How Long Does a Trust Last in Florida?

1. How Long Does a Revocable Trust Last?

A revocable living trust lasts for the rest of your life unless you revoke it. The trust does not expire, needs no renewal and does not lapse when you move to another state. A trust signed in 1995 works today, although a trust that old deserves a review, because families, tax law and Florida’s homestead rules have all changed since.

A Florida trust is revocable unless its terms expressly say otherwise, so you can amend it, restate it or revoke it at any time while you have capacity. At your death the trust becomes irrevocable and its terms are fixed. Our guide to amending or restating a Florida trust covers changes made while you are alive.

2. How Long Does a Trust Last After Death?

As long as its terms say. The biggest factor is a choice you make when you sign, whether the trust pays everything out at your death or keeps holding property for someone.

1. A trust that pays out at death. The successor trustee gathers the property, pays the bills and taxes, and distributes the rest. Florida requires the trustee to distribute expeditiously once the trust calls for it, and lets the trustee keep a reasonable reserve for debts, expenses and taxes. In practice the reserve stays until the claim period and the tax deadlines pass. Creditors have three months after the notice to creditors is first published if a probate is opened, Florida bars most claims two years after death, a person challenging the trust has six months after receiving a copy with the required notice, and a federal estate tax return, where one is due, is due nine months after death. Our guide to Florida trust administration covers the steps.
2. A trust that keeps holding property. Many trusts hold a child’s share until set ages, such as a third at 25, 30 and 35, so the trust runs until the youngest child reaches the last age. A spendthrift trust for a beneficiary’s life, a special needs trust for a disabled child, and a trust that pays a surviving spouse income for life all run for decades.

Throughout that time the trustee owes the qualified beneficiaries a written accounting at least once a year. Our guides to the successor trustee and Florida trust accounting cover the ongoing duties.

3. How Long Can a Trust Last in Florida?

Up to 1,000 years for a trust created on or after July 1, 2022. Florida’s rule against perpetuities caps how long property can stay in trust before it must pass outright to someone. Florida applies three limits depending on when the trust was created.

• Trusts created on or after July 1, 2022. Up to 1,000 years.
• Trusts created from January 1, 2001 through June 30, 2022. Up to 360 years.
• The general rule, for older trusts. An interest must vest within 21 years after the death of someone alive when the interest was created, or within 90 years.

The clock does not start the day you sign a revocable trust. Florida treats an interest as created when the power to make yourself its owner ends, so for a revocable trust the 1,000 years begin at your death, when your power to revoke ends. Florida’s statute is also the only perpetuities rule in the state, so a trust drafted after mid-2022 takes the 1,000-year period by saying nothing. A trust built to use that period, often to pass wealth to grandchildren and later generations with protection from each generation’s creditors and divorces, is a Florida dynasty trust.

4. How Long Does an Irrevocable Trust Last?

An irrevocable trust lasts as long as its document says, within the perpetuities limits. An irrevocable life insurance trust often runs until the insured dies and the proceeds are divided, and a Medicaid asset protection trust usually runs for the creator’s lifetime and ends with distribution to the children. A dynasty trust can run for generations.

The creator cannot shorten an irrevocable trust by changing his or her mind. A Florida court can modify or terminate 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. Our page on changing an irrevocable trust covers the court route, and the guide to Florida trust decanting covers moving a trust’s assets into a new trust with better terms.

5. When Does a Trust End?

Florida’s trust code says a trust ends in three ways, namely when it expires under its own terms, when it is revoked, or when its property has been properly distributed under its terms. A court order under the trust code’s modification rules is a fourth route for the trusts that qualify. Our page on how a Florida trust ends covers the statute, and the page on distributing a trust at the end covers the trustee’s final steps.

A trust that has distributed everything has ended even if nobody signs a formal closing document. Trustees commonly finish with a final accounting, a receipt and release from each beneficiary, and a final income tax return for the trust, which together close the books and limit later claims against the trustee.

6. Can a Trust End Early?

Yes, in four situations.

1. A small trust. A trustee of a trust worth less than $50,000 may terminate it after notice to the qualified beneficiaries, if the value no longer justifies the cost of administration. Our page on terminating a small trust covers the notice.
2. A court order. A trustee or qualified beneficiary can ask a court to modify or terminate an irrevocable trust on the grounds in section 4 above.
3. Unanimous agreement after the creator’s death. The trustee and every qualified beneficiary can agree to modify the trust, including by terminating it, without going to court. That option is unavailable for a trust that limits itself to the shorter 90-year perpetuities period, unless the trust expressly allows nonjudicial modification. Our page on changing a trust by agreement covers the exceptions.
4. Revocation. The creator of a revocable trust can end it at any time during life.

What Does It Cost to Set Up a Trust Built to Last?

The Complete Trust Plan is a flat fee from $3,200, and $4,500 for a couple, with each child’s share held and paid out at the ages you set. The Protected Trust Plan, which keeps each share in trust for that person’s life so a creditor or a divorcing spouse reaches only what the trustee actually distributes, is a flat fee from $4,700, and $6,000 for a couple. A dynasty trust and other irrevocable trusts are 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 court proceeding to modify or end a trust is litigation, which we quote per matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The trust that closed in eight months. A widow’s trust leaves everything equally to her two sons. The successor trustee sells the condo, pays the final bills and taxes, waits out the creditor period and distributes the rest eight months after her death. The trust ends with the last distribution.

The trust that runs for 30 years. A father of three young children leaves each child’s share in trust until age 35. His youngest is four when he dies, so the trust keeps investing, paying for school and filing annual accountings for 31 years. The trust ends with the youngest child’s final payout.

Sources of Law

• Fla. Stat. §689.225(2)(a) (the general rule, 21 years after a life in being or 90 years); §689.225(2)(f) (360 years for trusts created after December 31, 2000 through June 30, 2022); §689.225(2)(g) (1,000 years for trusts created on or after July 1, 2022); §689.225(3)(b) (an interest subject to a power to become its unqualified beneficial owner is created when that power terminates); §689.225(7) (the statute is the sole rule against perpetuities in Florida).
• Fla. Stat. §736.0602 (annotated)(1) (a trust is revocable unless its terms expressly provide otherwise); §736.0410(1) (a trust terminates when it expires, is revoked or is properly distributed); §736.0817 (distribution on termination, expeditiously, with a reasonable reserve for debts, expenses and taxes); §736.0813 (annotated)(1)(b),(d) (60-day notice and annual accountings).
• Fla. Stat. §736.0414(1) (termination of a trust under $50,000 after notice); §736.04113(1) (judicial modification or termination of an irrevocable trust); §736.0412(1),(4)(b),(5) (nonjudicial modification after the settlor’s death; unavailable for a trust limited to the §689.225(2) period unless expressly authorized; a revocable trust is created when the right of revocation terminates).
• Fla. Stat. §733.702(1) (three-month creditor claim period after first publication); §733.710(1) (claims barred two years after death); §736.0604 (annotated) (six-month limit on contesting a trust after notice); 26 U.S.C. §6075(a) (estate tax return due nine months after death).
• Case retold below: In re Estate of Huls, 732 So. 2d 1206 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). Opinion read in full; retrieved September 30, 2026.

When a Widow Tried to Replace Her Husband’s Trust

Cases with this shape keep coming up, and it is usually a surviving spouse and a trustee deciding the trust has run long enough. In one of them, a Florida man signed a revocable trust and a pour-over will together in December 1994, naming himself trustee. At his death the trust was to pay his widow the income for life, then pay the income to his grandchildren. The trust held two annuities. He died in April 1996, and his widow became personal representative of the probate estate.

After what the court called a long and convoluted history, the widow and the successor trustee settled with each other. The probate court approved the deal, which replaced the husband’s trust with a new trust naming the widow as its creator on somewhat different terms, discharged the trustee, and barred the widow and the grandchildren from suing him or the insurance company that issued the annuities. The grandchildren appealed, and the Second District reversed, because nothing in the record showed a drafting mistake or any other reason to rewrite a trust whose creator had died.

In reviewing Florida cases on trusts that outlive their creator, I have a few take-home points.

The first is who the trust was written for. A trust that pays a spouse for life and then passes to grandchildren lasts for two generations, and the grandchildren are beneficiaries from the first day even though they wait. A settlement between the two people in the room cannot end their interest.

The second is the trustee’s role. The successor trustee here agreed to his own discharge and to an order shielding him from suit. Avoid any agreement that ends or rewrites a trust without every qualified beneficiary signing it, or without notice and a court finding, because Florida allows those changes only on the grounds its trust code lists.

The third is the drafting. An owner who wants a surviving spouse to have more flexibility, or wants the trust to end sooner, can say so in the trust, including a power for an independent trustee to end the trust early. The Complete Trust Plan I prepare, flat fee from $3,200, sets out how long each share is held and who may end it early. One limit applies. The appeals court sent the case back for further proceedings, and the opinion does not say how long the trust ultimately ran or what the grandchildren received.

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.