Trustee or Professional Trustee? Choose the Right Fit for Your Florida Trust

What is the difference between a trustee and a professional trustee? A trustee is the person or company that manages a trust’s property for its beneficiaries. A professional trustee is a trustee who serves for a fee and has no family or close personal tie to the beneficiaries. The trust is the set of rules, and the trustee carries them out.

Leslie V. Marenco is the responsible lawyer for this page. The firm’s only office is in Coral Gables.

Trust versus trustee: two different things

A trust is the arrangement, and a trustee is the person who runs it. Think of the trust document as the instructions and the trustee as the one who follows them. A trust can name one trustee, several cotrustees who serve together, or a successor trustee who takes over later.

When a trust needs a trustee and none is left, Florida fills the seat in a set order. First comes a person the trust names. Next comes a person chosen by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries. Last comes a person the court appoints. Fla. Stat. § 736.0704 sets that order for noncharitable trusts.

Cotrustees who cannot agree can act by majority decision, under Fla. Stat. § 736.0703. A trust does not stop working just because one person cannot continue. The trust document is where this planning starts. A clear successor plan written into the trust usually makes the next step easier for everyone.

What a trustee does day to day

A trustee manages trust property, follows the trust’s terms, and keeps the beneficiaries informed. The work is routine in some months and heavier in others. Most of it comes down to four jobs: holding assets, keeping records, paying what the trust owes, and communicating.

Florida requires the trustee to keep trust property apart from the trustee’s own. Fla. Stat. § 736.0810 also requires clear, distinct, and accurate records of the trust’s administration.

Communication is a legal duty too. Within 60 days after accepting the trust, the trustee must notify the qualified beneficiaries of the acceptance and the trustee’s full name and address. Under Fla. Stat. § 736.0813, the trustee must also provide a complete copy of the trust instrument on reasonable request.

Records are where good intentions often run into trouble. A trustee who mixes personal and trust money, or who cannot show where a payment went, makes later questions hard to answer. Clean records protect the trustee as well as the beneficiaries.

What makes a trustee a professional trustee

A professional trustee serves for a fee and has no family or personal tie to the people who benefit from the trust. The label describes a business relationship. It does not change the legal duties that apply to a Florida trustee, though under § 736.0813 the duty to keep qualified beneficiaries informed extends only to the settlor while a trust is revocable.

Professional trustees take several forms. Some are individuals who serve in that role as their work. Others are companies that offer trust services. Florida regulates certain trust companies.

When a trust names a professional, the trust terms and the fee arrangement define the relationship. Read the trust document closely. Ask what the fee covers and how the trustee will report to beneficiaries. Those answers show what the role will look like in practice.

Family or individual trustee compared with a professional trustee

A family trustee often knows the family’s history. A professional trustee brings a neutral, routine approach to the work. Neither choice is automatically right. The trust’s complexity, the assets, and the family’s relationships all matter.

Independence is the first difference. A family trustee may be a beneficiary or have personal ties that affect decisions. Florida law requires impartiality when a trust has two or more beneficiaries. Under Fla. Stat. § 736.0803, the trustee must act impartially and give due regard to each beneficiary’s respective interests. A neutral trustee can make that balance easier to show.

Continuity is the second difference. A trust can name a successor, so the plan does not rest on one person. Whether the trustee is a relative or a professional, the successor plan matters as much as the title.

Conflict is the third difference. Family disagreements are a common reason families choose a neutral party. A family member can still serve well, and a professional can still serve poorly. The drafting and the trust terms do much of the work either way.

Duties and compensation under Florida law

Every Florida trustee owes the beneficiaries the same core duties. That is true for a family member and for a professional. Under Fla. Stat. § 736.0801, the trustee must administer the trust in good faith, following its terms and the beneficiaries’ interests.

The trustee must act solely in the beneficiaries’ interests as between the trustee and the beneficiaries, under Fla. Stat. § 736.0802, though this section does not preclude certain transactions if fair to the beneficiaries, such as reasonable compensation to the trustee. The trustee must also act as a prudent person would, with reasonable care, skill, and caution, under Fla. Stat. § 736.0804. These duties come from the Florida Trust Code, Chapter 736.

Fla. Stat. § 736.0804 requires a trustee to administer the trust as a prudent person would, by considering the purposes, terms, distribution requirements, and other circumstances of the trust, and to exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution; it does not address trustee pay when the trust is silent.

Fla. Stat. § 736.0804 requires a trustee to administer the trust as a prudent person would, exercising reasonable care, skill, and caution; the section sets that standard and does not mention attorneys who serve as trustee. The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel notes that serving as a trustee and providing legal services can involve separate fees. Whether a professional fits a particular trust depends on the facts.

Who can serve, and how Trust Counsel fits in

Trust Counsel’s attorneys can serve individually as trustee or personal representative. The firm advises and represents trustees, personal representatives and beneficiaries. That distinction matters when you weigh a choice.

A personal representative, often called an executor, handles an estate through probate. That role is separate from the trustee’s role. The duties follow the document that governs the job.

Trust Counsel, PL focuses on trust and estate matters. Its only office is in Coral Gables. We serve clients in South Florida. The firm’s work includes trust administration, trust litigation, probate litigation, and guardianship.

Common questions about trustees and professional trustees