Florida Revocable Trusts for Dual-State Property Owners

For Long Island residents who own a Florida home or condo, a revocable living trust is often the single most useful tool for keeping the family out of a second courtroom. Trusts in Florida are governed by the Florida Trust Code, Chapter 736, and a properly funded trust can transfer your Florida real estate at death without any probate, including the dreaded ancillary administration that hits out-of-state owners.

The Ancillary Probate Problem

When a New York resident dies owning Florida real estate in their own name, the main estate is administered in New York, but the Florida property requires its own Florida proceeding. That means a second set of court filings, a second timeline, and often a second set of fees, all while your family is grieving from a distance. A revocable trust that owns the Florida property avoids this entirely, because the trust, not your estate, holds title.

How a Revocable Trust Works

You create the trust, name yourself as trustee, and transfer your Florida real estate into it by deed. While you are alive, nothing practical changes: you keep full control, you can amend or revoke the trust at any time, and the property is still treated as yours for income tax purposes. When you die, your named successor trustee distributes the property under the trust terms, privately and without court supervision.

Funding Is Everything

A trust only avoids probate for the assets actually titled in its name. The most common mistake we see is a trust document that is signed but never funded, the Florida deed is never re-recorded into the trust. We handle the deed work so your Florida property is genuinely owned by the trust, and we coordinate any pour-over will as a backstop.

Trusts and Florida Homestead

Florida’s constitutional homestead protections, including protection from most creditors and restrictions on devise when there is a surviving spouse or minor child, can interact with trust ownership in technical ways. A trust must be drafted carefully so it does not accidentally forfeit homestead benefits. This is one of several reasons a Florida-specific document, not a recycled New York trust, matters.

Coordinating With Your Long Island Plan

Many dual-state clients end up with a Florida trust for the Florida property and a separate arrangement for their northern assets, or a single trust designed to hold both. The right structure depends on your domicile, your overall estate, and your tax picture. The point is that the two halves of your life should be planned together, not in isolation.

Consult a Florida Attorney

This is general information and not legal advice. Trust drafting and funding involve real-property and homestead rules that are easy to get wrong from out of state. Work with a licensed Florida attorney to design and fund a trust that fits your specific holdings.