## Facts

- A widow and decedent executed a prenuptial agreement requiring the decedent to arrange, by will, trust, beneficiary designation, or joint ownership, that the widow receive 50% of his assets at death.
- The parties married the same day; the decedent died about three weeks later without making arrangements to transfer 50% of his assets to the widow.
- The decedent’s probate estate was opened; a bank was appointed personal representative.
- The decedent also had a revocable living trust; the bank became successor trustee upon his death.
- The widow timely filed a statement of claim in probate for breach of the prenuptial agreement; no timely objection was filed, making the claim allowed in probate.
- The widow also filed a separate civil action against the bank as (1) personal representative and (2) successor trustee, seeking recovery from trust assets if the probate estate proved insufficient.
- The trial court dismissed the claim against the bank as successor trustee with prejudice as premature; the widow appealed only that dismissal.

## Issues

1. Whether a beneficiary/creditor claim against the successor trustee of a revocable trust is premature when the trust’s statutory liability depends on a future determination that the probate estate is insufficient.
2. If the claim is premature, whether dismissal should be with prejudice or without prejudice.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed that the widow’s claim against the bank as successor trustee was premature because it depended on a future, uncertain finding of estate insufficiency.
- The appellate court reversed the “with prejudice” portion of the dismissal.
- The case was remanded with directions to enter a dismissal without prejudice.

## Legal Principles

- Under Florida probate statutes, estate obligations are paid primarily from probate assets; a revocable trust is liable only to the extent the estate is insufficient.
- The personal representative may seek payment from the trustee only after insufficiency is established and only in the amount certified as required to satisfy the shortfall.
- A civil claim premised on a contingency that may not occur (estate insufficiency) is not presently justiciable and is subject to dismissal as unripe.
- A dismissal based on prematurity/ripeness is not a merits adjudication and generally should be without prejudice to refiling when the claim becomes justiciable.

## Conclusion

The court held that a claim against a revocable trust’s successor trustee to satisfy an allowed estate obligation is unripe until probate assets are shown to be insufficient, and it required dismissal without prejudice so the claimant may sue later if statutory conditions for reaching trust assets are met.


Shuck v. Bank of Am., N.A., 862 So. 2d 20 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2003)