Does a Will Override a Trust in Florida?

1. What Takes Precedence, a Will or a Trust?

Neither document outranks the other. Each one controls the property that passes through it, so the answer for any single asset comes from how that asset is titled on the day you die.

A revocable living trust controls property titled in the trustee’s name, such as a house deeded to “Jane Smith, Trustee of the Jane Smith Revocable Trust” or a brokerage account opened in the trust’s name. The successor trustee takes charge of that property at your death and distributes it under the trust, with no probate court involved.

A will controls property still titled in your own name with no beneficiary and no co-owner. That property goes through probate, and the personal representative distributes it under the will. Most Florida trust plans pair the trust with a pour-over will, which leaves the probate estate to the trustee, so the trust ends up deciding who inherits nearly everything.

2. Can a Will Override a Trust?

A will can change a revocable trust only in one situation Florida’s trust code spells out. The first question is whether the trust itself says how it may be amended or revoked.

1. The trust sets a method. Most trusts drafted by a lawyer say something like “by a signed writing delivered to the trustee during my lifetime.” Florida then requires substantial compliance with that method, and a will that does not meet it changes nothing. Many trusts add the words “other than by will,” which closes the door completely.
2. The trust sets no method. Florida then allows a change by a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust or specifically leaves property the trust would otherwise have passed, or by any other method that shows the owner’s intent by clear and convincing evidence.

Two further rules apply to any change. The provisions of a revocable trust that leave property at death must be signed with the same formalities as a Florida will, meaning two witnesses, so an unwitnessed note in the file cabinet does not rewrite the trust. And a trustee who does not know about an amendment or revocation is protected for distributions made under the old terms, which is why an amendment should reach the trustee while you are alive. Our page on revoking or amending a Florida trust covers the statute, and the page on trust witness requirements covers the signing.

A will that leaves “my house to my son” does not reach a house the trust already owns, because the house is no longer yours to give.

3. Does a Will Override an Irrevocable Trust?

No. An irrevocable trust is one its creator can no longer change, so a later will has no power over it. A revocable living trust also becomes irrevocable at the owner’s death, which is why a will read after the funeral cannot rewrite the trust.

An irrevocable Florida trust can still change through two routes that run outside any will. A court can modify it when its purposes have been fulfilled, when circumstances the creator did not anticipate would defeat a material purpose, or when a material purpose no longer exists. After the creator’s death, the trustee and every qualified beneficiary can also agree unanimously to modify it without going to court. Our page on changing an irrevocable trust covers both.

4. Does a Will Override a Beneficiary Designation?

No. A beneficiary designation passes the asset by contract, and neither the will nor the trust can redirect it. Florida’s statute on transfer-on-death brokerage accounts says the transfer takes effect because of the contract with the brokerage firm and is not testamentary. Pay-on-death bank accounts, life insurance, IRAs and 401(k) plans work the same way.

A beneficiary form also outweighs the trust. If your IRA names your daughter, the IRA goes to your daughter even if the trust divides everything equally among three children. To have a designated asset follow the trust, name the trustee as the beneficiary, and for retirement accounts read our guide to naming a trust as IRA beneficiary first. Our page on Florida beneficiary designations covers each asset type.

The will controls a designated asset in two cases. The form names your estate as beneficiary, or every named beneficiary has died and the account defaults to the estate. Either way the asset then goes through probate.

5. Does a Will Override a Deed?

No. Real estate follows its deed. A home held by a married couple as tenants by the entireties, or by two people as joint tenants with right of survivorship, passes to the survivor automatically. A lady bird deed passes the home to the remainder beneficiaries it names, and our page asking does a lady bird deed override a will covers that deed in detail. A deed to the trustee puts the home in the trust.

The Florida homestead rules bind both documents. If you are survived by a spouse or a minor child, Florida’s Constitution bars leaving your homestead to anyone else by will, and Florida’s probate code applies the same restriction to a revocable trust, treating a disposition by trust as a devise. A trust that leaves the home to your adult children while your spouse survives fails as to the home, and the home passes under Florida’s homestead descent rules instead. Our guide to the homestead in a revocable trust covers the exceptions.

6. Do You Need a Will if You Have a Trust?

Yes. Almost every family with a trust ends up with something outside it, such as a refund check, a car, an inheritance that arrived late or an account opened after the trust was signed. A pour-over will catches that property and sends it to the trustee, so it reaches the people the trust names. Without one, Florida’s rules for dying without a will decide who receives it.

A will also does two jobs a trust cannot. A will nominates a guardian for minor children, and a will names the personal representative who can open a probate if one is needed. Property that pours over still goes through probate first, which is why the real protection is funding the trust while you are alive. Our page asking does a trust avoid probate in Florida explains which assets escape probate and which do not.

7. What Happens When the Will and the Trust Disagree?

Title settles most disagreements. Property titled in the trust goes under the trust, and property in the probate estate goes under the will. A family runs into real conflict when a will signed after the trust tries to give away a trust asset, or when the documents were drafted years apart by different lawyers and name different people.

Disputes between a will and a trust go to court. A person challenging a revocable trust after the owner’s death has six months from the date the trustee sends a copy of the trust with the required notice, and waiting past that deadline ends the claim. Our guide asking can a trust be contested in Florida covers the grounds, and the trust contest deadline page covers the clock. The better answer is a single review of the will, the trust and every beneficiary form at the same sitting, so the documents never disagree in the first place.

What Does It Cost to Line Up a Will and a Trust?

The Complete Trust Plan is a flat fee from $3,200, and $4,500 for a couple. The plan includes the revocable trust, a pour-over will with a self-proving affidavit, one funding deed for your Florida home, and beneficiary designations coordinated with the trust, so the will, the trust and the forms point the same way. A review and restatement of an existing trust, which is how we fix documents that disagree, is a flat fee quoted at consult. Recording and other government costs are additional and passed through at cost. Advertised fees are honored for 90 days from the posted date. A lawsuit over a will or a trust is litigation, which we quote per matter rather than as a flat fee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The new will that forgot the trust. A widower signs a trust in 2015 leaving everything equally to his two daughters, then signs a will in 2024 leaving his condo to the daughter who moved in to help him. The condo was deeded to the trust in 2015, so the will has nothing to give, and the condo is divided equally. A deed out of the trust, or an amendment signed with the trust’s method, would have carried out his plan.

The IRA that skipped the trust. A mother’s trust leaves everything in equal shares to three children, and her IRA still names only her oldest son from a form she signed in 1998. The IRA goes to the son alone. Updating the form at the same time as the trust would have kept the shares equal.

Sources of Law

• Fla. Stat. §736.0602(1) (a trust is revocable unless its terms expressly say it is irrevocable); §736.0602(3)(a)-(b) (revocation or amendment by substantial compliance with the trust’s method, or, if none, by a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust or specifically devises its property, or by clear and convincing evidence); §736.0602(7) (a trustee without knowledge of a revocation or amendment is not liable for distributions made on the old terms).
• Fla. Stat. §736.0403(2)(b) (the testamentary aspects of a revocable trust are invalid unless executed with the formalities of a will); §736.0603 (annotated)(1),(3) (while revocable, the trustee’s duties run to the settlor); §736.0604 (six-month limit on contesting a trust that was revocable at death).
• Fla. Stat. §736.04113 (judicial modification of an irrevocable trust); §736.0412 (annotated)(1) (modification after the settlor’s death on the unanimous agreement of the trustee and all qualified beneficiaries).
• Fla. Stat. §732.513 (devises to the trustee of an existing trust become part of the trust); §732.4015(1)-(2) (homestead not subject to devise when the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child; the restriction applies to a revocable trust); §736.1109 (annotated)(1) (a trust devise of homestead that violates the restriction passes title under §732.401 at the moment of death); Art. X, §4(c), Fla. Const.
• Fla. Stat. §711.509(1) (a transfer on death under a securities registration takes effect by contract and is not testamentary); §655.82 (pay-on-death bank accounts).
• Case retold below: Euart v. Yoakley, 456 So. 2d 1327 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). Opinion read in full; retrieved September 30, 2026.

What a 1984 Case Teaches About Wills and Trusts

In one case I have reviewed, a Fort Lauderdale woman put all of her income property into a revocable trust in November 1974, and about a year later her trustee bought a waterfront house called Rio Vista, which she lived in for the rest of her life. Her boat captain, who had worked for her since 1973 and became her chauffeur and friend, lived in one of the smaller houses on the grounds. In June 1978 she signed a will leaving him her boat charter company and the real estate she owned in Fort Lauderdale, and she gave a copy of the will to the trustee, who was also her lawyer. She died in September 1980.

The captain argued that the will had pulled Rio Vista out of the trust, since it was the only Fort Lauderdale real estate she had. The trust said it could be changed by a signed and acknowledged instrument delivered to the trustee 30 days in advance. The Fourth District agreed that a will can be that instrument, and still held that a gift of the real estate she owned in Fort Lauderdale never mentioned the trust and showed no intent to revoke any part of it. Rio Vista stayed in the trust. One judge dissented, which tells you how close the question was.

Having read that opinion and the Florida cases that followed it, I have a few take-home points.

The first is ownership. She did not own Rio Vista when she signed the will, because the trustee held title, so a gift of the real estate she owned had nothing to reach. Anyone who wants a will to move a trust asset should instead sign an amendment using the trust’s own method (signed, acknowledged and delivered, exactly as the trust says).

The second is language. A will that means to change a trust has to name the trust and say what changes. Avoid relying on a will to change a trust at all, because Florida now lets a will amend a trust only where the trust sets no method of its own, and most trusts do set one.

The third is the person outside the family. An owner who wants to provide for a longtime employee or friend should say so in the trust itself, and every Complete Trust Plan I prepare, flat fee from $3,200, is drafted so the will and the trust cannot pull in different directions. One honest limit applies. The case was decided before Florida’s current trust code, and today’s statute sets its own test, so the opinion shows the risk rather than the exact rule a court would apply now.

Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., admitted in Florida since 2012. Each case described above is a decision of a Florida court rather than a matter handled by this firm. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Updated on September 30, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.