Trust administration and probate administration are two different ways to settle a person’s estate in Florida. Probate is a court-supervised process governed by the Florida Probate Code (Chapters 731–735, Florida Statutes) that transfers assets titled in the decedent’s sole name. Trust administration, governed by the Florida Trust Code (Chapter 736, Florida Statutes), settles assets held in a revocable living trust and generally happens privately, without filing the estate with a court.
If you have been named a personal representative in a will or a successor trustee in a trust, the practical difference between these two paths shapes almost everything you will do over the next several months: how much court involvement you face, how fast you can distribute, what you pay, and how exposed you are to creditors. This guide walks through both, side by side, the way I would explain it across the desk to a client in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach.
What Probate Administration Looks Like in Florida
Probate is the legal mechanism that proves a will (or, if there is no will, applies the intestacy statutes) and authorizes someone to gather assets, pay debts, and distribute what remains. In Florida, the person who carries this out is called the personal representative—what other states call an executor or administrator.
Florida recognizes two main forms of probate:
- Formal administration — the standard, full court-supervised process used for most estates. The personal representative is formally appointed by the court, receives Letters of Administration, and is empowered to act on behalf of the estate.
- Summary administration — an abbreviated process available under Florida Statutes § 735.201 when the value of the probate estate (less the value of property exempt from creditors) is $75,000 or less, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years. No personal representative is appointed in summary administration.
There is also a stripped-down procedure called disposition of personal property without administration for very small estates with no real property, typically used to reimburse final expenses.
The Personal Representative’s Core Duties
Once appointed in a formal administration, a personal representative steps into a fiduciary role. The job is methodical, not glamorous. Expect to:
- File the will and petition for administration in the circuit court of the county where the decedent lived.
- Obtain Letters of Administration that prove your authority to banks and other institutions.
- Serve a Notice of Administration on interested parties (Fla. Stat. § 733.212), which starts a clock for objections.
- Publish and serve a Notice to Creditors (Fla. Stat. § 733.2121) and pay or object to claims.
- Prepare an inventory of estate assets within 60 days of receiving Letters.
- Pay valid debts, taxes, and administration expenses in the statutory order of priority.
- Distribute the remaining assets to beneficiaries and close the estate.
Florida law requires that a personal representative be represented by an attorney in a formal administration unless the personal representative is the sole interested person. That is not a marketing line—it is built into the rules, because the role carries real liability.
What Trust Administration Looks Like in Florida
A revocable living trust is created during life. The person who sets it up (the settlor) usually serves as their own trustee while alive and names a successor trustee to take over at death or incapacity. Because the trust—not the deceased individual—owns the assets, those assets do not pass through the probate court. The successor trustee simply continues administering property the trust already holds.
This is the central appeal of the living trust in Florida: a properly funded trust avoids probate for the assets inside it. The word “funded” is doing heavy lifting there. A trust only controls what has been retitled into its name. I have seen too many families discover that a beautifully drafted trust sat empty because the house and brokerage accounts were never transferred in. Those assets still go through probate.
The Successor Trustee’s Core Duties
Trust administration is private, but it is not unstructured. The Florida Trust Code imposes serious obligations:
- Duty to notify. Within 60 days of accepting the trusteeship of an irrevocable trust (which a revocable trust becomes at the settlor’s death), the trustee must notify qualified beneficiaries under Fla. Stat. § 736.0813.
- Duty of loyalty and impartiality. The trustee must act in the beneficiaries’ interest and treat them even-handedly.
- Duty to account. Qualified beneficiaries are entitled to a trust accounting; many trustees provide one annually and at termination.
- Duty to handle creditors. A trustee may—but is not always required to—publish notice to creditors. Under Fla. Stat. § 736.05053, a trustee is responsible for the expenses of the decedent’s estate and certain claims to the extent the probate estate is insufficient.
- Duty to file taxes and distribute according to the trust’s terms.
The key distinction: most of this happens without a judge looking over your shoulder. The trustee acts under the document and the statute, and the court only gets involved if a beneficiary sues or the trustee petitions for instructions.
Trust vs. Probate Administration in Florida: The Practical Differences
Here is where the comparison gets useful. The two processes diverge on the factors that actually matter to families.
Court Oversight and Privacy
Probate is a public court proceeding. The will, the inventory, and the parties become part of the court record, accessible to anyone who looks. Trust administration is private—the trust document is generally not filed with any court, and the terms stay between the trustee and the beneficiaries. For high-net-worth families in South Florida who value discretion, this privacy is often the deciding factor.
Timeline and Speed
A typical Florida formal probate runs somewhere between six months and a year, and complex or contested estates run much longer. The mandatory creditor period alone—three months from first publication—sets a floor on how fast you can responsibly close. Trust administration can move faster because there is no appointment process and no court calendar to wait on, though a careful trustee still respects creditor exposure before making large distributions.
Cost
Probate carries court filing fees, publication costs, and attorney’s fees. Florida Statutes § 733.6171 sets out a presumptively reasonable fee schedule for attorneys based on a percentage of the estate’s value, and § 733.617 does the same for personal representative compensation. Trust administration also has costs—trustee fees, accounting, and legal advice—but it skips court filing fees and the formal appointment process. The savings are real but frequently overstated; the heavy lifting of marshaling assets and paying creditors exists in both worlds.
Creditor Protection
This one cuts the other way, and it surprises people. Probate offers a powerful tool: a relatively short, defined window for creditors to come forward. Once the Notice to Creditors period closes, untimely claims are generally barred. Trust administration without a published notice does not get that clean cutoff in the same way, which can leave a trust exposed to claims longer. A trustee who wants finality may choose to open a limited probate or publish notice precisely to trigger that bar.
Homestead and Exempt Property
Florida’s constitutional homestead protections apply regardless of which path you take, but they interact differently with each. Homestead passing through a will is subject to specific devise restrictions, and homestead held in a revocable trust raises its own questions about whether the protection survives. This is genuinely tricky terrain and a frequent source of litigation; do not assume your situation matches a neighbor’s.
When You End Up Doing Both
In practice, many South Florida estates require both administrations at once. The decedent had a funded trust for most assets but also owned a car titled in their own name, or a bank account that was never moved into the trust, or received a final paycheck payable to them individually. Those individually owned assets still need probate—often a summary administration—while the trustee separately administers the trust.
If you are serving as both personal representative and successor trustee, you are wearing two fiduciary hats with two sets of duties. Coordinating them—especially the order of paying creditors and the allocation of taxes between estate and trust under Fla. Stat. § 736.05053—is exactly where experienced counsel earns its keep. Our Florida probate team handles these blended administrations regularly; you can read more about how we approach Florida probate and how it dovetails with trust work.
How This Compares Beyond Florida
Estate settlement is state-specific, and clients with property or family in multiple states ask about the differences constantly. New York, for example, runs its probate matters through the Surrogate’s Court rather than the circuit court, with its own procedures and terminology. If you are dealing with an out-of-state component, our colleagues explain the NYC probate proceeding process in New York and break down the different types of probate in New York. The takeaway for a Florida personal representative: never assume the rules you learned here travel across state lines.
Choosing the Right Path—and Getting Help
For people still planning, the trust-versus-probate question is really a planning question: a funded revocable trust trades some upfront cost and discipline for privacy and a smoother transition. For people who have already been named to serve, the question is moot—you administer whatever the decedent left behind, using whichever process the assets demand.
Either way, the fiduciary standard is high and the personal exposure is real. If you are a personal representative or successor trustee trying to figure out which obligations apply to you, it is worth a focused conversation before you sign anything or distribute a dollar. You can review the basics of wills and estate documents, dig into our Florida probate overview, or simply reach out to our South Florida office to talk through your specific facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a living trust completely avoid probate in Florida?
Only for assets that were actually transferred into the trust’s name during the settlor’s lifetime. A funded revocable trust avoids probate for those assets, but anything left titled in the decedent’s individual name—a car, an overlooked bank account, a final paycheck—still requires probate, often a summary administration under Fla. Stat. § 735.201.
Is trust administration always cheaper than probate in Florida?
Not always. Trust administration skips court filing fees and the formal appointment process, but it still involves trustee compensation, accountings, tax filings, and legal advice. The work of marshaling assets and handling creditors exists in both. The savings are real but frequently smaller than people expect.
How long does probate take in Florida compared to trust administration?
A typical Florida formal probate runs roughly six months to a year, partly because the creditor claim period sets a three-month floor from first publication. Trust administration can move faster since there is no court appointment to wait on, though a prudent trustee still accounts for creditor exposure before large distributions.
Can a successor trustee still face creditor claims without probate?
Yes. Probate offers a defined, relatively short window after which untimely creditor claims are generally barred. Trust administration without a published notice to creditors does not get that same clean cutoff, so a trustee seeking finality sometimes publishes notice or opens a limited probate to trigger the bar.
What if I am named both personal representative and successor trustee?
You take on two fiduciary roles with two sets of duties under the Florida Probate Code and the Florida Trust Code. Coordinating creditor payments and tax allocation between the estate and the trust—addressed in part by Fla. Stat. § 736.05053—is complex, and most people in this position should work with experienced probate counsel.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of Florida probate administration. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles special needs planning in New York.