Why Coral Springs Homeowners Use a Lady Bird Deed
Most families in Coral Springs never think about how their home will pass until something forces the question. A lady bird deed (its formal name is an enhanced life estate deed) answers it quietly. The home passes to the people you name the moment you die, with no probate, and you keep complete control while you are alive. You can sell it, borrow against it, or change your mind, all without anyone's permission.
Coral Springs is a master-planned northwest Broward city of family neighborhoods, with a steady older-adult base aging in place. A planned-suburb market where young-family wills and guardian nominations sit alongside homestead and probate-avoidance planning for longtime residents. See exactly how a lady bird deed works → You do not need a lawyer with an office in Coral Springs, because the deed records in Broward County no matter where it is drafted. Here is how working with a Florida lady bird deed attorney runs, wherever you are.
Where Your Deed Records in Broward County
A deed only protects your family once it is properly recorded, and in Broward County that happens with Broward County’s Records, Taxes and Treasury Division. The Broward County recording office sits at 115 South Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, but we e-record your deed electronically, so you never make the trip. The cost to record is modest and set by Florida law, the same in every county, usually around $18 to $30. The Department of Revenue has ruled that an enhanced life estate deed is not subject to documentary stamp tax, and in practice the deed is recorded with a nominal recital and a seventy cent stamp. We pull your exact legal description from the last recorded deed, prepare the document, and e-record it for you, so nothing depends on you driving to a courthouse.
Your Deed in Coral Springs, Step by Step
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.
- 1Coral Springs City Hall, 9500 West Sample Road, Coral Springs, FL 33065. Directions
- 2Broward 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
- 3Northwest Regional Library, 3151 North University Drive, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 4The UPS Store, 4613 North University Drive, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 5Chase, 3120 North University Drive, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 6Bank of America, 3200 North University Drive, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 7Wells Fargo, 3201 North University Drive, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 8Trader Joe’s, 2796 North University Drive, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 9Coral Springs Post Office, 3255 NW 94th Avenue, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 10Mullins Park, 10000 Ben Geiger Drive, Coral Springs, FL. Directions
- 11Starbucks, Sample & University, 3451 N University Dr, Coral Springs, FL 33065. Directions
- 12Museum of Coral Springs History, 10250 NW 29th Street, Coral Springs, 33065. Directions
- 13Coral Springs Gymnasium, 2501 Coral Springs Drive, Coral Springs, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 14Broward Veterans Services, Northwest Family Success Center, 10077 N.W. 29th St., Coral Springs, FL 33065. Directions
- 15FLHSMV driver license office, 1135 Banks Road Margate, FL 33063 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 16Department of Health, Paul Hughes Health Center, 205 NW 6th Avenue, Pompano Beach, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
Who records your deed in Coral Springs, 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 Coral Springs, 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 Northwest Regional Library at 3151 North University Drive and collect the printout there. The library is one of the county branches with wireless print pick-up, about 9 minutes on foot from City Hall.
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 Coral Springs. The UPS Store at 4613 North University Drive lists notary services, and the store asks you to call ahead at 954-227-0831 because a notary is scheduled only when staffing allows. The store is a short drive north of City Hall, or about 30 minutes on foot.
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.
If you have errands around the signing, most of them sit on North University Drive just east of City Hall, at 9500 West Sample Road. The Chase branch at 3120 North University Drive is about 7 minutes on foot, with Bank of America at 3200 and Wells Fargo at 3201 on the same stretch, which helps if you bank at one of them and need a cashier’s check. Trader Joe’s at 2796 North University Drive is about 15 minutes on foot for a quick lunch to take home. The Coral Springs Post Office is at 3255 NW 94th Avenue, about 12 minutes on foot, with its window open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For some air afterward, Mullins Park at 10000 Ben Geiger Drive has paved walking trails and shade, about 20 minutes on foot.
For hot coffee, the Starbucks at 3451 North University Drive, at the corner of Sample Road, opens at 5 a.m. every day, closes at 10 p.m. (9 p.m. on Sunday) and has seats inside, about 10 minutes on foot from City Hall.
Inside Mullins Park, the Museum of Coral Springs History at 10250 NW 29th Street tells how the city began, about 21 minutes on foot from City Hall. The museum building is the 30 by 20 foot real estate office Coral Ridge Properties put up in 1964 to sell lots in a city that did not yet have a paved road. The little office was moved again and again, served as the first police station in 1968, and survived a fire when volunteer firefighters used it for smoke drills at the city dump, until a flatbed truck towed it to Mullins Park behind a parade on October 20, 1977. The museum opens free to visitors one Saturday a month.
- Saturday, November 21, 2026, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Museum of Coral Springs History, 10250 NW 29th Street
- Saturday, December 19, 2026, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Museum of Coral Springs History, 10250 NW 29th Street
Your homestead exemption, and help filing it in person in Coral Springs
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 Coral Springs twice this October. 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].
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, and one of its service locations is in Coral Springs, at the Northwest Family Success Center, 10077 NW 29th Street, about 19 minutes on foot from City Hall. Visits 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 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 nearest state driver license office to Coral Springs is at 1135 Banks Road in Margate, 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. The office at 1160 North University Drive in Coral Springs handles motor vehicle services only, so a license name change has to go to Banks Road.
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 Coral Springs for certified death certificates is the Paul Hughes Health Center, 205 NW 6th Avenue in Pompano Beach, 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 session, Coral Springs Senior Expo · BCPA session, Northwest Regional Library · BCPA FAQ, life estate and homestead · City of Coral Springs · Mullins Park · Broward County Library wireless printing · The UPS Store, 4613 North University Drive · USPS locator, Coral Springs Post Office · FDIC BankFind, branch locations · Trader Joe’s Coral Springs · Florida Department of Health in Broward · Starbucks, Sample & University · Museum of Coral Springs History · Tour the Museum of History, dates · Broward County Veterans Services · FLHSMV name and address changes · FLHSMV Broward office locations · OpenStreetMap walking routes
The Mistakes We Fix for Broward County Families
The cheap way usually costs the most. A plain gift of the home to the kids loses the step-up in basis (a tax break that can save the family tens of thousands when they sell) and can trigger Florida's five-year Medicaid penalty. A do-it-yourself form often misses the homestead and spousal rules, which can quietly void the deed for a married owner. We handle those checks as part of the flat fee, so the deed actually holds up. What a valid form must contain → · when a deed is the wrong tool →
Helping Coral Springs families keep the home simple.
A No-Cost Phone Consult confirms a lady bird deed fits, by phone or video. If a trust is the better tool, we will tell you that too.
Book a no-cost consultWhat It Costs
Our flat fee is $399 for an individual owner and $449 for a joint deed, the same price the form mills charge, with a real attorney behind it. On top of that you pay only the government recording cost and the documentary stamp, passed through with no markup. The fee is posted up front and honored for 90 days. See the full cost breakdown →
Communities We Serve Near Coral Springs
We work with homeowners across Broward County, including Heron Bay, Eagle Trace, Maplewood, Cypress Run, Coral Springs, Parkland, and the surrounding area. StepUpLaw is a Miami firm serving Coral Springs families wherever you are; this is not a Coral Springs office, and we frame our work that way out of respect for Florida's advertising rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a Coral Springs office to set up a lady bird deed?
No. StepUpLaw is a Miami firm that serves Coral Springs and Broward County homeowners by phone and video, with the deed signed by remote online notary and e-recorded in your county. Many of our clients are adult children handling a Florida parent's home from another state.
Where does a Coral Springs lady bird deed get recorded?
With Broward County’s Records, Taxes and Treasury Division, in the county where the property sits. Recording fees are set by Florida law and are the same in every county, usually about $18 to $30 for a deed like this. The Department of Revenue has ruled that an enhanced life estate deed is not subject to documentary stamp tax, and in practice the deed is recorded with a nominal recital and a seventy cent stamp.
Will a lady bird deed help my Coral Springs home avoid Medicaid estate recovery?
Yes. Florida only recovers Medicaid costs from the probate estate. Because a lady bird deed passes the home outside probate, it stays out of recovery's reach, while your homestead also stays exempt during your lifetime. It is one of the main reasons Broward County families use it.
Can the notary be one of the two witnesses on my Coral Springs deed?
Yes, when the notary watches you sign and also signs on a witness line with a mailing address. A notary who only completes the acknowledgment is not a second witness, and a deed with one witness and a notary is a witness short. Florida law cures a missing witness five years after the deed is recorded, absent fraud, so recording promptly with Broward County’s Records, Taxes and Treasury Division is also what starts that clock.
Can I still sell my Coral Springs home after signing?
Yes, and that is the whole point of the "enhanced" part. You keep the right to sell, refinance, rent, or change your mind, all without asking the beneficiaries. If the home is your homestead and you are married, your spouse still joins the deed for a sale or mortgage.
Updated October 18, 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 Coral Springs and Broward County residents wherever they are. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.