Free, statute-anchored, for self-represented trustees
The Trustee Learning Center
Learn what Florida law actually provides — in plain language, on the real statutes — before you decide anything. The library states the law and recommends nothing.
The guides
Getting started · 6 min read
You were named successor trustee. What does Florida law expect?
Accepting the role, the good-faith standard, and where the duties come from.
Duties · 7 min read
The duty to inform and account, in plain language
What §736.0813 asks a trustee to share with qualified beneficiaries, and when.
Duties · 5 min read
The notice of trust: the court filing most new trustees haven't heard of
The §736.05055 filing: what it contains, where it goes, and what it is for.
Duties · 6 min read
Prudent administration: the standard behind every trustee decision
§736.0804's prudent-person standard, protecting property, and the prudent-investor frame.
Distributions · 7 min read
Distributions and per stirpes: who takes what when a beneficiary died first
Florida's per stirpes default, how trust language controls, and worked examples.
Money · 5 min read
Trustee compensation: what Florida law actually provides
“Reasonable under the circumstances,” reimbursement, and the factors that inform it.
Working together · 5 min read
Serving with a co-trustee: how Florida allocates the wheel
Majority action, dissent on the record, vacancies, and shared responsibility.
Working together · 5 min read
Hiring help: what Florida law says about delegation
What may be delegated, the selection-instruction-monitoring frame, and what stays.
Money · 6 min read
Records, receipts, and the accounting trail
The §736.0810 recordkeeping duty, the §736.08135 accounting, and why the trail matters.
Working together · 6 min read
When beneficiaries disagree: the trustee's neutral lane
Impartiality under §736.0803, and the statutory paths when positions harden.
Closing · 6 min read
Ending a trust: termination and the final steps
Ending by the trust's terms, §736.0414 small trusts, and the wind-down sequence.
Getting started · 7 min read
The mistakes Florida successor trustees make, and the duty each one breaches
Eight ordinary mistakes, each tied to the duty in the Florida Trust Code it breaches.
Getting started · 6 min read
The trust's bank account and tax ID after a death: what the successor trustee opens, and how
The EIN, the account, the certification of trust, and what the bank will ask for.
Distributions · 6 min read
How long a Florida trustee has to distribute the trust, and what the reserve is for
Expeditiously, after the reserve — and the creditor, tax and accounting clocks that set the pace.
Getting started · 6 min read
Successor trustee versus personal representative in Florida: two jobs, one death
Who administers what after a Florida death, and how the two roles hand things to each other.
Duties · 6 min read
When the Florida trustee is also a beneficiary: the duties that do not bend
Allowed, common, and the situation in which documentation matters most.
Working together · 5 min read
Resigning as a Florida trustee: the 30 days' notice, the hand-off, and what does not end
The notice, who fills the vacancy, the final accounting, and the duties that continue until the hand-off.
Working together · 5 min read
The certification of trust (§736.1017): what it says, who relies on it, and why the whole trust stays private
The one-page proof of authority that keeps the trust's terms out of the bank's file.
Duties · 6 min read
What a Florida trust beneficiary is owed: notice, copies, accountings, and where to bring a concern
The beneficiary's side of the Florida Trust Code: what the trustee must tell you and show you, and what to do when it does not arrive.
Working together · 9 min read
Directed trusts in Florida: Part XIV of the Trust Code, in the statute's own words
Trust directors, powers of direction and the directed trustee's duty — every section of Part XIV, verbatim.
The library, by question
What does the role ask of me?
Notices and accountings
Money: fees and costs
Timelines, property, and closing
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The Learning Center is general information about Florida law — not legal advice, and not a substitute for advice from a licensed Florida attorney about your specific facts. TrusteeClear is software, not a law firm.