Managing Trustee vs. Trustee: What the Title Means in a Florida Trust

A trustee is the person or company that holds legal title to trust property and manages it for the beneficiaries. A “managing trustee” is not a standard Florida office. The trust document decides what extra authority that label carries.

The Short Answer: Where the Term “Managing Trustee” Comes From

The term usually appears in the trust document itself, not in a general legal definition. Some documents use the label to pick out one trustee for day-to-day decisions. Others use it for a role defined elsewhere in the document. Knowing the difference between trustee and managing trustee starts with the definitions and the trustee-appointment clause. Those sections show what the label means in your trust.

What Is the Difference Between a Managing Trustee and a Trustee?

A trustee holds the general office. A managing trustee is a label the document may attach to a specific authority. The same title can carry different powers in different trusts, so the wording matters more than the name.

Some trusts give one person a say over investments or distributions while someone else holds title. Florida’s Trust Code covers that arrangement. A “power of direction” is a power over a trust that a person holds while not serving as trustee. A “trust director” is the person granted that power (§ 736.0103). If your trust gives someone this kind of power, that person may be a trust director, not a trustee.

When a document names several trustees, the rules for joint action apply. Cotrustees who cannot agree unanimously may act by majority decision (§ 736.0703). The label does not change the core duties. Every trustee must still act in good faith and keep beneficiaries informed.

Who Is Responsible for Managing a Trust?

The trustee manages the trust under its terms and Florida law. Once a trustee accepts the role, the trustee must administer the trust in good faith, according to its terms and purposes, and in the interests of the beneficiaries (§ 736.0801). The trustee must also act as a prudent person would, using reasonable care, skill and caution (§ 736.0804).

Keeping beneficiaries informed is a formal duty. Within 60 days after accepting a trust, the trustee must notify the qualified beneficiaries of the acceptance and of the trustee’s full name and address (§ 736.0813). For an irrevocable trust, the trustee must also give each qualified beneficiary a trust accounting at least annually and on termination of the trust or change of trustee, unless the trustee is a family trust company, licensed family trust company, or foreign licensed family trust company whose trust terms permit accounting only at the termination of the trust, upon the removal, resignation, or other event resulting in a trustee ceasing to serve as a trustee, or upon demand of a qualified beneficiary or the representative of a qualified beneficiary (see s. 736.0813(1)(d)).

When there are several trustees, each one must watch the others. A cotrustee who does not join an action is generally not liable for it. Still, each cotrustee must use reasonable care to prevent a breach of trust by another cotrustee (§ 736.0703). Day-to-day work usually includes gathering assets, managing investments, paying debts and taxes, and making distributions.

What Are the Different Types of Trustees?

Trustees usually fall into a few groups: individuals, professional trustees, co-trustees and successor trustees. An individual trustee is often a family member or friend. A professional trustee is a paid fiduciary, such as a trust company.

Some trust companies are regulated.

A successor trustee steps in when a vacancy occurs. A vacancy happens if a trustee declines, resigns, is disqualified or removed, dies, or is adjudicated incapacitated, or if a person designated as trustee cannot be identified or does not exist (§ 736.0704). If one or more cotrustees remain in office, the vacancy need not be filled; if the trust has no remaining trustee, it must be. For a noncharitable trust, Fla. Stat. § 736.0704 sets this order of priority: a person named or designated under the terms of the trust to act as successor trustee, then a person appointed by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, then a person appointed by the court.

A trustee may resign under the trust’s procedure, or on at least 30 days’ notice to the qualified beneficiaries, the settlor if living, and all cotrustees (§ 736.0705). Resigning does not end liability for past acts.

Trust Counsel’s attorneys can serve individually as trustee or personal representative. The firm advises and represents trustees, personal representatives and beneficiaries. The firm itself does not serve as trustee or personal representative. Florida law prohibits corporations from acting as personal representative, the office that handles a deceased person’s estate (often called an executor), with exceptions for certain foreign corporations acting as foreign personal representatives of nonresident decedents and for banks and trust companies incorporated under Florida law with trust powers, interstate-merger banks and trust companies with trust powers, and national banking or federal associations authorized to exercise trust powers in Florida (§ 660.41).

People usually weigh availability, comfort with money matters, and willingness to report to beneficiaries when choosing a trustee. No category of trustee is better in every case.

How to Check the Trust Document for the Role Being Described

Start with the definitions, the trustee-appointment clause, the successor provisions and the powers section. Those parts show who holds authority. Read any amendments too.

A revocable trust is one the settlor can revoke without the consent of the trustee or a person holding an adverse interest (§ 736.0103). While a trust is revocable, the trustee’s duties to inform and account run only to the settlor (§ 736.0813). For an irrevocable trust, the trustee must notify qualified beneficiaries within 60 days after learning of its creation, or after learning that a formerly revocable trust has become irrevocable, such as by the settlor’s death. This rule does not apply to an irrevocable trust created before the effective date of the trust code, or to a revocable trust that became irrevocable before that date.

A named trustee accepts by following the trust’s method for acceptance or by acting in the role. Someone who does not accept within a reasonable time is treated as having declined (§ 736.0701). This matters if you’re not sure whether you’re bound.

The trust’s terms prevail over most parts of the Florida Trust Code. They do not prevail over the trustee’s duty to act in good faith and in line with the trust’s terms and the beneficiaries’ interests (§ 736.0105). Keep the full instrument, amendments, and any acceptance or resignation letters in one place.

Talk With a Florida Trust Attorney About Your Trust Document

The trust document’s wording controls who has authority, so a complete copy is the right starting point. Many readers reach this question after a death or illness, holding a document they did not write and a role they did not choose.

Trust Counsel, PL is located in Coral Gables, Florida. Leslie V. Marenco is the attorney responsible for this page. We serve clients in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton. The first consultation is free, confidential, and without obligation to continue. Some matters may be referred to another lawyer or firm, and if yours is, the attorney will tell you. To talk about your trust, call (305) 707-7126 or schedule online.