Florida Statute 736.0504
“Discretionary trusts; effect of standard”
What it means
Where a trustee may make distributions — pure discretion, or discretion guided by a standard like health, education, maintenance, and support — a beneficiary's creditor cannot compel a distribution and cannot attach whatever interest the beneficiary might have in the trustee's future choices. This holds whether or not the trust has a spendthrift clause, and it holds even against the support creditors §736.0503 lets through one.
A beneficiary who serves as trustee keeps the protection when distributions for the trustee's own benefit are limited by an ascertainable standard. The beneficiary is not powerless either: subsection (4) preserves the right to sue the trustee for abuse of discretion or failure to follow a distribution standard.
- A "discretionary distribution" is any distribution subject to the trustee's discretion — with or without a standard, and whether or not the discretion was abused.
- No creditor can compel a discretionary distribution — including the support and services creditors described in §736.0503(2).
- No creditor can attach or reach the interest a beneficiary might have in future discretionary distributions.
- A beneficiary-trustee stays protected when self-distributions are limited by an ascertainable standard; creditors reach only what they could reach if someone else were trustee.
- The beneficiary keeps the right to sue the trustee for abuse of discretion or failure to comply with a distribution standard.
How it plays out
Most of the asset-protection value in the trusts we see comes from this section, not from the spendthrift clause everyone asks about. When distributions are discretionary there is nothing for a creditor to attach — including an ex-spouse with a support judgment, who §736.0503 lets through a spendthrift clause but §736.0504 stops at the trustee's discretion. We flag the flip side for beneficiaries: the remedy against a stingy trustee is an abuse-of-discretion action, not a demand letter.
Questions people ask
