Florida Statute 736.0406
“Effect of fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence”
What it means
The doctrines that can void a Florida will apply to trusts too. If the creation, amendment, or restatement of a trust is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence, the trust — or the part so procured — is void. The untainted remainder stands if it is not invalid for other reasons.
The section cuts both ways: a revocation procured by those same means is also void. Pressuring someone into tearing up a trust is treated exactly like pressuring them into signing one.
- Grounds: fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence — the same list Florida applies to wills under §732.5165.
- Scope: the creation, amendment, or restatement of a trust — the procured part is void.
- Severability: the remainder not procured by those means stays valid unless invalid for other reasons.
- A procured revocation is void — the trust continues as if never revoked.
How it plays out
Trust contests in our practice look like will contests wearing different paperwork: a late-life amendment, a new caregiver or advisor at the center of it, a restatement that redirects everything. §736.0406 is the operative section, and Florida courts run the same undue-influence analysis as in will cases — a substantial beneficiary in a confidential relationship who was active in procurement shifts the burden under §733.107(2). The severability rule matters tactically: the procured amendment can fall while the underlying trust keeps running.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 736.0406 does real work:
Related sections
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