Revocable living trusts get talked about a lot at Palm Beach estate planning seminars, often with more sizzle than substance. Stripped of the marketing, a revocable trust is a practical tool with one main job: keeping your estate out of Florida probate. Here is how it actually works, what it costs, and how long it takes to do right.
What a Revocable Trust Is
Under Florida’s trust code (Ch. 736), a revocable living trust is a legal container you create while alive. You are usually the trustee, so you keep full control: you can buy, sell, spend, and change or revoke the trust at any time. When you pass, a successor trustee you named distributes the assets to your beneficiaries, privately, without court supervision.
The Main Benefit: Skipping Probate
Assets properly titled in your trust avoid Palm Beach County probate entirely. That means no court filing, no public record of who got what, and faster access for your family. For Florida residents who own out-of-state property, a trust can also avoid a second probate in that other state, a real headache savings for snowbirds with a place up north.
Funding Is the Step Everyone Skips
A trust only controls what you put into it. “Funding” means re-titling your accounts and property into the trust’s name, your Palm Beach home, brokerage accounts, and the like. An unfunded trust is an expensive paperweight; the assets you forgot to transfer still go through probate. Funding is the most labor-intensive part of the process and the most commonly neglected, which is why working through it carefully matters more than the trust document itself.
What a Revocable Trust Does Not Do
It is worth being clear. A revocable trust does not save Florida taxes, because Florida has no state estate or inheritance tax. It does not protect assets from your own creditors while you are alive, since you keep full control. And it does not replace a will, you still need a “pour-over” will to catch anything left outside the trust, plus a durable power of attorney (Ch. 709) and health care surrogate.
The Cost Picture
A revocable trust package costs more upfront than a simple will because there is more drafting and the funding work. The trade-off is on the back end: your family avoids probate court costs and the attorney and personal representative fees that come with a formal administration. For estates with real property or privacy concerns, the upfront cost often pays for itself.
The Timeline
Drafting and signing a Palm Beach revocable trust typically takes a few weeks. Funding it, deeding the house, retitling accounts, updating beneficiary designations, can take a few weeks more, since banks and the county recorder move at their own pace. Plan on the full process spanning roughly a month or two from start to fully funded.
Talk to a Florida Attorney
A revocable trust is the right tool for many Palm Beach families and the wrong one for others; it depends on what you own and how it is titled. Before paying for one, consult a licensed Florida estate planning attorney who can confirm whether the probate savings justify the cost in your specific situation, and who will actually help you fund it.
Have a question about your estate?
Talk it through with Russel Morgan — free 30-minute consult.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of estate planning in Palm Beach. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles .
