Eleanor and her late husband ran their Palm Beach affairs with a simple will. When he passed, she spent months in formal probate just to access accounts in his name. Determined to spare her children the same ordeal, she set up a revocable living trust. Here’s what that document does — and the step Eleanor almost forgot that would have made it useless.
What a Revocable Living Trust Is
Under Florida’s Trust Code (Ch. 736), a revocable living trust is an agreement you create during your lifetime. You’re usually all three roles at once: the grantor (creator), the trustee (manager), and the beneficiary (you, while alive). Because it’s revocable, you can change or cancel it anytime while you have capacity. You name a successor trustee to take over when you die or become incapacitated.
The Main Benefit: Avoiding Probate
Assets titled in the name of your trust don’t go through the Palm Beach County probate court when you die. The successor trustee simply distributes them per your instructions — privately and usually within weeks rather than the months formal administration can take. For families with out-of-state heirs (common among Palm Beach snowbirds), skipping probate avoids hauling everyone back to Florida court.
The Step Everyone Misses: Funding
A trust only controls assets you actually transfer into it. This is called funding. Eleanor signed her trust but initially left her brokerage account and a rental property titled in her own name — meaning those would still have gone through probate. Funding means retitling bank accounts, real estate, and investment accounts into the trust’s name, and updating beneficiary designations where appropriate. An unfunded trust is an expensive paperweight.
Incapacity Planning, Not Just Death
A revocable trust shines if you become incapacitated. Your successor trustee can manage trust assets immediately — no court-supervised guardianship needed. Paired with a durable power of attorney (Ch. 709) for assets outside the trust and a health care surrogate, it gives a Palm Beach family seamless control during a medical crisis.
Florida Homestead and Your Trust
Your Palm Beach homestead deserves care here. Florida law lets you hold homestead in a revocable trust without losing the constitutional creditor protection or property-tax exemption — but the trust must be drafted correctly. Some homeowners instead use a Lady Bird deed (an enhanced life estate deed) to pass the home outside probate while retaining full control and homestead benefits during life. Which tool fits depends on your goals; this is a spot where Florida-specific drafting matters.
What a Trust Doesn’t Do
- It does not save state death taxes — Florida has no estate or inheritance tax, so that’s never the reason.
- It does not shield assets from your own creditors (it’s revocable, so the law treats the assets as yours).
- It does not replace a will. You still want a “pour-over” will to catch anything left outside the trust.
Is It Right for You?
Revocable trusts aren’t for everyone. A modest estate that qualifies for Florida’s summary administration may not justify the setup. But for Palm Beach residents with real estate, privacy concerns, blended families, or incapacity worries, the trust can be the centerpiece of a clean plan.
Consult a Florida Attorney
A revocable trust is only as good as its drafting and funding. Before relying on one, work with a licensed Florida estate planning attorney serving Palm Beach to set it up — and actually fund it — correctly.
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