A Florida revocable living trust is a legal arrangement you create and control during your lifetime that holds title to your assets and passes them to your beneficiaries without probate when you die. A will is a document that directs who inherits your property, but it only takes effect through the Florida probate court after death. For many Miami families—especially those who own property in more than one state—the better question is not “trust or will,” but how the two work together.
I’ve sat across the table from a lot of people who assumed a will was enough, only to learn that their condo in Sunny Isles and their cabin up north would each drag their heirs into a separate court process. The choice between a trust and a will is rarely either-or. But understanding what each tool actually does—and what it can’t do—is where good planning starts.
What a Will Does in Florida (and What It Doesn’t)
A Florida will is governed by Chapter 732, Florida Statutes. To be valid, it must be signed by you and witnessed by two people, who must also sign in your presence and in the presence of each other (Fla. Stat. § 732.502). Florida does not recognize holographic—handwritten and unwitnessed—wills, even if your home state did. That’s the first surprise for newcomers.
A will tells the probate court who should receive your assets, who should serve as your personal representative, and—critically for parents—who should be guardian of your minor children. But here’s the part people miss: a will is a set of instructions to a court. Nothing in a will avoids probate. The will is the roadmap probate follows.
Florida offers two main probate paths:
- Formal administration — the full court-supervised process, typically used for larger estates or when disputes are likely. It commonly runs six months to a year, sometimes longer.
- Summary administration — a faster, lighter process available when the estate’s non-exempt assets are under $75,000 or the decedent has been dead more than two years (Fla. Stat. § 735.201).
For most families with a Miami home and ordinary savings, the estate exceeds that summary threshold, which means formal administration—and the time, court filings, and attorney’s fees that come with it. You can read more about what to expect on our Florida probate overview.
How a Florida Revocable Living Trust Works
A revocable living trust is created while you’re alive, and you usually wear all three hats at once: the grantor (you create it), the trustee (you manage it), and the beneficiary (you benefit from it). Because it’s revocable, you can amend it, refinance the house inside it, or tear it up entirely as long as you have capacity.
The magic isn’t in the paper—it’s in the funding. A trust only controls the assets you actually transfer into it. That means re-titling your home, retitling brokerage accounts, and updating beneficiary designations so they coordinate with the plan. An unfunded trust is one of the most common and expensive mistakes I see; the document sits in a drawer while the assets pass through probate anyway.
When you die, your named successor trustee steps in and distributes assets according to your instructions—no court, no public filing, no waiting on a judge’s calendar. Florida trusts are governed by the Florida Trust Code, Chapter 736, Florida Statutes.
Why Privacy and Speed Matter
Probate is a public record. Anyone—including a curious neighbor or an opportunistic salesperson—can pull a probate file and see what your estate held and who got what. A funded revocable trust keeps that information private. For families with privacy concerns, business interests, or a blended household where discretion matters, that alone can justify the trust.
The Out-of-State Property Problem: Why This Decision Is Different for Dual-State Families
This is where the trust earns its keep. If you own real estate in Florida and another state—say a brownstone in Brooklyn or a lake house in the Carolinas—a will alone forces your heirs into ancillary probate: a second probate proceeding in the second state, with its own court, its own lawyer, and its own timeline.
I’ve watched a single death trigger probate in Florida and probate in New York simultaneously, doubling the cost and the grief. A properly funded revocable living trust sidesteps that entirely. The out-of-state property is titled in the name of the trust, so it transfers under the trust’s terms—no ancillary proceeding required.
New York families relocating to South Florida face their own wrinkles. New York uses different vehicles and rules for things like life estates and home transfers; if you still own property up north, coordinating both states matters. Our colleagues at Morgan Legal’s New York office go deep on , and on what a valid requires. If your plan straddles both states, you want documents that don’t fight each other.
Homestead: Florida’s Wild Card
Florida’s constitutional homestead protection (Art. X, § 4) is both a powerful creditor shield and a planning trap. Homestead property passes under special rules and can’t be freely devised if you’re survived by a spouse or minor child. Putting a homestead into a revocable trust can be done, but it must be drafted carefully so you don’t accidentally lose homestead tax benefits or run afoul of the descent-and-devise restrictions. This is one area where do-it-yourself forms routinely go wrong.
Cost, Effort, and Maintenance: An Honest Comparison
People assume a trust is always more expensive. Up front, yes—a funded trust costs more to set up than a simple will because of the re-titling work. Over the full life of the plan, the math often flips, because probate’s costs land on your family later. Florida statutes even set out presumptively reasonable attorney’s fees for formal administration based on a percentage of the estate (Fla. Stat. § 733.6171), and those fees come out of what your heirs inherit.
- Will — lower upfront cost, simpler to sign, but the bill comes due in probate after you’re gone.
- Trust — higher upfront cost and ongoing diligence to keep funding current, but typically faster, private, and cheaper for the family at the end.
A trust also has a maintenance cost that has nothing to do with money: discipline. Every time you buy a new property or open a new account, you have to remember to title it in the trust. A will requires no such upkeep. That trade-off is real, and it’s part of an honest conversation.
What a Trust Does NOT Replace
Even with a fully funded revocable trust, you still need a pour-over will. Think of it as a safety net: it catches any asset you forgot to fund into the trust and “pours” it over into the trust at death. The catch is that a poured-over asset still passes through probate first—another reason funding matters.
And neither a trust nor a will covers incapacity while you’re alive. For that you need:
- A durable power of attorney (Fla. Stat. Chapter 709) so someone can manage finances if you can’t.
- A designation of health care surrogate and a living will (Fla. Stat. Chapter 765) for medical decisions.
A revocable trust handles incapacity for the assets inside it—your successor trustee can step in without a guardianship—but it does nothing for medical decisions or for assets outside the trust. A complete plan uses all of these tools in concert. Our wills and trusts page walks through how they fit together.
So Which One Fits Your Family?
Here’s the framework I use with clients:
- A will may be enough if you own property only in Florida, your estate is modest, your beneficiaries are straightforward, and you’re comfortable with probate being public and slower.
- A revocable living trust usually makes sense if you own real estate in more than one state, you value privacy, you have a blended family or a beneficiary who needs protection, you want to plan for incapacity, or you simply want to spare your family the probate process.
For most of the dual-state and out-of-state owners I work with in Miami, the answer is a funded revocable trust paired with a pour-over will and incapacity documents—a coordinated plan rather than a single piece of paper. If you’d like to talk through your own situation, our Florida estate planning team explains the full process on the , or you can contact our Miami office directly.
The worst plan is the one built on assumptions. Whether a will or a trust fits your family depends on what you own, where you own it, and who you’re trying to protect—and that’s worth getting right the first time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a revocable living trust avoid probate in Florida?
Yes, but only for assets actually titled in the trust’s name. A revocable living trust avoids Florida probate for funded assets, which is why properly re-titling your home and accounts into the trust is essential. Any asset left outside the trust still passes through probate, usually via your pour-over will.
If I have a trust, do I still need a will?
Yes. You should have a pour-over will that catches any asset you forgot to transfer into the trust and directs it into the trust at death. A will is also the only place to name a guardian for minor children, which a trust cannot do.
I own a home in Florida and property in another state. Which is better?
A funded revocable living trust is usually the better fit. Without one, out-of-state property forces your heirs into a second, separate probate—called ancillary probate—in that state. Titling both properties in a trust lets them transfer under one set of instructions and avoids the duplicate court process.
Can I put my Florida homestead into a revocable trust?
Often yes, but it must be drafted carefully. Florida’s constitutional homestead protections and descent-and-devise rules can be jeopardized by improper transfers, and you risk losing homestead tax benefits. Have a Florida estate planning attorney handle it rather than using a generic form.
Is a revocable trust more expensive than a will?
It costs more to set up because of the funding and re-titling work. Over the life of the plan, however, a trust often saves money by avoiding probate fees and court costs that would otherwise fall on your family. Florida statutes set presumptively reasonable attorney’s fees for formal probate based on estate size, and those come out of what your heirs receive.
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