Revocable living trusts in Florida

A revocable living trust is a written arrangement in which you, usually as your own trustee, hold assets for your own benefit during life, with instructions for who manages and receives them if you become unable to act or after you die. You can change or revoke it while you are living and competent. Its main practical value is continuity: a successor trustee can step in without a guardianship or a probate proceeding for the assets the trust holds.

How it works over a lifetime

While you manage your own affairs. You are typically the trustee and beneficiary. You buy, sell, and spend trust assets as before, and you can amend or revoke the trust. A Florida trust signed since the Florida Trust Code took effect in 2007 is revocable unless the document expressly says it is irrevocable.
If you become incapacitated. The successor trustee you named takes over managing trust assets for your benefit, according to the standard the trust sets for deciding incapacity. This can avoid a court guardianship for those assets. A durable power of attorney is still needed for assets and decisions outside the trust.
After your death. The trust becomes irrevocable. The successor trustee administers it: notifying beneficiaries, gathering assets, paying expenses and valid debts, handling taxes, and distributing or continuing to hold assets as the trust directs. This is trust administration, which usually happens without a court case but involves real duties.

Signing the trust is only the first step

A trust controls only what it owns. Assets left in your individual name at death generally still go through probate, even if the trust document lists them. Funding the trust means changing ownership or beneficiary designations asset by asset:

Real estate: a new deed to you as trustee, recorded in the county where the property is located. For a Florida homestead, the deed should be prepared with the property-tax exemption, mortgage, title insurance, and homestead inheritance rules in mind.
Bank and brokerage accounts: retitled to the trust, or a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation naming the trust, following each institution’s forms.
Tangible personal property and some business interests: often transferred by a written assignment, subject to any operating agreement or other restrictions.
Retirement accounts and life insurance: usually not retitled. Whether to name the trust, individuals, or both as beneficiary needs separate income-tax and family analysis.

The pour-over will

A pour-over will leaves anything still in your name at death to the trustee of your trust, so everything ends up under one set of instructions. It is a safety net, not a substitute for funding: assets that pour over must usually pass through probate first. The will also nominates a personal representative and, if needed, a guardian for minor children.

Individual or joint trusts for married couples

Spouses can each have a separate trust, or share a joint trust. Separate trusts keep each spouse’s property and instructions distinct, which can matter in second marriages and blended families. A joint trust can be simpler to manage day to day but raises questions about which property belongs to whom, who may amend or revoke the trust after the first death, and how property held as tenants by the entireties is treated. The right choice depends on the family, the assets, and tax considerations.

Distributions over time

A trust does not have to distribute everything at death. It can keep assets in continuing trusts with distributions at certain ages, for education or health, at the trustee’s discretion, or for the lifetime of a beneficiary who needs ongoing support. These choices are a central part of the plan and deserve as much attention as the decision to have a trust at all.

What a revocable trust does not do

It does not protect your assets from your own creditors. During your life, revocable trust property is reachable by your creditors to the same extent as if you owned it directly. After death, the trust is liable for estate expenses and claims to the extent the probate estate cannot pay them. Probate avoidance and creditor protection are different goals.
It does not bypass homestead restrictions. If you are survived by a spouse or minor child, Florida’s constitutional limits on leaving a homestead generally still apply when the home is held in a revocable trust.
It does not avoid all administration. The successor trustee still has to identify assets, deal with debts and taxes, keep beneficiaries informed, and account to them.
It does not override beneficiary designations. An account with a named beneficiary passes to that beneficiary, not under the trust, unless the trust is the named beneficiary.

Signing requirements

For a Florida resident, the parts of a revocable trust that dispose of property at death are valid only if the trust is signed with the same formalities as a will, which include two witnesses. A trust signed elsewhere, or without those formalities, should be reviewed before you rely on it.

An example

A Winter Park couple in their seventies each sign a revocable trust and pour-over will. Their home is deeded to the trusts, and their brokerage account is retitled. Their checking account is left in their joint names, and one spouse’s IRA continues to name the other spouse as beneficiary. When the first spouse dies, the surviving spouse keeps the joint checking by survivorship and the IRA as beneficiary, and continues managing the trust assets as trustee. No probate is needed, because each asset was titled to pass outside it.

Bring to a planning consultation

Any existing wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and health-care documents
Recorded deeds, and mortgage information for each property
A list of accounts with current owners and beneficiaries
Life insurance and retirement account beneficiary forms
Family information, including prior marriages, children from other relationships, and anyone who needs long-term support
Your choices for successor trustee, alternates, and when beneficiaries should receive their shares

Related planning

Sources: Florida Statutes § 736.0602 (revocation and amendment), § 736.0403 (execution formalities), § 736.0505 (creditors during life), § 733.707(3) and § 736.05053 (trust liability after death), § 732.513 (pour-over devises), and § 732.4015 (homestead devise) (2026). Checked against the 2026 Florida Statutes on October 23, 2026.