When Can a Beneficiary of a Florida Trust Compel an Accounting? October 26,2016 Fourth DCA Opinion

Your rights as a trust beneficiary in Florida are many, and they are very valuable. You have a right to a complete copy of the trust agreement including any amendments. You have a right to relevant information about the trust. That means the trustee has to tell you where the money is, who the trustee is, how to contact the trustee, and what all the trust assets are and their value. The third thing that’s most important is that you are entitled to annual trust accountings telling you everything about the trust and whatever trust money was spent on. A beneficiary has all these rights but WHEN? Is a beneficiary entitled to a pre-death accounting?Duties of a Successor Florida Trustee

• A Florida trustee who takes over for another Florida trustee has many responsibilities and duties.
• First, a successor trustee has all of the fiduciary duties and obligations under the Florida trust code.
• A Palm Beach successor trustee must provide beneficiaries with relevant information and annual accountings.
• In addition, as a successor trustee, a person should investigate the acts of the prior trustee to make sure they did everything right.
• If they didn’t do something right, the successor trustee has a duty to inform the beneficiaries.
• Does a successor trustee need to provide a beneficiary with pre-death accountings and receipts? This issue was addressed in Hilgendorf v. Coleman.

Hilgendorf v. Coleman

• This was an October 26,2016 Fourth District Court of Appeal Case.
• Here, the issue was “whether an estate or a beneficiary of a revocable trust created by the decedent may compel the trustee to render an accounting of receipts and disbursements made during the life of the decedent, where the trust did not require accountings, the settlor never requested accountings during her lifetime, and there is no showing of any breach of fiduciary duty on the part of the trustee.”
• The decedent created a revocable trust and the provisions became irrevocable upon her death.
• Florida Statute 736.0603(1) provides that while a trust is revocable, the duties of the trustee are owed exclusively to the settlor.”
• The trust only benefited the decedent until she passed away.
• Because the beneficiary only sued for an accounting, not for a violation of a provision, the court ruled that neither the trust or a statute required the trustee to provide her with an accounting while the trust was revocable.
• To read the entire Palm Beach trust and estates case, click here.