Can a Florida Trustee Sell Trust Property?

The power to sell is one of the specific powers the Trust Code lists for trustees, along with related powers such as exchanging or partitioning trust property and granting an option involving a sale. The listed power to sell is not conditioned on beneficiary approval.

The power is limited by the duty of loyalty. A trustee must administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries. A sale or other transaction involving trust property that the trustee enters into for the trustee's own personal account, or that is otherwise affected by a conflict between the trustee's fiduciary and personal interests, is voidable by a beneficiary affected by the transaction.

Some sales are presumed to involve a conflict. These include sales to the trustee's spouse, to the trustee's descendants, siblings or parents or their spouses, to an officer, director, employee, agent or attorney of the trustee, and to a business in which the trustee has an interest that might affect the trustee's judgment.

A conflicted sale is not voidable in listed situations, such as when the trust terms authorized it, the court approved it, the beneficiary consented, ratified or released the trustee as the code allows, the beneficiary did not sue within the time allowed, or a settlor consented in writing while the trust was revocable. Broader trustee obligations are covered in trustee duties in Florida.