5 Things a Trustee Should Know to Deal with Crazy Trust Beneficiaries: a guide for the successor trustee of the Florida revocable trust

Are you the trustee of a Florida trust?  Maybe you are the successor trustee of your mom or dad’s revocable trust which they had when the lived in Boca Raton.  You thought that a Florida revocable trust wouldavoid Florida Probate and you would not have to deal with a brother or sister or step-parentthat you don’t like or don’t get along with.  But you agreed to serve as successor trustee of the Florida living trust and the beneficiaries are giving you, the Florida trustee, a hard time. Here are 5 pointers on how to deal with crazy Florida trust beneficiaries if you are aFlorida trustee of a trust.

1. You are not a servant, but you do serve. Let me guess: you are a trustee and your brother or sister or half brother or step sister or your mom or dad’s third spouse are alltrust beneficiaries and they drive you crazy.  Not uncommon.  If you are a Palm Beach trustee and dealing with a crazy beneficiary like a whacked out brother or sister, remember: you, the trustee, are NOT their servant, but you do serve them.  After all, no one forced you to be the trustee West Palm Beach.  Even if you were named in mom or dad’s Delray Beach revocable trust, that does not mean you need to serve.  You don’t have to be the trustee. Please don’t forget that.   You can decline to serve as the trustee by filing or sending out a Florida trust declination.  Do you know how to decline to serve as trustee of a Boca Raton trust or do you know the right way to resign if you started serving as trustee?  So, try to be patient, consider the following tips, and understand that if you want to be trustee, you WILL have to deal with your crazy beneficiaries. Knowing how to deal with them may be the key!
2. Florida Trustees owe a duty to their beneficiaries. Yes, you as trustee are required to act in the best interests of your trust beneficiaries.  That means you must place the interests’ of the trust beneficiaries above everyone else’s including your own.   It doesn’t matter if the bene’s are crazy or you don’t like them.  That does not let you change how you are to treat them and serve them.  If you don’t like it, you can resign.
3. Provide relevant information.  You can’t operate the trust in secret.  Period.  YouMUST share information with your trust beneficiaries.  If you don’t, you are not only “breaking” or “breaching” your fiduciary duty under the Florida Trust Code, but it could cause your removal as successor trustee and you could be “fined” (sanctioned or be held liable for money damages).  A Florida trustee has to, for example, tell the trust beneficiaries where the trust money is, how it’s being invested, and what you take for atrustee’s fees and what you do with their trust money. Remember: the trust money isyour beneficiaries’ money, not yours.  You are the sentry, the guard, the protector.  You are a fiduciary.
4. Account & Disclose.   Every Florida Trustee must provide annual trust accountings.  You have to under the Florida trust code.  You can get some help with that.  You can hire a CPA or a trust lawyer or book keeper and pay that person from the trust funds.  You should also disclose relevant or important information about the trust and its assets.  Disclose, disclose, disclose.  A lot of trustees get in trouble when they hide the ball.  Remember: it’s not your trust, it is the beneficiaries’ trust and their money.  Florida trustees owe beneficiaries a fiduciary duty.
5. Hire a good trust lawyer.  A Florida trustee can hire a trust lawyer to help with theFlorida Trust Administration and also to help protect the trustee from liability.  Generally, you get to pay the trust lawyer “reasonable” trust lawyer Florida attorneys fees from the trust.  A good trust litigator West Palm Beach can help you minimize your trust liability by using such things as Florida Trust Code “trust disclosure documents” and “limitations notices” which can limit the statute of limitations for breach of trust to 6 months.

In the end, we all know that being a trustee, as an individual, can be a tough job. It’s not for everyone.  ESPECIALLY if you have beneficiaries who don’t like you, the trustee.  Or, if you don’t like your trust beneficiaries….or, if the Palm Beach trust beneficiaries are just plain rude, mean, angry and maybe a little crazy.  Knowing what to do, what NOT to do, and how to deal with crazy trust beneficiaries is a key to being a calm, low-blood-pressure Florida trustee.