Florida Statute 736.0816
“Specific powers of trustee”
What it means
This is the trustee's statutory toolkit: 25 numbered powers a trustee may exercise except as the code limits them, with no court order required. The everyday ones — buy and sell property, deposit funds, borrow, insure, pay taxes and expenses, settle claims, abandon worthless property, employ attorneys and accountants, distribute in kind, wind up the trust.
Two powers carry family businesses. Under subsection (7), a trustee holding an interest in a proprietorship, partnership, LLC, business trust, or corporation may continue the business and take any action shareholders, members, or property owners could take — merging, dissolving, changing form, contributing capital. Under subsection (8), the trustee exercises an absolute owner's rights over securities: voting or giving proxies, entering or continuing a voting trust, holding in a nominee's name, paying calls and assessments.
- The opening line grants every power "except as limited or restricted by this code" — a default toolkit, always subject to the trustee's fiduciary duties.
- (7): continue a business in any form and take any action available to shareholders, members, or property owners — including merger, dissolution, or added capital.
- (8): exercise the rights of an absolute owner of securities — vote, give proxies, enter or continue a voting trust agreement, use nominee title, pay calls and assessments.
- Money mechanics: deposit funds, borrow with or without security, insure assets, pay taxes and administration expenses.
- Cleanup powers: settle or contest claims, abandon valueless property, prosecute or defend proceedings, and wind up on termination.
- People powers: employ attorneys, accountants, investment advisers and agents; make loans to beneficiaries; distribute property in kind.
How it plays out
Subsections (7) and (8) are why operating businesses belong in trusts. A trustee holding the shares can keep the company running, vote the stock, and sign what shareholders sign — no letters of administration, none of the time limits that bind a personal representative under §733.612, no reappointment each generation. In the administrations we handle, the daily value of §736.0816 is quieter: depositing funds, settling small claims, abandoning worthless property, and hiring the accountant without asking a judge's permission for any of it.
Questions people ask
