[Fr. Frank]

BTW Tucker, the Monroe County Sheriffs (Keys)now have portable scales that look like door mats that they place in front of your trailer tires and you drive onto them and that gives them the combined weight of the trailer and contents and if you exceed the 3000lbs than yes you can be cited for it. I hear it's $500 ?

First of all there are several exceptions to that law. If you can stop your combination vehicle in 40 feet or less from 20 mph using the towing vehicle brakes, you do NOT have to have any brakes of the trailer at all, regardless of the weight of the towed vehicle. [FS 316.262(C)c-4] Most dually pickups with ABS, pulling 5000 lbs or less of trailer weight can do this. Some single rear wheel pickups can do it as well.

Just for grins, I tried stopping my 20' Seafari in 40' or less in a parking lot using my '02 F250 Crew Cab diesel with 4 wheel ABS. Total towed vehicle weight is about 3400 lbs on an older tandem axle trailer with no brakes. In 5 tries, I stopped in 40' or less 3 times. Best was about 37'. Worst was 41', twice.

As far as the fine goes, it's not $500, unless you're using an apportioned commercial tow vehicle pulling a permanently licensed trailer.
Rather, the law specifies a flat fine of $60, plus additional costs of $4 to $35, depending on county and circumstances. [FS 318.18(C)b]

Here's the good news: trailers manufactured prior to 2009 are "grandfathered" and are exempt from the new brake regulations, but still bound by the existing law in effect on the date of their manufacture.