Florida Has No Transfer on Death Deed for Real Estate
More than 30 states and DC let you sign a transfer on death deed that passes your house to a named beneficiary without probate. Florida is not one of them. It has not adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, and no 2026 bill to create one made it through the Legislature. (See transfer on death deeds by state for the full list.)
Florida does have transfer on death rules for other assets. Chapter 711 of the Florida Statutes lets you register stocks and brokerage accounts in TOD form, and banks offer pay-on-death accounts. Neither works for land.
For your house, the Florida answer is the Lady Bird deed, formally an enhanced life estate deed. You keep a life estate plus the power to sell, mortgage or revoke without anyone's consent, and the people you name take the home automatically when you die. Florida courts and title insurers have treated these deeds as routine for decades. If you want the general mechanics first, read our Lady Bird deed overview. This post covers what is specific to Florida.
Signing and Recording the Deed
Two witnesses and a notary
Florida is stricter than most states about deed signing:
- Two subscribing witnesses. Fla. Stat. 689.01 requires a deed to be signed in the presence of two witnesses, who also sign. Witnesses can appear by audio-video technology if the remote witnessing rules are followed.
- A notary acknowledgment, so the deed can be recorded.
- Names and addresses printed on the deed. Under Fla. Stat. 695.26, the clerk won't record the deed unless each signer's name is printed under the signature with a post-office address, the preparer's name and address appear, and each grantee (beneficiary) has a name and address. Since January 1, 2024, each witness's post-office address must also appear under the witness's signature. Old forms that leave out witness addresses get rejected.
Recording fees
You record the deed with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property sits. Most clerks charge $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, so a typical three-page Lady Bird deed costs about $27 to record.
Documentary stamp tax
Florida taxes deeds at 70 cents per $100 of consideration (60 cents in Miami-Dade) under Fla. Stat. 201.02. A Lady Bird deed is usually signed for no money, so the tax is normally nothing, or the minimum of 70 cents that many clerks collect.
The trap is a mortgage. Section 201.02 counts "the amount of any mortgage" on the property as consideration, whether or not the new owner assumes it. That's why a gift deed of a mortgaged house to your children can owe real tax. If you deeded a house with a $150,000 loan balance outright, the tax would be $150,000 / 100 x $0.70 = $1,050.
A Lady Bird deed is different. In Technical Assistance Advisement 20B4-004 (October 2020), the Florida Department of Revenue concluded that an enhanced life estate deed "does not transfer any present beneficial interests," so it is not subject to documentary stamp tax regardless of consideration. Two caveats: the property in that ruling had no mortgage, and an advisement binds the Department only for the taxpayer who asked. Most practitioners rely on it, but if your house is mortgaged, have the attorney who drafts the deed confirm how the stamps will be handled.
Florida's Homestead Rules: Who Has to Sign
This is where Florida Lady Bird deeds most often go wrong. Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution says your homestead can't be devised if you're survived by a spouse or a minor child, except to your spouse when there's no minor child. It also says you can give away or sell the homestead during life only if your spouse joins in. Fla. Stat. 732.4015 repeats the devise restriction.
If you're married
Your spouse should sign the deed with you, even if your spouse isn't on title. The alternative is a valid written waiver of homestead rights. Fla. Stat. 732.7025 lets a spouse waive those rights inside a deed using specific statutory language, and Fla. Stat. 732.702 allows a separate waiver signed before two witnesses (after marriage, each spouse must make fair disclosure of their finances).
What happens if a married owner signs alone? The remainder to your children (or anyone other than your spouse) is at risk. If your spouse survives you, the house can pass under Fla. Stat. 732.401 instead of under your deed: your spouse gets a life estate and your descendants get the remainder, or your spouse can elect within six months of your death to take a one-half interest as a tenant in common. That's often not what the family intended, and fixing it may take a lawsuit.
If you have a minor child
If you die while a child of yours is under 18, the constitutional restriction can defeat a remainder that names anyone else, such as a sibling or a trust for the child. Attorneys handle this differently, and some will steer you to another tool until your youngest turns 18. Tell the attorney about every child.
Non-homestead property
A rental, a vacation condo or vacant land isn't subject to these devise restrictions, so a single owner can sign a Lady Bird deed on it alone. Married owners should still ask about spousal rights such as the elective share.
What Happens to Your Property Tax
While you're alive: nothing changes
You keep a life estate, and Fla. Stat. 196.041 treats a life estate as equitable title that qualifies for the homestead exemption under 196.031. Your exemption continues.
Your Save Our Homes cap also continues. Fla. Stat. 193.155(3) lists transfers that are not a change of ownership when the same person remains entitled to the homestead exemption, including a deed where you are both grantor and grantee and others are added. Some property appraisers, Orange County's among them, ask you to file a fresh homestead application after recording a life estate deed. Call your county's office after recording so the exemption isn't dropped by mistake.
One thing to avoid: if a remainder beneficiary moves in and applies for homestead on the property while you're alive, that can count as a change of ownership and reset the assessment.
At your death: reassessment
When you die and the remainder vests, the transfer is a change of ownership under 193.155. The cap is lost and the home is reassessed at just (market) value on the next January 1. The main exceptions are a transfer to a surviving spouse and a transfer to a permanent resident who was legally or naturally dependent on you.
Here is a rough example. Say your home's market value is $450,000 but Save Our Homes has held its assessed value at $180,000. Assume 6 mills of school tax and 11 mills of everything else.
| Before death (your homestead) | Heir moves in and files homestead | Heir rents it out | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessed value | $180,000 | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Exemption | $50,000 ($25,000 for school tax) | $50,000 ($25,000 for school tax) | None |
| Approximate annual tax | $2,360 | $6,950 | $7,650 |
If your heir will live in the house, they need to file their own homestead application by March 1 of the year after they take title. If they're selling a Florida homestead of their own, they may be able to port its Save Our Homes benefit. For more on what heirs face, see property taxes on an inherited house. The exemption amounts could change after the November 2026 vote on Florida Amendment 3.
Medicaid Planning in Florida
Elder law attorneys in Florida use Lady Bird deeds for two Medicaid reasons:
- No look-back problem. Because you can revoke the deed, signing it generally isn't treated as a transfer of assets for Medicaid's five-year look-back. A plain gift deed to your kids would be.
- Outside estate recovery. Florida recovers Medicaid costs by filing a claim against the deceased recipient's estate in probate under Fla. Stat. 409.9101, and it can't enforce that claim against property that is exempt from creditors. A home that passes by Lady Bird deed never enters the probate estate.
A Florida homestead that passes to qualifying heirs is often protected from recovery anyway. The deed matters most for non-homestead real estate, for a house that might lose homestead status after you move into a nursing home, and for heading off arguments over whether the home qualifies. Medicaid rules change, so if Medicaid is the reason for the deed, use an elder law attorney.
Creditors, Mortgages and Liens
A Lady Bird deed doesn't wipe out what you owe on the house. Your beneficiaries take it subject to any mortgage, unpaid property tax and recorded liens. Florida's constitutional homestead protection doesn't stop the mortgage lender or the tax collector either. The constitution carves out taxes and debts for buying, improving or repairing the home. (See what happens if you don't pay property taxes.)
Against your ordinary unsecured creditors, the picture is better. Homestead protection carries over to your heirs under Article X, Section 4(b), and a home that passes outside probate isn't available to pay claims filed in a probate case. Title insurers will still look for judgments recorded against you, and against the beneficiaries, before they insure a sale.
What Your Heirs Do After You Die
- Record a certified death certificate (ideally a copy without the cause of death, since it becomes public) with the clerk in the county where the house is. Many attorneys also record an affidavit identifying the Lady Bird deed by book and page and stating who now holds title. Title companies routinely ask for it, though no statute requires it.
- Deal with the mortgage. Keep payments current and contact the servicer. Federal law generally keeps a lender from calling the loan just because a relative inherited the house.
- Update the property appraiser and tax collector, and file a homestead application by March 1 if a beneficiary will live there.
- If selling, expect the title company to want the recorded death certificate, the affidavit, payoff letters for any liens, and proof that no surviving spouse or minor child could challenge the deed under the homestead rules.
When the home is sold later, the beneficiaries' cost basis is generally the value on the date of death. See capital gains tax when you sell a home.
What It Costs Compared With a Trust or Probate
Florida attorneys commonly charge a flat fee for a Lady Bird deed, often in the range of a few hundred dollars to around $1,000, more if title is messy or a waiver is needed. Add about $27 in recording fees. Compare that with probate. For a formal Florida administration, Fla. Stat. 733.6171 sets a presumed reasonable attorney fee of $1,500 for the first $40,000 of the estate, $750 for each of the next two $30,000 bands, and 3% of the value from $100,000 to $1 million. A $400,000 condo going through probate implies an attorney fee of about $12,000, before the personal representative's fee and court costs. More detail is in how much probate costs.
| Lady Bird deed | Revocable living trust | Will and probate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avoids probate for the house | Yes | Yes, if the house is deeded to the trust | No (homestead may still need a court order) |
| Typical upfront cost | Low (one deed) | Higher (trust plus deeds) | Low will, higher costs at death |
| Homestead exemption and Save Our Homes during life | Kept | Kept if the trust is drafted for it | Kept |
| Spouse and minor child restrictions | Apply | Apply | Apply |
| Handles incapacity | No | Yes, successor trustee steps in | No (needs a power of attorney) |
| Covers other assets | Only that property | Everything titled to the trust | Everything in your name alone |
| Medicaid estate recovery | Generally outside it | Depends on the trust | Probate assets are exposed |
For a deeper comparison, read living trust vs. Lady Bird deed vs. TOD deed. Deeding the house to your kids outright instead usually costs them the stepped-up basis; see quitclaim deed vs. transfer on death deed.
Bottom Line
Florida has no transfer on death deed for real estate, so a Lady Bird deed is the standard low-cost way to pass a Florida home without probate. Sign it with two witnesses and a notary, put every witness's address on it, and record it with the county clerk. If you're married and it's your homestead, get your spouse's signature or a proper waiver. Your homestead exemption and Save Our Homes cap stay in place while you live. At your death the home is reassessed the next January 1 unless it goes to your spouse, and an heir who moves in must apply for homestead by March 1. Check property tax rates in your county on our Florida page.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Florida homestead, Medicaid and documentary stamp rules are technical and change over time. Have a Florida-licensed attorney prepare or review any deed before you sign it.