Florida Statute 736.0602
“Revocation or amendment of revocable trust”
What it means
Unless a trust expressly says it is irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend it — the rule for instruments executed since the trust code took effect (July 1, 2007). Where spouses fund a trust with community property, either spouse may revoke alone, but amendment takes both; otherwise each settlor controls only the portion attributable to that settlor's contribution.
The method matters. Subject to §736.0403(2), a settlor revokes or amends by substantial compliance with the method the trust itself provides. Only if the trust names no method can it be done by a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust or specifically devises property it holds, or by any other method proving intent by clear and convincing evidence. On revocation, the trustee delivers the property as the settlor directs.
- Default flipped: a Florida trust is revocable unless it expressly says otherwise — for instruments executed on or after the code's effective date (July 1, 2007).
- Community property in a joint trust: either spouse may revoke alone; amending takes joint action of both spouses.
- Other joint-settlor property: each settlor revokes or amends only as to that settlor's contribution.
- Primary method: substantial compliance with the method the trust provides, subject to §736.0403(2)'s execution formalities.
- If the trust is silent: a later will or codicil expressly referring to the trust (or specifically devising its property), or any method shown by clear and convincing evidence.
- An agent under a power of attorney or a guardian may exercise these powers only as authorized (§709.2202; court approval for guardians), and a trustee unaware of a change is not liable for acting on the old terms.
How it plays out
Amendment fights are the trust litigation we can usually see coming. Almost every trust we read specifies its own amendment method — typically a signed writing delivered to the trustee — and under §736.0602(3)(a) that method is the test. The handwritten note, the email, the codicil that never mentions the trust: none of it amends a document that prescribed something else. When we prepare amendments we follow the trust's own recipe to the letter, because the statute forgives only substantial compliance, not improvisation.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 736.0602 does real work:
Questions people ask
