Signing a revocable living trust is the easy part. The step that actually keeps your estate out of the Miami-Dade probate court is funding it, meaning moving your assets into the trust’s name. An unfunded trust is a common and costly Florida mistake. Here is how funding works, asset by asset, and how long each piece tends to take.
What Funding Means
A revocable living trust under Florida law (Ch. 736) only controls property titled in its name. Funding is the process of changing title and beneficiary designations so the trust, not you individually, owns or receives the asset. Anything left in your sole name at death generally still goes through probate, which defeats the purpose.
Real Estate, Including Your Homestead
For investment or out-of-county property, your attorney prepares a new deed conveying the property to your trust and records it with the appropriate county. Your Miami homestead is the delicate one. Because Florida’s constitutional homestead protection (Art. X, §4) and creditor and tax benefits interact with trust ownership, some owners deed the homestead to the trust while others use a Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deed to pass it outside probate while preserving the homestead exemption. This decision should be made with counsel, not copied from a template. Deed preparation and recording usually takes a couple of weeks.
Bank and Investment Accounts
Checking, savings, and brokerage accounts are retitled into the trust’s name, or in some cases handled with payable-on-death designations. Each Miami bank and brokerage has its own paperwork, so this is often the slowest step simply because of institutional processing. Start it early.
Retirement Accounts and Life Insurance
Do not retitle IRAs or 401(k)s into the trust, since that can trigger immediate taxation. Instead, you typically update the beneficiary designation, and naming a trust as beneficiary requires careful drafting to preserve favorable payout rules. Life insurance is handled the same way, by beneficiary form.
Business Interests and Personal Property
LLC membership interests and closely held shares are assigned to the trust, which may require amending the operating agreement. Tangible items like vehicles, jewelry, and furnishings are usually swept in with an assignment of personal property.
The Pour-Over Will Backstop
Even careful Miami families miss an asset. A pour-over will catches anything left out and directs it into the trust, though that stray asset may still pass through a short probate. The backstop is insurance, not a substitute for funding.
Talk to a Florida Attorney
Funding mistakes, especially around homestead, can undo an entire plan. A licensed Florida estate planning attorney can prepare the deeds and coordinate the retitling so your trust actually does its job.
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