Your child lives abroad. Your relatives are too far. Who serves as trustee, POA, or health care surrogate when nobody will? Florida law fills some gaps.
Who handles your finances and medical care when no family member will serve? This episode covers three roles that need separate answers.
A corporate trustee solves the estate trustee problem. Banks and trust companies accept appointment, charge a fee, and do not retire or move away. Chapter 658 and 660 govern who qualifies in Florida.
A durable POA in Florida is harder. Chapter 709 allows a financial institution to serve as agent, but most banks decline. A professional fiduciary or daily money manager is the practical answer. Without one, the fallback is guardianship vs POA territory, and guardianship is slower and more expensive.
For a health care surrogate, Chapter 765 supplies a statutory list when nobody is named. The list runs from spouse to adult child to close friend.
Does POA end at death? Yes. A power of attorney terminates when the principal dies. Does durable POA cover medical decisions? No. Health care requires a separate designation or the statutory proxy list.
The full guide lives at StepUpLaw.
Transcript
A couple sits down with their lawyer and the conversation stops at the same question it always stops at. They need someone to serve as trustee, someone to hold the power of attorney, and someone to make medical decisions. Their child lives abroad and has said no. The relatives are too far away. The friends are their own age. The question is not legal, not really. The question is who.
This episode covers three separate roles that need three separate answers. The trustee problem is the easiest to solve. The power of attorney is harder. The health care surrogate is different from both. By the end you will know which roles a professional can fill, which roles need a person who knows you, and what Florida law already does when nobody is named at all.
Start with the trustee. A corporate trustee is a bank or a trust company licensed to hold property for other people. Florida Statutes chapter 658 and chapter 660 govern who can serve. For a family with a significant estate and a house they want preserved, a corporate trustee handles the job the way any trustee would. It manages the assets, files the tax returns, and makes the distributions the trust directs. You pay a fee, usually a percentage of the assets under management each year. The trade is money for continuity. The institution does not retire, does not move abroad, does not lose capacity. The couple in this question has already found one. That part is solved.
A successor trustee for a revocable trust is a different question. During your life, you are the trustee. A corporate trustee steps in at death or at incapacity, and the trigger matters. Section 736.0701 says a trustee can decline to serve; once someone accepts, the duties begin. The institutional trustee does not need your child to say yes, does not need a friend to agree. It is in the business of saying yes. The fee is the cost of having nobody else.
The power of attorney is harder. Chapter 709 says the agent under a durable power of attorney must be either a natural person who is at least 18 or a financial institution qualified to act as a fiduciary in Florida. That sounds like it opens the same door, but in practice most banks do not accept appointment as agent under a power of attorney the way they accept appointment as trustee. A trustee holds assets under a document the institution can read and administer. An agent acts for a living person in every corner of their life, and few institutions take that on.
A private professional fiduciary, sometimes called a daily money manager, can serve as agent. A few lawyers and social workers in Florida hold themselves out for this work. The challenge is finding one you trust with powers over your finances and your care while you are alive but cannot act for yourself. That is not a stranger relationship the way a corporate trustee is. An agent under a durable power of attorney can sign contracts, sell property, manage bank accounts, apply for benefits, and deal with government agencies on your behalf. It is a position that works best when someone knows your situation.
If the question is who acts when you cannot, and no one is named and no one will accept, the answer under Florida law is a guardianship proceeding. A court appoints a guardian of the property. The guardian has similar powers but under court supervision, with annual accountings, with a bond. Section 744.331 walks through the process. It is slower and more expensive than a power of attorney, and that cost is the consequence of having no one.
The health care surrogate is the third role, and it follows different rules. Chapter 765 part II governs the designation, and part IV governs what happens when there is none. If you sign a designation of health care surrogate and the person you name cannot serve, section 765.401 supplies a statutory proxy list. It runs from a spouse to an adult child, a parent, adult sibling, adult relative who has exhibited special care and concern, a close friend, and finally a clinical social worker. The facility works down the list until it finds someone willing to decide.
That statutory fallback exists only for health care decisions. It does not exist for financial matters and it does not exist for trust administration. If you want a specific person to make medical decisions, name them. If you cannot name anyone, understand that Florida law already has a hierarchy, and the question is whether that hierarchy matches your values.
The couple in this week’s question has already hired a corporate trustee for the irrevocable trust. That part is solved. For the revocable trust’s successor trustee, the same institution or another one can serve. For the power of attorney, they need a person, and if no family member or friend will accept, they need a professional fiduciary or they need to accept that a guardianship may be necessary if they become incapacitated without one. For the health care surrogate, they can name a friend even if the friend is older, or they can rely on the statutory hierarchy and understand who will decide.
The one thing to do this week is make the list. Write down who, today, you would trust to sign a check on your behalf if you could not. Write down who you would trust to say yes or no to a medical procedure. If no name appears, that is information. The next step is a conversation with a lawyer about whether a professional can fill that gap.
Read the full guide at stepuplaw.com/florida-power-of-attorney
Related reading and listening at StepUpLaw
- Florida Successor Trustee: What the Job Is and How to Start
- Florida Health Care Surrogate (Medical Power of Attorney)
- Guardianship vs. Power of Attorney in Florida (2026)
- Episode 28, Should You Quitclaim an Inherited House to Your Sibling?
- Episode 2, A Florida Homestead Deed Fails Without Your Spouse’s Signature
- Episode 32, Can My Mother’s Partner Keep Her Furniture After She Died
Related guides
- Florida Successor Trustee: What the Job Is and How to Start
- Florida Health Care Surrogate (Medical Power of Attorney)
- Guardianship vs. Power of Attorney in Florida (2026)
Stepping Up is hosted 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. Episodes are general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and listening does not create an attorney-client relationship.
