Florida Banking November 2021

Trust & Wealth Management Division Legislative Accomplishments

Employee/Director/Officer Liability (Passed in 2021) Extends liability protection for officers/di rectors/employees of corporate trustee • Provides the same 6-month statute of limitations protection for individuals • Protects individuals from facing person al liability lawsuits Payments to Surviving Successors (Passed in 2020) New mechanisms for survivors to receive small accounts without formal administration • Simple affidavit for accounts under $1,000 and court petition for amounts under $10,000 • Deceased has no outstanding creditors or known will and affiant takes on the liability Electronic Legal Documents (Passed in 2019) Updates how notarized documents and wills may be created electronically • Removes two witness presence require ments for electronic wills to be created • Establishes electronic notaries who may virtually notarize most documents Omnibus Trust Updates (Passed in 2018) Additional updates to Florida’s Trust Code Clarifies Trust Code to provide settlor's intent as paramount to interests of beneficiaries • Provides flexibility and modernizes up dates to Florida’s decanting rules • Providing glitch fixes to the electronic trust accountings statute passed by FBA in 2015 Digital Assets (Passed in 2016) Allows Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets of Deceased Persons • Allows access to four types of fiducia ries: personal representatives of estates, guardians of minors/incapacitated per

sons, agents with power of attorney, and estate trustees • Allows full user control over digital assets by using online tools or separate wills and trusts to designate a separate person • Provides specific procedures and circum stances of how and what a custodian may access Estates (Passed in 2015) Provides necessary changes and clarifica tions to Florida’s probate code. • Clarifies guidelines to appropriately assess attorney fees in probate judicial disputes • Revises the default guidelines on will challenges in judicial proceedings Directed Trusts (Passed in 2014) Limits the liability of fiduciaries who act as co-trustees • Clarifies that fiduciaries may draft trusts which exonerate an excluded cotrustee • Removes the duty of the excluded trustee to make inquiry into co-trustee actions Family Trust Companies (Passed in 2013) Creates statutory and regulatory framework for FTCs • Authorizes families to establish FTCs which provide a specialized approach to wealth • Establishes licensing for these entities under the Florida Office of Financial Regulation rather than the Federal Ex change Commission Power of Attorney (Passed in 2013) Changes to improve the functionality of Florida’s statute • Clarifies and updates the act for attor ney fees, disabled principals, out of state acceptance and broker-dealers who may use POAs

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