Make a Living Trust Online in Florida

A revocable living trust is the standard Florida tool for passing property without a probate case: assets titled in the trust pass under its terms, privately, on your trustee’s signature. Florida’s Trust Code (Chapter 736) sets the creation requirements — §736.0402 for the trust itself, and will-formality execution under §736.0403(2)(b) for its testamentary aspects. This is general information, not legal advice.

How it works here

What it costs

The trust-based Florida plan is a flat $499 — trust, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, and healthcare directives, preview first, no subscription. Compare living-trust market pricing, will vs. trust, or the simpler online will if probate avoidance isn’t your priority — and see the lady bird deed for the homestead-only shortcut.

What Chapter 736 requires of a Florida trust

The Florida Trust Code sets four elements for a valid trust (§736.0402): a settlor with capacity, an intent to create the trust, a definite beneficiary (or a charitable purpose), and duties for the trustee to perform — and the same person may not be the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary. Two execution rules sit on top. The testamentary aspects of a revocable trust — the provisions that dispose of the trust property at your death — are invalid unless the settlor signs the trust with the formalities of a Florida will, two attesting witnesses present together (§736.0403(2)(b)); and a trust of real property must satisfy Florida’s statute of frauds (§689.05). A trust created in another state is valid here if it was valid there or where you were domiciled (§736.0403(1)).

What our Florida trust includes

The trust is the firm-grade 22-article Florida master, composed from the drafting standards of Florida practices, and your answers fill it: the successor trustees and the incapacity determination that puts them in office; the distribution terms, including the under-age holdback election that keeps a young beneficiary’s share in trust until an age you choose; the trust-protector option (Article XXI); the certification of trust that banks and title companies ask for (Article XXII, §736.1017); the general assignment of tangible personal property; and the funding guide, institution by institution. A married couple receives one single-settlor trust per spouse, each naming the other, the way Florida practice drafts it — a single joint trust would lack first-death division mechanics. The plan’s will carries the pour-over election you make in the questionnaire (§732.513), and the durable power of attorney, healthcare directive, and HIPAA release complete the set. See how the Florida revocable trust works and the Trust-Based Plan.

Funding, asset by asset

A trust controls only what it holds, so the plan’s funding instructions are the part that decides whether probate is avoided. Your home moves by a new deed from you to yourself as trustee, signed with the deed formalities and recorded with the county clerk. Bank and brokerage accounts are retitled at the institution — a form and a copy of the certification of trust — or left in your name with the trust as the pay-on-death beneficiary. Retirement accounts and life insurance are never retitled during life; they pass by beneficiary designation, and whether the trust should be that beneficiary is a question for a Florida attorney or the plan administrator. Vehicles and household property are covered by the general assignment and caught by the pour-over will. Business interests move by an assignment of the membership or partnership interest; property in another state moves by a deed under that state’s law, which is precisely the second probate the trust exists to prevent. See funding a Florida living trust.

The homestead inside a trust

Moving your home into the trust does not switch off Florida’s homestead law. If you are survived by a spouse or a minor child, the constitutional devise restrictions (§732.4015) apply to a homestead held in a revocable trust exactly as they apply to one held in your name — the trust’s terms for the house yield to them. Florida’s tax rules allow the homestead exemption and the assessment cap to continue for a home held in a revocable trust when you keep the beneficial interest and live there; confirm the trust language with your county property appraiser before recording the deed. For a single homestead with no other probate assets, a lady bird deed does the same job for a fraction of the price. See the Florida homestead after a death.

Signing the plan: will formalities for the testamentary parts

You sign the trust before two attesting witnesses present together (§736.0403(2)(b)); the master adds a notary acknowledgment so the certification of trust records cleanly. The will is signed under §732.502 with the self-proving affidavit before a notary (§732.503). The durable power of attorney needs two witnesses and a notary (§709.2105). The healthcare directive and living will need two witnesses, one of whom is neither your spouse nor a blood relative (§765.202, §765.302). The signing instructions put all four ceremonies in one sitting with one notary and two witnesses. Then the deed and the account forms — the funding — begin.

After death: what the successor trustee does

A funded trust is administered, not probated. The successor trustee files a notice of trust with the court where you lived (§736.05055), notifies the qualified beneficiaries within 60 days that the trust has become irrevocable (§736.0813), gathers and values the trust assets, pays the expenses and claims the trust owes, keeps the beneficiaries reasonably informed and accounts to them, and distributes under the trust’s terms. The attorney who advises the trustee is presumed reasonable at 75% of the probate attorney schedule (§736.1007(2)); the trustee is compensated as the trust provides or as is reasonable (§736.0708). It is real work with real cost — but it happens privately, on the trustee’s signature, without a personal representative’s commission or a court file. See Florida trustee duties and Florida probate, explained.

After you sign: the funding checklist

• The deed moving your home into the trust is drafted, signed with the deed formalities, and recorded with the county clerk — with the homestead language your property appraiser expects.
• Bank and brokerage accounts are retitled to the trustee, or the trust is named as pay-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary.
• Retirement accounts and life insurance keep their beneficiary designations; the trust is named there only after a Florida attorney or the plan administrator confirms it fits.
• Business and partnership interests are assigned to the trustee.
• Property in another state is deeded to the trustee under that state’s law.
• The certification of trust (§736.1017) is signed and kept with the trust for institutions that ask.
• The will carries the pour-over election, and the trust’s name and date in the will match the trust you signed.
• The successor trustee knows the trust exists and where the documents are.
• New accounts and property acquired later are titled in the trust as you go.

The words on the page, defined

Settlor (grantor)

The person who creates and funds the trust — you. In a married couple’s plan, each spouse is the settlor of their own trust.

Trustee and successor trustee

The trustee holds legal title and administers the trust; you serve first, and the successor you name steps in on incapacity or death (§736.0701 et seq.).

Qualified beneficiary

The beneficiaries a trustee must keep informed and account to — current distributees and those next in line (§736.0103, §736.0813).

Certification of trust

The short statutory document that proves the trust’s existence and the trustee’s powers to a bank or title company without disclosing its terms (§736.1017).

Funding

Retitling accounts and property into the trust, or naming it as beneficiary, so the trust owns what it is meant to pass. The trust controls only what it holds.

Pour-over devise

The will’s residuary gift to the trustee of your trust (§732.513), catching whatever was left outside it at death.

Trust protector

An optional office the trust can create to amend administrative terms or replace a trustee without a court, within limits the trust states.

Notice of trust

The document the successor trustee files with the court after the settlor’s death, stating the trust’s existence (§736.05055).

General information about Florida law, not legal advice. EstateDraftFL is document-preparation software, not a law firm; documents are assembled deterministically from source-locked Florida law, and independent legal services are not included.