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Elder Law Attorney for Pembroke Pines, Florida

Your Pembroke Pines parent is aging. The right plan protects them and you.

Nursing-home Medicaid, protecting the home, and the incapacity documents that avoid guardianship, for Broward County families, wherever you are.

  • Nursing-home Medicaid, protecting the home and qualifying the right way
  • Durable POA, health-care surrogate, and living will that avoid guardianship
  • For the adult child stepping in, handled by phone and video
Book a No-Cost Phone Consult Flat fee from $350 for the incapacity documents, from $3,500 for a Medicaid application, from $6,000 for a Medicaid asset protection trust. See pricing

Quick Overview

Florida elder law protects an aging Pembroke Pines parent's home, savings, and independence, through qualifying for nursing-home Medicaid, keeping the homestead out of estate recovery, and the incapacity documents (from $350 per person) that head off a court guardianship. We handle it by phone and video for Broward County families, wherever you are. Which pieces your parent needs is below.

Topics to Know HideShow

Below, we walk through the 4 issues that decide whether this is the right move for you. Jump to any one.

  1. Elder Law in Pembroke Pines: the Local Picture Pembroke Pines has the families elder law is built for, aging parents who want to stay in control and adult children helping, often from another state. We handle it by phone and video, wherever you are.
  2. Long-Term Care and Medicaid Skilled nursing runs several thousand dollars a month, and Medicare does not cover long-term care. Giving assets away to qualify usually backfires under the five-year look-back.
  3. Protecting the Home The homestead is generally exempt for Medicaid eligibility, but estate recovery can reach it after death. A lady bird deed keeps the home out of probate and beyond recovery.
  4. Avoiding a Guardianship If a parent loses capacity with no plan, the only route is a slow, public, costly court guardianship. A small set of documents signed while they are competent blocks it.

That’s the quick version. The details below are what decide your situation, and where the costly mistakes hide.

Elder Law in Pembroke Pines: the Local Picture

Pembroke Pines is one of Broward’s largest cities, a master-planned suburb of working families and a sizable, established 55+ population. A large planned-community market where first estate plans for families sit alongside Medicaid, homestead, and probate planning for its many active-adult residents.

Pembroke Pines has the families elder law is built for, aging parents who want to stay in control, protect the home, and pay for care without losing everything, and adult children trying to help, often from another state. We handle all of it wherever you are.

Families here search for this under different names, whether a geriatric attorney, a senior care lawyer, an elder care planning attorney, or simply an attorney for the elderly, and it is all the same work, protecting an aging parent’s home, savings, and right to decide for themselves.

Long-Term Care and Medicaid

Skilled nursing in Florida commonly runs several thousand dollars a month and up, and Medicare doesn’t cover long-term custodial care. Nursing-home Medicaid can, but giving assets away to “qualify” usually backfires under the five-year look-back. There are legitimate ways to protect the home and savings, whether you’re planning ahead or already in a crisis. See Medicaid planning → · check eligibility →

Protecting the Home

The homestead is the family’s biggest asset and is generally exempt for Medicaid eligibility. The real risk is estate recovery after death. A lady bird deed keeps the home out of probate and beyond recovery while your parent keeps full control. See how the home is protected →

Avoiding a Guardianship

If a parent loses capacity with no plan, the family’s only route is a court guardianship, which is slow, public, and expensive. A durable power of attorney, a health-care surrogate, a living will, and a HIPAA authorization, signed while your parent is competent, are the documents that block it. The medical ones are what Florida law calls advance directives, and this whole step is the part of elder law people call incapacity planning. If you have been searching for a guardianship lawyer in Broward County, start with the comparison, because most families need the document a parent can still sign, not a court case. Guardianship vs. power of attorney → · See the full elder-law guide →

Helping a Pembroke Pines parent from anywhere.

A No-Cost Phone Consult maps the care, the home, and the documents, by phone or video.

Book a no-cost consult

Handling a Parent’s Home and Papers in Pembroke Pines

Broward County has 419,468 homesteads, and the Save Our Homes cap holds the average one $230,895 below its market value in 2026. 58,009 Broward County parcels belong to an owner with a mailing address in another state, and 19,034 more to an owner abroad. An owner who lives elsewhere is the one a lady bird deed helps most, because a Florida house otherwise needs a second probate here. The Broward County court opened 4,663 new probate cases in the 2024 to 2025 court year. A house that passes by lady bird deed stays out of that count.

Street map of Pembroke Pines around Pembroke Pines City Hall, with numbered markers for the places named below
  1. 1Pembroke Pines City Hall, 601 City Center Way, Pembroke Pines, FL 33025. Directions
  2. 2Memorial Park, 9/11 Memorial and Veterans Memorial, 601 City Center Way, Pembroke Pines, FL 33025. Directions
  3. 3Broward County Governmental Center, Recording Office (Room 114) and Property Appraiser (Room 111), 115 South Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  4. 4South Regional/Broward College Library, 7300 Pines Boulevard, Pembroke Pines, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  5. 5The UPS Store, 10720 Pines Boulevard, Suite H 103, Pembroke Pines, FL. Directions
  6. 6Bonjour French Bakery & Cafe, 10800 Pines Boulevard, Pembroke Pines, FL. Directions
  7. 7Bank of America, 10050 Pines Boulevard, Pembroke Pines, FL. Directions
  8. 8BankUnited, 10090 Pines Boulevard, Pembroke Pines, FL. Directions
  9. 9Flamingo Post Office, 12590 Pines Boulevard, Pembroke Pines, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  10. 10Moscoso Group office, 2000 NW 150th Avenue, Pembroke Pines, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  11. 11Southwest Focal Point Senior Center, 301 NW 103rd Avenue, Pembroke Pines, FL. Directions
  12. 12Pembroke Pines YMCA, 501 SW 172nd Avenue, Pembroke Pines, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  13. 13Southwest Regional Library, 16835 Sheridan Street, Pembroke Pines, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  14. 14Broward Veterans Services, South Regional Courthouse, 3550 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, FL 33021 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  15. 15FLHSMV driver license office, 8001 Pembroke Road Pembroke Pines, FL 33025 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  16. 16Department of Health, South Regional Health Center, 4105 Pembroke Road, Hollywood, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
Who records your deed in Pembroke Pines, and why we e-record it

In Broward, deeds are recorded by the county itself, not the Clerk of Courts. The Recording Office of the Records, Taxes and Treasury Division is in Room 114 of the Broward County Governmental Center, 115 South Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 954-831-4000 and [email protected]. Broward publishes only that one recording counter, with no branch in Pembroke Pines, so a deed recorded in person means a trip downtown.

You will not need to go. We record your deed electronically through Simplifile, which appears under its ICE Mortgage Technology name on Broward’s own list of approved e-recording services. That matters here right now. The county’s status page, updated September 22, 2026, showed it was still working through mailed and courier documents received August 4. An e-recorded deed never joins that pile.

The recording fee Broward posts is $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page after, so a two-page deed costs $18.50 to record.

After it records: find it, print it, and watch it

We send you the recorded deed as soon as Broward returns it. The deed also shows up in Broward’s official records search, where you can look it up by your name and open the recorded image. Print it at home for the file drawer, or send it from your phone to the South Regional/Broward College Library at 7300 Pines Boulevard and collect the printout there. The library is one of the county branches with wireless print pick-up, a short drive east of City Hall along Pines Boulevard.

If a bank or title company asks for a certified copy, the Recording Office charges $1 a page plus $2 to certify.

Then take two minutes to sign up for Broward’s free Recording Notification Service. The service emails you whenever a document is recorded under a name or parcel number you are watching, which is the simplest protection there is against someone recording a false deed on your house.

Signing near City Hall, or from anywhere

A Florida deed needs two witnesses and a notary. We set up the signing for you by video, or you can sign in person in Pembroke Pines. The UPS Store at 10720 Pines Boulevard, Suite H 103, lists notary services seven days a week, and the store asks you to call ahead at 954-272-8869 because a notary is scheduled only when staffing allows. From City Hall at 601 City Center Way the walk is about 18 minutes.

If you are recording a deed yourself, Broward checks it against a list before it will record. Each witness’s printed name and address goes under the signature, the top right corner of the first page needs a three-inch blank square, and the deed needs the parcel number and a “prepared by” line. A deed missing any of these comes back, which in the mail queue can mean weeks. When we draft it, those are handled.

Most errands around a signing sit on Pines Boulevard just north of City Hall. Bonjour French Bakery & Cafe at 10800 Pines Boulevard serves coffee, breakfast and lunch, open from 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday and from 8 a.m. on Sunday, about 15 minutes on foot. Bank of America at 10050 Pines Boulevard and BankUnited at 10090 Pines Boulevard are about 17 minutes on foot, which helps if you bank at one of them and need a cashier’s check. The nearest post office is the Flamingo Post Office at 12590 Pines Boulevard, a short drive west, with its window open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

City Hall sits inside City Center, the block the city bounds by Pines Boulevard on the north, Palm Avenue on the east and Washington Street on the south, east of Hiatus Road.

Before you leave, walk over to Memorial Park, which shares the City Hall address at 601 City Center Way. Under the green pavilion stands the city’s 9/11 Memorial, built around a steel girder from the World Trade Center that New York gave Pembroke Pines in 2005, after Commissioner Angelo Castillo reached out to Mayor Michael Bloomberg for a piece of the towers. Local sculptors made the two pieces around it, Benoit Menasche’s white Italian marble showing pain, disbelief, grief and patriotism, and Felix Gonzalez’s firefighter and child in hand-hewn steel. The Veterans Memorial beside it is a fifteen-foot black granite obelisk carrying the seals of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines, circled by bricks engraved with the names of local veterans.

Your homestead exemption, and help filing it in person in Pembroke Pines

Homestead is handled by Marty Kiar, the Broward County Property Appraiser, whose office is in the same Governmental Center as the Recording Office, in Room 111. The exemptions desk answers at 954-357-6830, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can file online at bcpa.net, and for 2027 the window runs from March 3, 2026 to March 1, 2027. The Property Appraiser asks for a Florida driver license when you file.

If you would rather sit down with a person, the Property Appraiser’s staff come to Pembroke Pines several times a month, including a session at City Hall on the second Tuesday of each month through December. Appointments are at web.bcpa.net/ExemptionsExpress, and Michael Clark at the Property Appraiser’s office coordinates the sessions, at 954-357-5579 and [email protected].

  • Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., Southwest Regional Library, 16835 Sheridan Street
  • Monday, November 2, 2026, 9 to 11 a.m., Southwest Focal Point Senior Center, 301 NW 103rd Avenue
  • Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 9 to 11 a.m., Pembroke Pines City Hall, 601 City Center Way
  • Monday, November 16, 2026, 10 a.m. to noon, the lobby of the Pembroke Pines YMCA, 501 SW 172nd Avenue
  • Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., South Regional/Broward College Library, 7300 Pines Boulevard
  • Monday, December 7, 2026, 9 to 11 a.m., Southwest Focal Point Senior Center, 301 NW 103rd Avenue
  • Monday, December 7, 2026, 10 a.m. to noon, the lobby of the Pembroke Pines YMCA, 501 SW 172nd Avenue
  • Tuesday, December 8, 2026, 9 to 11 a.m., Pembroke Pines City Hall, 601 City Center Way

The Broward Property Appraiser answers the lady bird question in its own FAQ. An owner who deeds the future interest in the home to children or others and keeps a life estate keeps the homestead exemption and the existing Save Our Homes value. A lady bird deed keeps that life estate for you. After your death the exemption ends, the home is reassessed at market value the next year, and a family member who moves in files a new homestead application.

If your home is going into a trust instead of a lady bird deed, bring a notarized certificate of trust. The Property Appraiser asks for one before it will keep the exemption on a trust-owned home.

If you are a veteran with a disability rating

A disabled veteran may qualify for more than the basic homestead exemption, and the proof is a letter from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Broward Property Appraiser lists a $5,000 exemption for a veteran with a service-connected disability of at least 10 percent, and a full exemption on the homestead for an honorably discharged veteran with a service-connected total and permanent disability. Each is proved with a certificate or letter from the VA, and surviving spouses of qualifying veterans can keep some of these exemptions.

Broward County Veterans Services helps with the paperwork. The service location nearest Pembroke Pines is the South Regional Courthouse, 3550 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, and visits at every location are by appointment at 954-357-6622. The same call starts the county’s free Parks Passport for veterans with a service-related disability, which covers the weekend and holiday entrance fee at Broward County parks for five years.

If you want to honor a veteran in your family, the city sells engraved bricks for the walkway at the Veterans Memorial beside City Hall, through the Recreation and Cultural Arts Department at 954-743-1889.

If your name has changed since you bought the home

Marriage or divorce often leaves a home titled in a name you no longer use. We write the new deed with both names, the name on your old deed and your name today, so the record connects them and a future title search does not stall on the difference.

Your driver license should match as well, because the Property Appraiser asks for a Florida driver license when you file for homestead. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles requires every name change on a license to be made in person at a local office, and only after the Social Security Administration has updated your name, allowing 24 to 48 hours after that. The state driver license office is here in Pembroke Pines, at 8001 Pembroke Road, 954-497-1570, open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

When the time comes: what your family does, without probate

After you die, the house is already your family’s. To show that in the record, they record a certified copy of your death certificate and an affidavit, and then a title company can insure a sale. We prepare and record the rest.

The Department of Health office closest to Pembroke Pines for certified death certificates is the South Regional Health Center, 4105 Pembroke Road in Hollywood, at 954-467-4413. The office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closes at 3 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. Each certified copy is $15.

Local details checked September 29, 2026 on the offices' and businesses' own sites and Google Maps. Places are listed for convenience, not as a recommendation; call ahead, since hours change. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. County figures from the Florida Department of Revenue 2026 property roll and Data Book and the Florida courts' FY 2024 to 2025 Statistical Reference Guide. Sources: Broward Records, Taxes and Treasury · Broward recording status and e-recording list · Broward fee schedule · Broward deed checklist · Broward Recording Notification Service · Broward County Property Appraiser · BCPA outreach calendar, October 2026 · BCPA outreach calendar, November 2026 · BCPA outreach calendar, December 2026 · BCPA session, Pembroke Pines City Hall · BCPA FAQ, life estate and homestead · City of Pembroke Pines · Southwest Focal Point Community Center campus · Broward County Library wireless printing · The UPS Store, 10720 Pines Boulevard · Bonjour French Bakery · FDIC BankFind, branch locations · USPS locator, Flamingo Post Office · FLHSMV name and address changes · FLHSMV Broward office locations · Florida Department of Health in Broward · Pembroke Pines 9/11 Memorial · Pembroke Pines Veterans Memorial · Pembroke Pines City Center · Broward County Veterans Services · Broward County Property Appraiser, exemptions · OpenStreetMap walking routes

Communities We Serve

We work with families across Broward County, including Pembroke Lakes, Chapel Trail, Silver Lakes, Pembroke Falls, Spring Valley, Century Village, and beyond. Any deed in your plan records with Broward County’s Records, Taxes and Treasury Division. We are a Miami firm serving Pembroke Pines wherever you are; this is not a Pembroke Pines office.

Local Senior Resources in Pembroke Pines

You don’t have to do this alone, and not all of it is legal. For care navigation, Broward County’s Area Agency on Aging is the Area Agency on Aging of Broward County. It runs Florida’s Elder Helpline (1-800-96-ELDER) and free SHINE Medicare counseling, your first call for a Medicaid screening, caregiver support, and local senior services. We handle the legal side, the Medicaid-qualifying plan, the deed, the powers of attorney, and coordinate with those resources so nothing falls through the cracks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have an office in Pembroke Pines?

No. StepUpLaw is a Miami firm that serves Pembroke Pines and Broward County families by phone and video. That works well for adult children handling a Florida parent’s Medicaid, deed, or incapacity plan from out of state.

Will Medicaid take my parent’s Pembroke Pines-area home?

The Florida homestead is generally protected for Medicaid eligibility, so it is not sold to qualify. The real risk is estate recovery after death, which runs against the probate estate. A lady bird deed keeps the home out of probate and beyond recovery.

What documents keep my parent out of guardianship?

A durable power of attorney, a designation of health-care surrogate, a living will, and a HIPAA authorization, signed while your parent is clearly competent. Florida courts must consider these less-restrictive alternatives before appointing a guardian.

Updated September 29, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. We serve Pembroke Pines and Broward County residents wherever they are. Medicaid figures change annually and eligibility turns on your specific facts.

Get a plan in place for your Pembroke Pines parent

Book a No-Cost Phone Consult with Attorney Kevin D. Klagge, Esq. We’ll map the care, the home, and the documents, and quote a flat fee.

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