When Your Trustee Has to Go: A Fort Lauderdale Family’s Guide to Trustee Removal
A trust is supposed to run quietly in the background, doing exactly what its creator intended, long after that person can no longer speak for themselves. When the person in charge of that trust stops honoring those wishes, though, the quiet turns into a serious problem for everyone who depends on it, and beneficiaries are often left wondering whether they have any real options. If you’re working with a Fort Lauderdale trustee removal attorney on a situation like this, the good news is that Florida law gives you a genuine path forward, and an experienced attorney can help you figure out whether that path applies to your case.
Signs the Trust Is Being Mishandled
Not every disagreement with a trustee rises to removal, and courts generally want to see a pattern rather than a single missed phone call or a late statement. Warning signs worth paying attention to include a refusal to provide accountings, unexplained gaps or shortfalls in trust assets, favoritism toward one beneficiary over others, commingling trust funds with personal accounts, missed tax filings, or a trustee who has simply become unable or unwilling to do the job at all. Sometimes the issue is outright misconduct. Other times it’s a well-meaning trustee who was never equipped to handle the responsibility in the first place, and the effect on beneficiaries can look much the same either way.
The Legal Standard for Removal
Florida’s trust code lays out specific grounds a court looks for before granting removal. Under Florida Statute 736.0706, a settlor, a co-trustee, or a beneficiary can ask the court to remove a trustee, and the court itself can also act on its own initiative. The statute permits removal where there has been a serious breach of trust, where a breakdown in cooperation among co-trustees is impairing administration, or where a trustee’s unfitness, unwillingness, or persistent failure to act no longer serves the beneficiaries’ interests. Removal is also available without a showing of misconduct, such as when circumstances have substantially changed and all qualified beneficiaries agree. Courts can order interim relief while a petition is pending, so trust assets aren’t left exposed while the case works through the system.
Building the Case
Removal petitions tend to succeed or fail based on documentation rather than frustration alone. Bank records, correspondence with the trustee, missed statutory deadlines, and prior written demands for information all become part of the record a judge will review. Beneficiaries who have already requested an accounting and been ignored, or who can point to specific transactions that raise red flags, are generally in a stronger position than those relying on a general sense that something feels off.
Life After Removal
Once a trustee is removed, administration does not simply stop. The court typically appoints a successor, whether that’s an alternate named in the trust document, another qualified individual agreed upon by the parties, or a professional fiduciary brought in to untangle the situation. The new trustee usually has a duty to review the prior trustee’s conduct and, where appropriate, pursue recovery of any losses the trust suffered.
Removing a trustee is rarely simple, and the stakes for a family’s inheritance are too high to navigate without guidance. Our Fort Lauderdale trustee removal lawyers at Edward J. Jennings, P.A. have spent decades helping beneficiaries throughout Broward County hold trustees accountable. If you believe a trustee is failing the people who depend on them, contact our office today to schedule a consultation.
