Who Can Be the Trustee of a Qualified Income Trust in Florida?
In Florida, the trustee of a Miller Trust (Qualified Income Trust) is whoever manages the trust account — depositing the applicant's income each month and paying out only what DCF allows. Florida's ESS Policy Manual and Fla. Admin. Code Ch. 65A-1 address who may EXECUTE (establish) a Qualified Income Trust -- the individual, their spouse, a person with legal authority to act on their behalf (power of attorney, guardian, or court), a person acting at their or their spouse's direction, or a licensed attorney (Appendix A-22.1, Step 4) -- but do not separately address who may serve as the trust's ongoing, day-to-day trustee. In practice, most families and attorneys name a third party (an adult child with power of attorney, or a spouse) rather than the individual themselves, both because general trust law disfavors a sole beneficiary also serving as sole trustee and because DCF's review process treats attorney-executed trusts as a streamlined path. Confirm the trustee question directly with your drafting attorney -- this guide does not treat self-trusteeship as either confirmed permitted or barred by Florida's rule text. The trustee does not have to be a lawyer or a professional; for the core setup this is a role most families fill themselves. For a complex situation, consult a Florida-licensed elder-law attorney. This guide is informational only and is not legal advice.
The trustee does not have to be an attorney or a professional fiduciary. Managing a Qualified Income Trust is an operational job, not a legal one: open the account, move the applicant's income through it each month, and pay out only what DCF allows — the same short list of tasks every month.
What the trustee does each month
- Deposits the applicant's income — Social Security, pension, and any other named sources — into the dedicated trust account.
- Pays out only the amounts DCF permits: typically the applicant's personal-needs allowance of $160/month, any spousal allowance, and the applicant's share of medical and care costs.
- Keeps simple records of what went in and what came out, so the trust stays compliant and Medicaid has no reason to question it.
Name a backup trustee
Many families name a successor trustee when they set the trust up, so that if the first trustee cannot continue, the trust keeps running without interruption. Either way the Florida setup is the same — see the step-by-step setup and what to say at the bank.
Whoever you name will need this
The trustee is the one who opens the account — and most banks have never seen this type of trust before. Free one-pager: the questions to ask before that first visit, emailed now. Then 4 more short emails over 3 weeks — then we stop.