# Revocable Living Trust in Florida: How It Works and How to Sign It Source: https://legacylegalai.com/guides/revocable-living-trust-in-florida Reviewed for accuracy by attorneys from the Liu Estate Law Group, PLLC. Last reviewed October 5, 2026. A revocable living trust is a written arrangement in which you, the settlor, transfer property to a trustee, usually yourself at first, to manage under the trust's terms while you are living and to distribute at your death. Florida's Trust Code, Chapter 736 of the Florida Statutes, sets the rules for creating, signing, amending, and administering one. This guide walks through what the statute requires, what the document does, and the part most people miss: the trust controls only property actually titled in the trustee's name. **Self-help and legal-information notice:** Legacy Legal AI is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This article provides general information about Florida law, not advice for your situation, and is not a substitute for the advice or services of a licensed Florida attorney. ## What creates the trust Section 736.0402, Florida Statutes, lists the elements: the settlor has capacity, the settlor indicates an intent to create the trust, the trust has a definite beneficiary, the trustee has duties to perform, and the same person is not the sole trustee and sole beneficiary. A revocable trust that names who takes at your death satisfies the last element even when you serve as your own trustee during life. The trust is revocable because Section 736.0602(1) says a settlor may revoke or amend a trust unless its terms expressly make it irrevocable, and the instrument says so in terms as well. ## The signing rule Florida borrows from wills Section 736.0403(2)(b) provides that the testamentary aspects of a revocable trust executed by a Florida domiciliary, the provisions that dispose of trust property at the settlor's death, are invalid unless the settlor signs the trust instrument with the formalities required for a Florida will. Under Section 732.502 that means signing at the end in the presence of two attesting witnesses, who sign in the presence of the settlor and of each other. Notarization is not one of those formalities. The acknowledgment block on the document is there because banks, title companies, and county recorders customarily ask for an acknowledged signature before they retitle property to the trustee. - Two adult witnesses, present at the same time, who receive nothing under the trust. - The settlor signs at the end; the witnesses sign in the settlor's presence and in each other's. - A notary acknowledgment, customary rather than required. ## Amending or revoking later Section 736.0602(3) lets a settlor revoke or amend by substantial compliance with a method the trust provides. The template's method is a signed writing delivered to the trustee, and the template requires an amendment that changes who takes at death to be signed with the same two-witness formalities, so the amended testamentary provisions meet Section 736.0403(2)(b) the same way the original did. ## Funding: the step the document cannot do for you A trust holds only what is transferred to the trustee. Real estate moves by a deed recorded in the county where the land sits, accounts by new registrations at the institution, and personal belongings by a signed assignment. The template's Schedule A is the running list of what has been transferred; a listing there does not by itself move title, and this service does not prepare deeds. Retirement accounts and life insurance are not retitled. A beneficiary designation naming the trustee is the transfer, and it is filed with the plan administrator or insurer. ## Homestead and the situations the interview stops for Section 732.4015 provides that a homestead is not subject to devise when the owner is survived by a spouse or a minor child, except a devise to the spouse when there is no minor child, and subsection (2) applies that rule to a homestead held in a revocable trust. The interview asks about it and stops for attorney review when a homestead, a spouse or minor child, and a trust meet. It also stops for a joint trust with a spouse, an amendment or restatement of an existing trust, property owned together with a spouse, a dependent with special needs, a divorce in progress, children from an earlier relationship, and deliberate disinheritance. Those are drafting situations the template does not attempt. ## After death: what the successor trustee does The trust becomes irrevocable at the settlor's death. The successor trustee may pay the expenses of the last illness, funeral, and administration, and if a personal representative is appointed, pays the amounts the personal representative certifies in writing as required for the estate's expenses and obligations, in the order Section 736.05053 provides. The trustee then distributes the property as the trust directs, and Section 736.0813 sets the notices and accountings owed to the beneficiaries. For anyone who deals with the trustee, Section 736.1017 allows a certification of trust in place of the full instrument. The template includes one. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does a Florida living trust need witnesses? Yes, for the provisions that take effect at death. Section 736.0403(2)(b), Florida Statutes, requires the settlor to sign the trust instrument with the formalities required for a Florida will, which under Section 732.502 means two attesting witnesses who sign in the settlor's presence and in each other's presence. ### Does the trust have to be notarized? Notarization is not required for the trust to take effect. The acknowledgment block is included because institutions that retitle property to the trustee customarily ask for an acknowledged signature. ### Do I still need a will? A trust governs only property titled in the trustee's name. A will still names a personal representative and a guardian for minor children, and under Section 732.513 a will may devise property to the trustee of a trust that exists when the will is signed, which is how a pour-over will catches property left outside the trust. ### Can I be my own trustee? Yes. Section 736.0402(1)(e) requires only that the same person not be the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary; a revocable trust that names beneficiaries who take at the settlor's death satisfies it, and the settlor commonly serves as the first trustee.