Florida estate planning involves two separate fiduciary roles that are frequently confused — often by the people who hold them. Your agent under a durable power of attorney (DPOA) and your personal representative (PR) under your will are not the same position. They have different authority, different duties, different legal bases, and they operate at different points in your life. Getting those roles right — and naming the right people for each — is fundamental to a plan that actually works.
The Agent Under a Durable Power of Attorney
A durable power of attorney is signed by a competent adult (the principal) who appoints someone (the agent) to act on their behalf in financial and legal matters. In Florida, the document is governed by Chapter 709 of the Florida Statutes and must comply with specific requirements — including separate initials next to each "superpower" (gifting, changing beneficiary designations, creating or amending trusts) to be effective for those powers.
Your agent has authority from the moment you sign the DPOA — or from the moment you become incapacitated, if you prefer a springing power — until one of two things happens: you revoke the power, or you die. The word "durable" means the power survives your incapacity. The authority ends at death.
An agent owes you a fiduciary duty. They must act in your best interest, keep your assets and their own completely separate, maintain accurate records, and account to you (or to your guardian or successor agents) if asked. An agent who uses the DPOA to enrich themselves or to benefit others at your expense is in breach of fiduciary duty and potentially committing exploitation of a vulnerable adult under Florida law.
The Personal Representative
A personal representative is the person appointed by the probate court to administer your estate after you die. The appointment is made by the court based on the nomination in your will — but it is the court's appointment, not a private one. The PR's legal authority comes from Letters of Administration issued by the Clerk of Court, not from the will itself.
The PR owes a fiduciary duty to the estate and to the beneficiaries. They gather and protect estate assets, give the required notices to beneficiaries and creditors, file the inventory, pay valid claims and taxes, and ultimately distribute the remaining estate to the people entitled to receive it. The duty runs to the estate's beneficiaries, not to the decedent — because the decedent is gone.
The personal representative's authority begins when Letters of Administration issue and ends when the court enters the Order of Discharge.
Why the Difference Matters
The most important practical difference: your agent's authority ends the moment you die. No matter how much authority your DPOA grants, your agent cannot use it after death — not to pay bills, not to transfer assets, not to sign checks. Any action taken by an agent after the principal's death is without authority and potentially fraudulent.
Families are sometimes caught off guard by this. A spouse who has been managing finances under a DPOA during a period of illness finds, on the day of death, that the authority they have been using is gone. Estate administration must now proceed under the PR's authority — which requires petition, court appointment, and issuance of Letters before anyone can act on behalf of the estate.
Naming the Same Person for Both Roles
Many clients name the same trusted person — a spouse, an adult child, a sibling — as both their agent under the DPOA and their personal representative under the will. That makes practical sense in most cases: one person understands the assets, the financial relationships, and the family situation. The handoff from one role to the other is straightforward.
The nomination in the will does not guarantee appointment. A named PR can be disqualified, can decline the role, or can be challenged by beneficiaries. A backup PR should always be nominated. Similarly, the DPOA should name at least one successor agent in case the primary agent is unavailable, has died, or is unwilling to serve.
If the people you have named for these roles have changed — through death, estrangement, changed circumstances, or changed relationships — updating your documents is not optional. It is urgent.
