A breach of fiduciary duty in Florida gives the wronged party the right to sue for the money they lost, ask the court to remove the fiduciary from their position, and in some cases recover punitive damages on top. When the victim is elderly or a disabled adult, the same conduct can also be prosecuted as a felony. Which of those remedies is realistic depends on who the fiduciary is, what they did, and how quickly you act.
The Three Elements You Have to Prove
Florida courts require a plaintiff to establish three things. A fiduciary relationship existed. The fiduciary breached the duty owed. That breach caused actual damages.
The relationship does not need a contract. The Florida Supreme Court has held that fiduciary duties “need not be legal; they may be moral, social, domestic or personal,” and that “the origin of the confidence is immaterial.”1FindLaw. Doe v. Evans Trustees, corporate directors, attorneys, guardians, and agents under a power of attorney are the common examples. Directors, for instance, must act in good faith and in a way they reasonably believe is in the corporation’s best interest, using the care of an ordinary prudent person in a similar position.2Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 607.0830 – General Standards for Directors Trustees carry parallel duties under Chapter 736.
The breach itself takes many forms. Self-dealing, where the fiduciary uses their position for personal gain, is the clearest. Others include failing to disclose material information, favoring one beneficiary over another, taking a business opportunity that belonged to the entity the fiduciary served, and failing to exercise reasonable care in managing assets. Florida’s Trust Code treats any violation of a trustee’s duties as a breach of trust, and the beneficiary does not have to prove the trustee acted with bad intent.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 736.1001 – Remedies for Breach of Trust
Causation is often where cases turn. The breach has to be the actual cause of the financial loss, not just a lapse of oversight that happened around the same time as harm from something else.
Money the Court Can Award
The default remedy is compensatory damages that cover the real financial loss: misappropriated funds returned, lost profits, and expenses caused by the misconduct. In trust cases, Section 736.1001 lets the court compel a trustee to “redress a breach of trust by paying money or restoring property,” order an accounting, and trace property that was wrongfully transferred so the beneficiary can recover it or its proceeds.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 736.1001 – Remedies for Breach of Trust
The court can also reduce or entirely deny the fiduciary’s compensation, void specific transactions the fiduciary entered into improperly, and impose a constructive trust on property acquired through the breach. A constructive trust means the fiduciary technically holds title but has to turn the property over to the rightful beneficiary.
Punitive Damages
When the conduct crosses from carelessness into intentional wrongdoing or gross negligence, punitive damages come on top of compensatory damages. Section 768.72 sets the bar high. The plaintiff needs clear and convincing evidence that the fiduciary either knew the conduct was wrong and likely to cause harm and did it anyway (intentional misconduct), or acted so recklessly it amounted to conscious disregard for others’ rights (gross negligence). You cannot even add the claim to your lawsuit until you make a preliminary evidentiary showing that supports it.4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 768.72 – Pleading in Civil Actions; Claim for Punitive Damages
Florida caps most punitive awards. The ceiling is generally the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000. If the misconduct was motivated solely by unreasonable financial gain and the dangerous nature of the conduct was actually known by the person making policy decisions, the cap rises to the greater of four times compensatory damages or $2 million. There is no cap when the fiduciary specifically intended to harm the plaintiff and actually did so.5Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 768.73 – Punitive Damages; Limitation
Removing the Fiduciary
Money is not always the point. For trustees, Section 736.0706 lets the court remove someone who has committed a serious breach of trust, persistently failed to administer the trust effectively, or become unfit for the role. A settlor, co-trustee, or beneficiary can petition, and the court can act on its own.6Justia Law. Florida Statutes 736.0706 – Removal of Trustee While removal is pending, the court can appoint a special fiduciary and suspend the current one to keep the damage from getting worse.
Courts can also remove corporate officers, guardians, and other fiduciaries whose continued service threatens the people they are supposed to protect. For attorneys, the same conduct can trigger a separate Florida Bar disciplinary case that may end in suspension or disbarment on top of any civil judgment.
Criminal Charges When the Victim Is Elderly or Disabled
Most fiduciary claims stay in civil court. Florida treats them differently when the victim is an elderly person or disabled adult. Under Section 825.103, exploitation includes a guardian, trustee, or agent under a power of attorney breaching their fiduciary duty in a way that results in an unauthorized taking of the victim’s property. It also covers anyone in a position of trust and confidence who knowingly obtains or uses the assets of a vulnerable person.7Justia Law. Florida Statutes 825.103 – Exploitation of an Elderly Person or Disabled Adult
The felony level tracks the dollar amount:
- $50,000 or more: first-degree felony, up to 30 years in prison.
- $10,000 to $49,999: second-degree felony, up to 15 years.
- Under $10,000: third-degree felony, up to 5 years.
The criminal case and the civil lawsuit are independent. Prosecutors do not have to wait for the civil case to conclude, and a conviction does not replace the beneficiary’s right to recover damages.
How Long You Have to Sue
Florida generally applies a four-year limitations period to breach of fiduciary duty claims. Where the claim involves fraud, Section 95.11(3)(i) gives four years from the date of discovery.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 95.11 – Limitations Other Than for the Recovery of Real Property Claims tied to a written agreement like a trust instrument may run under the five-year period for written contracts. The clock usually starts when the plaintiff knew or should have known about the breach, not when the breach happened. That discovery rule matters in fiduciary cases because the beneficiary often has no reason to suspect wrongdoing until well after it occurred.
Waiting is one of the most common ways viable claims die. The limitations clock runs whether or not you have confirmed the full extent of the harm.
Defenses You Should Expect
Fiduciaries facing these claims have several standard defenses. How strong each one is depends entirely on the facts.
No fiduciary relationship existed. The most basic defense. If the parties dealt at arm’s length in an ordinary commercial transaction, there is no duty to breach. Florida courts look at whether the plaintiff actually reposed trust and confidence in the defendant and whether the defendant accepted it. A buyer and seller are not fiduciaries to each other just because they shared information.
Business judgment rule. Under Section 607.0831, a corporate director is not personally liable for monetary damages unless the breach involved a criminal violation, an improper personal benefit, conscious disregard for the corporation’s best interest, or recklessness and bad faith. The rule presumes the director acted properly. Honest mistakes in judgment, even expensive ones, are generally protected if the director acted in good faith and with reasonable care.
Beneficiary consent or ratification. Section 736.1012 shields a trustee from liability if the beneficiary consented to the conduct, released the trustee, or ratified the transaction after the fact. The shield fails if the trustee obtained the consent through improper conduct, or if the beneficiary did not understand their rights or the material facts at the time.9Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 736.1012 – Beneficiarys Consent, Release, or Ratification
Lack of causation. The defendant can concede a breach and still win by showing the loss came from something else. A trustee who failed to diversify a portfolio, for example, may argue the losses came from a market downturn that would have hit any portfolio the same way. The plaintiff carries the burden of tying the breach to the harm.
Exculpatory clauses. Some trust instruments limit a trustee’s liability for certain conduct. Florida courts enforce reasonable clauses but refuse to shield bad faith, intentional wrongdoing, or reckless indifference. Clauses drafted by the trustee, or inserted when the settlor had no independent legal advice, are especially vulnerable.