CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...trust and its administration.
(1) The trustee’s duty to inform and account includes, but is
not limited to, the following:
....
(d) A trustee of an irrevocable trust shall provide a trust
accounting, as set forth in s. 736.08135, to each qualified
beneficiary annually and on termination of the trust or on
change of the trustee.
4
Corya disputed that she had a duty to give accountings to Sanders for the
year...
...As to each trust, the trial court ordered accountings from the inception
of the trust. It appears from the judgment that the trial court accepted
Sanders’s arguments that accountings from inception were appropriate
based on (1) an interpretation of sections
736.0813(1)(d) and
736.08135(1), Florida Statutes (2007), and (2) misconduct by Corya as
trustee, citing Mesler v. Holly,
318 So. 2d 530 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975). We
address each argument in turn.
Sections
736.0813(1)(d) and
736.08135(1)
At the beginning of the judgment, the trial court listed the issues to be
tried....
...One of the issues listed was:
Whether Florida Statute Section
736.0813, formerly Florida
Statute Section 733.035, limits the accountings to a period
beginning on or after January 1, 2003.[8]
Section
736.0813 incorporates by reference section
736.08135(1), Florida
Statutes (2007). In reference to the John Corya Irrevocable Trust, the trial
court ruled “the accounting should go back to when [Corya] became
accountable, which would be the inception of the trust,” citing section
736.08135(1), Florida Statutes (2007)....
...It appears the trial court may have
implicitly reached the same conclusion as to the other three trusts.
As discussed above, section
736.0813(1)(d) provides that a beneficiary
is entitled to a trust accounting “annually,” “as set forth in s.
736.08135.”
Section
736.08135(1), Florida Statutes, provides:
(1) A trust accounting must be a reasonably understandable
report from the date of the last accounting or, if none, from the
date on which the trustee became accountable, that adequ...
...y
discloses the information required in subsection (2).
(emphasis added). Because accountings had never been prepared for any
of the trusts, the trial court concluded Corya was statutorily required to
8 The correct statutory references are section 736.08135(1) and section
737.3035(1) (now repealed), respectively. Section 736.08135(1) was formerly
section 737.3035(1).
9
start the accountings for each trust from the dates Corya became trustee,
which was the inception of each trust....
...However, the trial court erred
because, as discussed above, the trial court failed to properly apply the
laches defense, which limits the duty to account to no earlier than four
years prior to the date suit was filed, and because another subsection of
section
736.08135, subsection (3), does not require accountings prior to
January 1, 2003.9
Section
736.08135(3), Florida Statutes (2007), states:
This section applies to all trust accountings rendered for any
accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2003.
(emphasis added). Because section
736.08135 became effective on July
1, 2007, we construe the combination of subsections (1) and (3) to be a
clear legislative statement that trustees of irrevocable trusts could not be
statutorily required to render accountings prior to January 1, 2003. In
other words, we construe section
736.08135(3) to be consistent with
statutory laches under section
95.11(6)....
...d
fiduciary duties. Instead, we construe that language as limiting the
beginning period for the first accounting, in situations where an
accounting had never been done or was not prepared annually, to be no
earlier than January 1, 2003, as stated in section 736.08135(3), Florida
Statutes (2007).
To construe the statutory language as the trial court did would result
in an impermissible statutory impairment on the obligations of contracts.
When Corya accepted the duties and responsibilities of...
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 1846
...trust and its administration.
(1) The trustee’s duty to inform and account includes, but is
not limited to, the following:
....
(d) A trustee of an irrevocable trust shall provide a trust
accounting, as set forth in s. 736.08135, to each qualified
beneficiary annually and on termination of the trust or on
change of the trustee.
Corya disputed that she had a duty to give accountings to Sanders for the
years preceding 2007, contending there was no sta...
...As to each trust, the trial court ordered accountings from the inception
of the trust. It appears from the judgment that the trial court accepted
Sanders’s arguments that accountings from inception were appropriate
based on (1) an interpretation of sections
736.0813(1)(d) and
736.08135(1), Florida Statutes (2007), and (2) misconduct by Corya as
trustee, citing Mesler v. Holly,
318 So. 2d 530 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975). We
address each argument in turn.
Sections
736.0813(1)(d) and
736.08135(1)
At the beginning of the judgment, the trial court listed the issues to be
tried....
...One of the issues listed was:
Whether Florida Statute Section
736.0813, formerly Florida
Statute Section 733.035, limits the accountings to a period
beginning on or after January 1, 2003.[9]
Section
736.0813 incorporates by reference section
736.08135(1), Florida
Statutes (2007). In reference to the John Corya Irrevocable Trust, the trial
court ruled “the accounting should go back to when [Corya] became
accountable, which would be the inception of the trust,” citing section
9 The correct statutory references are section
736.08135(1) and section
737.3035(1) (now repealed), respectively. Section
736.08135(1) was formerly
section 737.3035(1).
9
736.08135(1), Florida Statutes (2007)....
...It appears the trial court may have
implicitly reached the same conclusion as to the other three trusts.
As discussed above, section
736.0813(1)(d) provides that a beneficiary
is entitled to a trust accounting “annually,” “as set forth in s.
736.08135.”
Section
736.08135(1), Florida Statutes, provides:
(1) A trust accounting must be a reasonably understandable
report from the date of the last accounting or, if none, from the
date on which the trustee became accountable, that...
...However, the trial court erred
because, as discussed above, the trial court failed to properly apply the
laches defense, which limits the duty to account to no earlier than four
years prior to the date suit was filed, and because another subsection of
section
736.08135, subsection (3), does not require accountings prior to
January 1, 2003.10
Section
736.08135(3), Florida Statutes (2007), states:
This section applies to all trust accountings rendered for any
accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2003.
(emphasis added). Because section
736.08135 became effective on July
1, 2007, we construe the combination of subsections (1) and (3) to be a
clear legislative statement that trustees of irrevocable trusts could not be
statutorily required to render accountings prior to January 1, 2003. In
other words, we construe section
736.08135(3) to be consistent with
statutory laches under section
95.11(6)....
...must
be at least annually.
10
beginning period for the first accounting, in situations where an
accounting had never been done or was not prepared annually, to be no
earlier than January 1, 2003, as stated in section 736.08135(3), Florida
Statutes (2007).
To construe the statutory language as the trial court did would result
in an impermissible statutory impairment on the obligations of contracts.
When Corya accepted the duties and responsibilities of...
