action; silent acquiescence carries no such protection.

What is a trust protector, and does Florida recognize one?

Florida recognizes the role by statute under the Florida Uniform Directed Trust Act, §§ 736.1401–736.1416, effective July 1, 2021, where the statutory term is “trust director.” A trust director can hold powers such as removing and replacing the trustee, and § 736.1409 protects the directed trustee who complies with a valid direction, unless complying would constitute willful misconduct.

Should I name the same person as personal representative and trustee?

Often yes for simplicity, but confirm they qualify for both offices — they are governed by different rules. Sections 733.303 and 733.304 disqualify felons, minors and most non-residents from serving as personal representative, and none of those restrictions applies to trustees.

How much does a trustee get paid in Florida?

Section 736.0708 entitles a trustee to reasonable compensation when the trust is silent, measured by the factors in West Coast Hospital Ass’n v. Florida National Bank of Jacksonville, 100 So. 2d 807 (Fla. 1958) — not by an hourly lodestar calculation. There is no statutory percentage ladder for trustees as there is for personal representatives.

Can my lawyer serve as my trustee?

Yes, but § 736.0708(4) denies compensation to an attorney, or a person related to that attorney, who prepared or supervised execution of the instrument naming them as trustee, unless either the attorney or appointee is related to the settlor, or the required disclosures were made before execution and the settlor signed a separate written acknowledgment. Failure to obtain the acknowledgment does not disqualify the trustee or invalidate the trust. The restriction applies to trust agreements executed by a Florida resident on or after October 1, 2020, and to amendments made on or after that date that nominate as trustee the attorney who prepared or supervised execution of the amendment, or a related person.

What must my trustee tell the beneficiaries?

Section 736.0813 requires notice to qualified beneficiaries within 60 days of accepting the trusteeship, notice within 60 days of learning that a trust has become irrevocable, a copy of the trust instrument on reasonable request, and a trust accounting at least annually for an irrevocable trust.

Does my trustee have to post a bond in Florida?

Usually not. Under § 736.0702, a Florida trustee must furnish a bond only if the court finds one is needed to protect the beneficiaries, or the trust requires a bond and the court has not dispensed with the requirement. The court sets the amount, the liabilities covered and whether sureties are necessary, and may modify or terminate the bond later.

Who is responsible for investing the trust, and what standard applies?

The trustee is, under the Florida Prudent Investor Rule. Section 736.0901 requires a trustee to invest trust property in accordance with Chapter 518, and § 518.11 supplies the standard — a portfolio-wide test of the trustee’s conduct rather than of investment results, with a duty to diversify unless the trust’s purposes are better served otherwise. Section 518.11(2) lets the trust instrument expand, restrict, eliminate or alter the rule.

How do you remove a trustee in Florida?

Section 736.0706 permits the settlor, a co-trustee or a beneficiary to petition for removal, and the court may act on its own initiative, on four grounds: a serious breach of trust; lack of cooperation among co-trustees that substantially impairs administration; unfitness, unwillingness or persistent failure to administer effectively where the court determines removal best serves the beneficiaries’ interests; or a substantial change of circumstances, or removal requested by all of the qualified beneficiaries — and in that fourth case only if the court also finds that removal best serves the interests of all the beneficiaries, is not inconsistent with a material purpose of the trust, and a suitable co-trustee or successor trustee is available. Removal can also be built into the document through a trust director.

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Talk to a Florida Trust Attorney About Your Trustee Choice

Lorenzo Law is a Florida trusts and estates firm led by Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. (Florida Bar No. 107002), with offices in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale, serving families across all 67 Florida counties. We draft trusts, we advise trustees on their duties under Chapter 736, and we litigate when a trustee choice goes wrong — which means we have watched the consequences of this decision from both ends.

If you are deciding who should serve, or you have realized the person you named twenty years ago is no longer the right answer, we can review the appointment and the removal mechanics in your existing document.

Call (305) 224-6811, email jml@lorenzolaw.com, or send us a message. Hablamos español.

Related reading: living trusts in Florida · Florida irrevocable trusts · choosing your personal representative · how to become personal representative in Florida · out-of-state executors in Florida · the Florida power of attorney · beneficiary designations in Florida estate planning · Florida non-probate assets · Florida special needs trusts · third-party special needs trusts · Florida land trusts and the nominee trustee · Florida trust litigation

This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutory citations are to the Florida Statutes as of the last update above; verify current text at flsenate.gov before relying on them.