Probate administration and trust administration are both legal processes that distribute a deceased person’s assets to their intended beneficiaries. The main difference between the two is that probate is overseen by a court, while a trust administration is not. Because probates are a court proceeding, they tend to take longer, require more paperwork, and cost more than a trust administration would for the same estate. Because trust administrations are not overseen by a court, they are a private process, keeping your trust estate out of the public eye.

Probate is a court-supervised process in Florida that may be necessary to transfer assets from a deceased person to their beneficiaries. Probate is required if any assets of a deceased person have no automatic means of transfer (such as ownership in a trust, co-ownership with survivorship, or beneficiary designations). A Last Will is your instruction manual for probate, listing who you want in charge of the process as a personal representative and who will inherit your probate assets. If you don’t have a Last Will, Florida law will make these decisions for you.

The initial trust administration occurs after the trust creator (or grantor) dies. The successor Trustee often hires a lawyer to assist with this initial administration to help complete the process correctly. This process may involve:

• Investigating creditor claims against the estate
• Paying debts
• Distributing trust assets to beneficiaries or into subtrusts for longer-term trusts for beneficiaries
• Providing beneficiaries with an accounting of the trust assets