Who Is a Qualified Beneficiary of a Florida Trust?

A beneficiary is anyone with a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent, or a nontrustee holder of a power of appointment over trust property. Qualified beneficiaries are a narrower group defined in three tiers.

The first tier is a living beneficiary who is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal. A distributee is currently entitled to receive a distribution, and a permissible distributee is currently eligible to receive one. The second tier is a beneficiary who would be a distributee or permissible distributee if the first tier interests terminated on that date without causing the trust to terminate. The third tier is a beneficiary who would be a distributee or permissible distributee if the trust terminated in accordance with its terms on that date.

The status carries rights. The trustee must keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed of the trust and its administration, but while a trust is revocable those duties extend only to the settlor. After the settlor's death, a trust may be modified without a court proceeding upon the unanimous agreement of the trustee and all qualified beneficiaries, subject to statutory exclusions. Any qualified beneficiary may also start a proceeding to disapprove a trustee's proposed termination of a small trust.

The notices and records a trustee must provide are described in the information a Florida trustee must give a beneficiary.