How a Florida Court Can Impose a Constructive Trust

A constructive trust is a remedy a court imposes on property when someone holds it unfairly. Below are three everyday Florida scenarios, followed by how a constructive trust differs from a resulting trust and an equitable lien.

What a constructive trust means in legal terms

No one signs a trust document to create it.

Think of it as a fix a judge applies after the fact. The holder got the property through wrongdoing or unjust enrichment.

Florida’s trust code says the common law of trusts and principles of equity supplement the code. The idea at the center is simple. A person should not keep a benefit that fairly belongs to another.

Example 1: a promised home after years of caregiving

Picture an adult daughter who moves into her mother’s house to help after a fall. For years, she handles meals, medications and doctor visits. Her mother often says the house will be hers someday. The daughter cuts back her work hours and pays for some repairs. She signs nothing.

Later, the mother signs a new will that leaves the house to a cousin. The daughter learns of the change only after her mother dies.

A court may ask three questions. Was the promise made? Did the daughter rely on it? Would letting the cousin keep the house be unjust? Those questions track a test Florida courts use for unjust enrichment. The claimant must show a benefit conferred on the other person. That person must appreciate the benefit, and must keep it in circumstances that make keeping it without payment inequitable. Pincus v. American Traffic Solutions

Two hurdles can matter a lot. First, a Florida appeals court has said that when an express contract covers the same subject, claims from that relationship will not support an unjust enrichment claim. Williams v. Johnson Second, a trust doesn’t need a written instrument. But an oral trust and its terms must be shown by clear and convincing evidence. The evidence in each case shapes the answer.

Example 2: property obtained through fraud or undue influence

Picture an older man who gives a family friend access to his bank accounts and papers. The friend helps with bills and errands. Over time, the friend persuades him to add the friend’s name to a savings account. He also signs over a rental property. The man dies a year later. His other children had no idea the changes happened.

Under Florida law, a will is void if its execution is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence (Fla. Stat. § 732.5165). Fla. Stat. § 732.5165 A will is void if the execution is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence.

The section does not address fiduciary or confidential relationships; it voids a will procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence.

In a probate case, the children could argue the account and property should have passed through the estate to the heirs. They could ask a court to impose a constructive trust over those assets. The proof is the hard part. They would need bank records, emails, texts, and witnesses who saw who handled the paperwork.

Example 3: a co-owner who breaks a duty and keeps the asset

Picture two business partners who co-own a commercial building under a written agreement to share it. One partner later records the deed in his name alone. He then stops sharing the rental income. The other partner learns of it only after the transfer.

A court may ask whether the titled partner holds the building for both of them. A constructive trust is one remedy the court could consider. Florida’s trust code names this remedy for a trustee who breaks a duty to a beneficiary. The court may “impose a lien or a constructive trust on trust property, or trace trust property wrongfully disposed of and recover the property or its proceeds.”

That statute addresses trustees. A partnership dispute turns on its own facts and legal theories. Similar fights can arise in business succession. A family member may take control of an owner’s interest after a death, and other heirs or partners may dispute the transfer.

The three types of trust

Many lawyers sort trusts into three groups: express, resulting and constructive. The grouping helps explain the doctrine. Real cases often mix theories.

Express trusts are created on purpose. Florida law lists how a trust can be created. An owner can transfer property to a trustee during life or at death. An owner can declare that he holds identifiable property as trustee. Or someone can exercise a power of appointment in favor of a trustee.

Use the three groups as a map, not a rulebook. One dispute may involve an express trust procured by undue influence. It may also include a claim for a constructive trust over assets moved out of it.

Constructive trust vs. resulting trust

The difference lies in why the court steps in.

• Typical fact pattern: A parent pays the purchase price, but the child’s name is on the deed. Or a caregiver takes title after a breach of trust or a broken promise.

The same property can be part of both theories. Which one applies depends on what the claimant can prove.

Constructive trust vs. equitable lien

Here’s a short example. A man pays for major repairs to his sister’s house after she promises to repay him. The repairs add real value, but the sister keeps the title. He may be owed a sum of money rather than a share of the house itself. In that case, a court may prefer a lien that secures the amount owed.

Florida’s trust code names both a lien and a constructive trust as possible remedies when a trustee breaches a duty. That is why the two terms often appear together. The right remedy turns on what the claimant seeks and what the facts show.

How a court looks at whether a constructive trust applies

Did the holder get the property through wrongdoing or unjust enrichment? Did the claimant rely on a promise or contribute to the property? Is a remedy needed to fix the unfairness?

Evidence drives the answer. Courts look at deeds, wills, emails, texts, bank records and testimony from people who saw the promise or the transfer. Florida’s rules of evidence in civil actions generally apply in probate proceedings. The probate code can change that rule.

Timing matters too. Fla. Stat. § 736.0207 An action to contest the validity of all or part of a revocable trust may not be commenced until the trust becomes irrevocable by its terms or by the settlor’s death, but this does not prohibit such action by the guardian of the property of an incapacitated settlor. Under Fla. Stat. § 736.0207(2), an action to contest the validity of all or part of a revocable trust may not be commenced until the trust becomes irrevocable by its terms or by the settlor’s death.

Whether any of this helps a specific claim depends on the facts. Courts apply these principles case by case. No general example can promise how a particular case will end.

Talk with a Florida trust litigation attorney about your situation

If you’re reading this for a parent or relative, you may have just learned that a deed changed. An account may have been retitled, or a promise about a house may never have been kept. That’s a hard place to stand, and you didn’t pick it.

Trust Counsel, PL has its office in Coral Gables, Florida. The firm advises and represents trustees, personal representatives and beneficiaries in probate and trust disputes. Trust Counsel’s attorneys can serve individually as trustee or personal representative. Leslie V. Marenco is the responsible attorney for this page. For broader context, read the trust litigation attorney page on this site.

If a home, account or deed in your family was moved or promised to someone else, you don’t have to sort out the law alone. Call (305) 707-7126 or schedule online for a free first consultation, which is confidential and carries no obligation to continue.