Distributions · 7 min read
The trust's words come first
Distribution questions start in the instrument. A trust may name alternate takers, condition survival, or define its own division scheme — and where it does, those terms govern. The statutory rules below are the backdrop the drafters wrote against, and the meaning courts give the shorthand the document uses.
What per stirpes means in Florida
§732.104 provides that descent per stirpes divides at the generation nearest the ancestor, one share for each living member and one for each deceased member who left descendants — a deceased child's share passing down that child's own line. Florida's intestacy rules (§§732.101–732.111) use this scheme, and countless trusts adopt it by reference.
Two neighboring systems appear in other states' documents and in older instruments: per capita with representation, and the 1990 Uniform Probate Code's per-capita-at-each-generation rule. They can produce different shares from the same family tree — which is why the same facts can come out differently under different governing language.
Worked example
Suppose a trust leaves the residue to the settlor's three children per stirpes, and one child died earlier leaving two children of her own. Under §732.104's scheme the division is into three at the children's generation: the two living children each take one third, and the deceased child's one third divides between her two children — one sixth each. The Learning Center's Distribution Calculator models trees like this under all three systems, side by side, as exact fractions.
Antilapse rules (§§732.603 and 736.1106 for trusts) can also preserve a gift for a predeceased beneficiary's descendants in defined circumstances — one more reason the instrument's exact words, read against the statutes, decide these questions. Where real shares and real money turn on the reading, a licensed Florida attorney is the right reader.
Common questions
What does per stirpes mean under Florida law?
§732.104 divides at the generation nearest the ancestor — one share per living member, one per deceased member leaving descendants, with the deceased member's share passing down that member's line.
Does Florida's default control over the trust's terms?
No — the instrument's terms control, and the statutes supply meaning for the shorthand it uses and defaults where it is silent. Reading the two together is the work.
What is antilapse?
Statutes (§732.603 for wills; §736.1106 for trusts) that, in defined circumstances, pass a predeceased beneficiary's gift to that beneficiary's descendants rather than letting it lapse. Whether they apply turns on the document's words and the relationships involved.
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Related reading
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.
Frequently asked questions
- What does per stirpes mean under Florida law?
- §732.104 divides at the generation nearest the ancestor — one share per living member, one per deceased member leaving descendants, with the deceased member's share passing down that member's line.
- Does Florida's default control over the trust's terms?
- No — the instrument's terms control, and the statutes supply meaning for the shorthand it uses and defaults where it is silent. Reading the two together is the work.
- What is antilapse?
- Statutes (§732.603 for wills; §736.1106 for trusts) that, in defined circumstances, pass a predeceased beneficiary's gift to that beneficiary's descendants rather than letting it lapse. Whether they apply turns on the document's words and the relationships involved.
General information about Florida law, not legal advice.