Trustee Compensation – How Much is My Trustee Allowed to Pay Him or Herself?

A very unpopular topic with Florida trust beneficiaries

Trustee compensation. How much money can my trustee pay himself or herself? A very unpopular topic with Florida trust beneficiaries very important to trustees and probably more so trustees lawyers. Without sounding too much like someone who’s read the Florida trust code too much, it has to be reasonable. What the heck does that mean? Well, it means, when we look at the circumstances, I have to compensate that trustee something that’s reasonable, something that a similar trustee of a similar trust would be paid in that geographic area. It depends on whether you’re an individual trustee serving as trustee in the family trust, whether you’re a corporate institution like a bank. We need to know what assets you have, what risks you have, how much money is in the trust, do you have unique assets? Is there litigation involved? All these things factor into what a trustee may pay himself or herself.