• A living trust can be an effective way of handling your estate.in god we trust image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
  
  A Florida living trust is an estate planning document which is revocable. Revocable means that the person who conveys property to the trust, called a settlor, may terminate the trust and add or remove property from the trust at will. If you create a living trust, you may serve as the trustee but you will want to appoint a substitute trustee in the event you become incapacitated and a successor trustee when you die. The main purpose of such a trust is to provide for the appointment of someone to manage your financial affairs should you become incapacitated and also to avoid costs of probate upon your death.
  
  

Laws

• Living trusts in Florida are governed by Part VI of Chapter 736 of the Florida Statutes entitled the Florida Trust Code. Part I of the Code applies to all parts of the Code and sets forth the definitions and other general provisions of Florida probate law.
  
  

Specific Provisions

• Specific provisions of the Code which govern living trusts are set forth in Sections 736.0601to 736.0604. To create a living trust, you must be of legal age and sound mind and that the living trust must be in writing, signed by you and a witness and notarized by a notary public.
  
  

Limitation on Contest of Living Will

• Section 736.0604 deserves special emphasis as it limits the rights of those who seek to file contests against the creation of a living will after the death of the settlor. A contest of the living trust must be filed within six months of receiving knowledge of the existence of the trust.
  
  

General Statute of Limitation

• Chapter 95 of the Florida Statutes entitled Limitations establishes a five-year statute of limitations for actions founded on a written instrument which applies to the creation of a living trust. Thus, if you wanted to contest a living trust, you would have to do so within five years of the creation of the trust or within six months after you became aware of the trust. What this means is if you did not know of the trust until after the person died, and supposing that the person died more than five years after creating the trust, then you would have six months from the date you received notice of the trust to challenge it in a court of law.