Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida
Trusts/wills and notorization
My mother's, now deceased, husband's Trust dated 3/8/2000 had amended the successor trustee, in a Second Amendment, notorized and dated 1/16/2003, from a family member to his CPA. His Will, notorized and dated 1/17/2003, appoints my Mother as his Personal Representative. Please explain the difference, if any, between the Trustee and the Personal Representative, and what powers the CPA has vs my Mother. Thank you so very much for your help. A grateful daughter.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Trusts/wills and notorization
A trustee is in charge of managing a trust, has what is called "legal title" to the assets, and owes a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the trust. A personal representative is in charge of seeing that the estate of a decedent is properly probated (assets are marshalled and protected, creditors are paid, and the estate is distributed to the appropriate beneficiaries of a will or to the heirs if there is no will). They each have the respective powers granted to them by statutes for each job. These powers can be modified in the instruments in question (the trust documents and the will) so I don't know in this specific instance what each one is allowed to do but generally, they are each allowed to sell assets, to invest, to do what is necessary to protect the assets of which they are in charge, make distributions, etc.