How to End your Florida Lawsuit, Quick and Easy. Sort of.

If you’re involved in a Florida trust lawsuit and you have a disagreement about what the Florida trust says, here’s something that you can do: file a motion for summary judgment, or a motion for judgment on the pleadings, give the trust document to the judge and tell her to tell you and everybody else in your Florida trust lawsuit what it says.

How can you do that? Well, first of all, what you have to know is the interpretation of a trust document, or most writings in Florida, is a pure question of law. What does that mean? It means generally you don’t need evidence. You can give it to a judge and she’s going to tell you what it says.

The next thing you want to understand is when you read the document or the trust, look for the settler’s intent, which is generally done by simply reading the document. If it’s unambiguous, the court reads the document and tells the beneficiaries and trustee what it says.

Remember, just because two beneficiaries or a beneficiary and a trustee have a fight or an inheritance dispute about what the trust says, doesn’t mean it’s ambiguous. You might be able to file a motion for summary judgment or another motion and have the court simply rule on what the trust document says, saving you time and money.

Now, you can read more about this by going to the Horgan case 249 So. 3d 683. It’s a 2018 case from Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. You can read it online for free by going to that District Court of Appeal’s website, clicking on Opinions and scrolling down to the date.