## Facts

- The settlor executed a revocable inter vivos “living trust” and a will containing a residuary clause.
- An attached schedule to the trust listed certain assets, including real property owned by the settlor.
- The trust instrument recited that the scheduled property was “delivered” to the trustee and otherwise satisfied trust-execution formalities.
- The settlor did not execute a deed conveying the real property to the trustee.
- After the settlor’s death, the trust beneficiaries and the probate estate disputed whether the real property was a trust asset or an estate asset.
- The trial court ruled no valid transfer of the real property to the trust occurred and treated the realty as part of the probate estate passing under the will’s residuary clause.

## Issues

1. Whether a revocable inter vivos trust instrument and attached schedule listing real property, without a separate deed, validly conveys legal title to the trustee so the realty becomes a trust asset.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed.
- The trust instrument and attached schedule did not effect a conveyance of the real property because no deed was executed transferring legal title to the trustee.
- The trust documents could not be treated as a deed because they lacked operative words purporting to grant, transfer, or convey the real estate.
- The real property therefore remained in the probate estate and passed under the will’s residuary clause.

## Legal Principles

- Funding an inter vivos trust with Florida real property generally requires a deed conveying the realty to the trustee; a trust instrument and property schedule alone do not transfer legal title.
- An instrument intended to convey real property must contain words of present grant or transfer; intent to transfer, without conveyancing language, is insufficient to pass title.
- Compliance with some deed-like formalities (e.g., witnesses and property description) does not substitute for an actual conveyance when the document lacks operative transfer language.

## Conclusion

Because the settlor never executed a deed transferring the real property to the trustee and the trust documents contained no operative words of conveyance, the property was not a trust asset and instead remained in the probate estate to be distributed under the will’s residuary clause.


Flinn v. Van Devere, 502 So. 2d 454 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 3d Dist. 1987)