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As Florida practitioners (and courts) work their way through Florida’s new trust code (FTC), there are a few resources all should keep handy until we start getting some appellate opinions construing the new code:

  1. Legislative Staff Analysis of FTC. Prof. David F. Powell’s Scrivener’s Summary of the FTC was basically incorporated verbatim into the Legislative Staff Analysis for the FTC. The value of Prof. Powell’s explanation of all of the important subsections of the FTC and the underlying policy rationales for material changes to existing Florida trust law cannot be overstated. This is the definitive resource for understanding the FTC.
  2. Final Committee Draft of FTC.  Contains cross references to all corresponding Uniform Trust Code provisions.  UTC commentary should be helpful in the absence of Florida appellate opinions.
  3. The New Florida Trust Code, Part 1, and The New Florida Trust Code, Part 2. Prof. Powell’s excellent two-part series published in the Florida Bar Journal explaining the new FTC. Manny practitioners consider this to be the “unofficial” legislative history for the new FTC.
  4. UTC Reporter’s Summary of FTC.