Revocable Living Trusts for Florida Families

We quote a lot of trusts. This year alone we have reviewed well over a hundred trust intake forms from families across Florida and beyond, many of them Spanish speaking, many with young children, many with a house and a small business and a life insurance policy and not much else. The questions repeat. So do the misconceptions, some of them expensive. This page is our attempt to answer the questions before you pay anyone to answer them for you.

What a Revocable Trust Does

• Avoids probate for every asset that is actually titled in the trust. Your family deals with a trustee, not a court docket.
• Handles incapacity. If you cannot manage your affairs, your named successor trustee takes over the trust assets without a guardianship proceeding.
• Controls timing. The trust can hold a child's share until 25, or 30, or release it in stages, instead of handing an 18 year old a check.
• Keeps things private. Probate files are public. Trust administration is not.
• Coordinates multiple properties. Real estate in another U.S. state that is deeded into the trust generally avoids a second probate in that state.

What It Does Not Do

We would rather lose a client than sell a trust on a false promise, so here is the honest list.

• It does not reduce taxes. Not income tax, not estate tax. While you are alive the trust is ignored for income tax purposes, and because you can revoke it, everything in it still counts as yours at death. Florida has no state estate tax at all, and the federal estate tax reaches very few families. If someone is pitching a revocable trust as a tax plan, ask them what they are actually selling.
• It does not protect assets from your own creditors. If you can reach the money, so can a judgment creditor. Liability protection for a rental property or a business comes from an LLC, not from the trust; the two work together, and we set them up to.
• It does not override your spouse's rights. A surviving spouse in Florida is entitled to an elective share equal to 30 percent of the elective estate under section 732.2065, Florida Statutes, and under section 732.2035 the elective estate includes property you transferred that remained revocable by you at your death. That is a revocable trust. If your plan is to leave assets to your children rather than your spouse, it takes a valid written waiver or a marital agreement, and that conversation comes first.
• It does nothing until it is funded. More on that below, because it is where most trusts quietly fail.
• It does not govern property outside the United States. A home in Colombia, Venezuela, or the Dominican Republic needs counsel in that country. We will tell you that up front and help you coordinate.

Individual Trust or Joint Trust?

This is the first structural decision, and it turns on how your assets are actually titled and what your family looks like.

A joint revocable trust usually fits when

• You are married and the house, the accounts, and the insurance are owned together or intended for the same beneficiaries.
• You have children together and want the survivor to control everything, then the children to inherit equally.

An individual revocable trust usually fits when

• You are single, divorced, or widowed.
• You are married but the assets are titled in your name alone, or you and your spouse want different beneficiaries.
• There are children from a prior relationship and you want their inheritance protected regardless of what the surviving spouse later decides.

A married person with separately titled assets who signs a joint trust, or a blended family that signs a single "everything to the survivor" trust, is setting up exactly the dispute the trust was supposed to prevent. We look at the deed and the account statements before we recommend either.

Provisions for Minor Children

If you have children under 18, the trust should include minor's trust provisions: the trustee holds each child's share, pays for health, education, and support, and distributes the balance at the age or in the stages you choose. Life insurance and retirement accounts are pointed at the trust rather than at the child directly, so a large payout is never handed to a teenager or tied up in a court-supervised guardianship of the property. This works alongside the guardian designation that names who raises the children; the guardian and the trustee can be, and often should be, two different people.

Trusts, LLCs, and Rental Property

Many of the families we work with own one or more rental units, sometimes alongside a small business. The structure that usually fits is a trust that owns an LLC, which in turn holds the rental. The LLC contains liability from a tenant or a slip in the driveway; the trust keeps the LLC interest out of probate and takes your personal name off the deed. Two cautions. First, this is separation, not secrecy: it does not hide anything from a creditor or the IRS, and an LLC's public filings are not a privacy tool. Second, be wary of packaged "strategies" sold online that wrap an LLC in a trust and a life insurance policy and charge a premium for the bundle. The legal pieces are ordinary documents. If a promoter has pitched you one of these, bring it to the consultation and we will tell you what in it is real.

Funding: Where Trusts Actually Fail

Signing the trust creates an empty box. Funding it means recording a new deed for the house, retitling bank and brokerage accounts, and updating beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement plans so they name the trust where appropriate. Skip a step and that asset goes through probate anyway, and the family learns at the worst possible time that the trust they paid for covered half the estate. Every trust engagement we take includes the funding plan and the deed work, and we explain which accounts should name the trust and which should not. Dominic explains the forming versus funding problem in this short post and video.

Updating an Old Will or Trust

People often come to us with a will from years ago that they want to "modify." The first question is what you want changed, because that determines the tool. A different beneficiary or a different personal representative is cleanly handled by a new will that replaces the old one, along with the durable power of attorney and health care directives most people are missing. If what you really want is to spare your children probate on the house, that is a trust, and the old will is replaced by a pour-over will that works with it. Either way, we replace rather than patch; stacked amendments are how families end up in court arguing over which version controls.

How We Deliver It

• Flat fee, quoted in writing after a short free consultation. The fee depends on individual versus joint, whether minor's provisions are included, and how much funding work is involved. See how our fees work.
• Digital or hard-copy delivery. Your choice, with signing coordinated in person or by video where Florida law allows.
• The complete package. Trust, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, health care surrogate and living will, guardian designations if you have minor children, and the deeds and funding instructions.
• English and Spanish. Explained, drafted, and signed in the language your family actually uses.

Start with our estate planning overview, or if you own a business, read about coordinating the trust with your operating agreement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a revocable living trust reduce taxes in Florida?

No. A revocable living trust does not reduce income tax or estate tax. While you are alive it is ignored for income tax purposes, and because you can revoke it, everything in it is still counted in your estate. What it does is avoid probate, provide for incapacity, and control how and when beneficiaries receive assets. Anyone selling you a revocable trust as a tax strategy is selling you something else.

Should a married couple in Florida have a joint trust or two individual trusts?

For most married couples whose assets are owned together, one joint revocable trust is simpler and works well. When assets are titled in one spouse's name alone, when there are children from prior relationships, or when the spouses want different beneficiaries, individual trusts are often the better fit. We look at how each asset is actually titled before recommending either.

Can I leave everything to my children instead of my spouse using a trust?

Not simply by drafting a trust. A surviving spouse in Florida is entitled to an elective share equal to 30 percent of the elective estate under section 732.2065, Florida Statutes, and under section 732.2035 the elective estate includes property you transferred that remained revocable by you at death, which describes a revocable trust. Directing assets away from a spouse generally requires a valid written waiver or a marital agreement, and that is a conversation to have before anything is drafted.

What happens to property I own in another state or another country?

Real estate in another U.S. state that is deeded into your Florida revocable trust generally avoids a second probate proceeding in that state. Property outside the United States is a different matter: a U.S. trust usually cannot control foreign real estate, and you will need counsel in that country to coordinate. We flag it and help you find the right person rather than pretending the Florida document covers it.

What does it mean to fund a trust?

Signing a trust creates an empty container. Funding it means retitling your house by deed, changing the owner on accounts, and updating beneficiary designations so assets actually flow into the trust. An unfunded trust avoids nothing. We build the funding steps into every trust engagement and walk through them with you.

I already have a will. Do I need to replace it if I create a trust?

Almost always yes. A trust based plan uses a pour-over will that sends anything left outside the trust into it at death and names the guardian for minor children. Your old will would conflict with the new plan, so we replace it rather than patch it.

Can I keep my name off my rental properties with a trust?

A trust that owns an LLC, which in turn owns the rental, can take your personal name off the deed and adds a layer of liability separation. It does not create true anonymity, and it does not hide anything from creditors or the IRS. If someone has pitched you a packaged program promising secrecy, bring it to the consultation and we will tell you what is real and what is marketing.

How much does a revocable living trust cost in Florida?

We quote a flat fee in writing after a short consultation, and the fee depends on whether the trust is individual or joint, whether it includes provisions for minor children, and how many assets need to be funded. The initial consultation is free.