Why Hialeah Homeowners Use a Lady Bird Deed
When people in Miami-Dade County ask us how to keep the family home simple, the answer is usually the same deed. 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.
Hialeah is one of Florida’s largest cities and overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a large population of older immigrants and tight-knit multigenerational households. A large, multigenerational community where protecting the family home, wills, and powers of attorney for aging parents are the central concerns, and where homestead protection carries real weight. See exactly how a lady bird deed works → You do not need a lawyer with an office in Hialeah, because the deed records in Miami-Dade County no matter where it is drafted. Here is how working with a Florida lady bird deed attorney runs, wherever you are.
Recording a Lady Bird Deed in Miami-Dade County
A deed only protects your family once it is properly recorded, and in Miami-Dade County that happens with the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and Comptroller. The Miami-Dade County recording office sits at 20 NW 1st Avenue in downtown Miami, 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 Hialeah, Step by Step
Miami-Dade County has 451,377 homesteads, and the Save Our Homes cap holds the average one $294,035 below its market value in 2026. 44,231 Miami-Dade County parcels belong to an owner with a mailing address in another state, and 6,351 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 Miami-Dade County court opened 5,828 new probate cases in the 2024 to 2025 court year. A house that passes by lady bird deed stays out of that count.
- 1Hialeah City Hall, 501 Palm Avenue, Hialeah, FL 33010. Directions
- 2Office of County Recorder, Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center, 20 NW 1st Avenue, Miami, Florida 33128 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 3Miami-Dade Clerk, Hialeah District Court, 11 East 6th Street, Hialeah, FL 33010. Directions
- 4Hialeah post office, 325 E 1st Ave, Hialeah, FL 33010. Directions
- 5Bank of America, Hialeah Miami Springs financial center, 175 E Hialeah Dr, Hialeah, FL 33010. Directions
- 6Babcock Park, 651 East 4th Avenue, Hialeah, FL 33010. Directions
- 7Curtiss e-Library, 501 E 4th Avenue, Hialeah, FL 33010. Directions
- 8John F. Kennedy Library, 190 W 49th Street, Hialeah, FL 33012 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 9Office Depot Store #213, 3600 NW Le Jeune Road, Miami Springs, FL 33166. Directions
- 10Siamo Ristorante, 17 Westward Dr Miami Springs, FL 33166. Directions
- 11Karla Cuban Bakery Hialeah, 7950 W 28th Avenue, Hialeah, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 12Hialeah Park, 100 E 32nd St, Hialeah, FL 33013 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 13Hialeah Community Resource Center, Veteran Services Program, 300 East First Avenue, Hialeah, FL 33010. Directions
- 14Tax Collector, Northside driver license office, 7900 NW 27 Ave, Miami, FL 33147 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 15Milander Center for Arts and Entertainment, 4800 Palm Avenue, Hialeah, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
- 16Florida Department of Health, North Dade Vital Records, 18680 NW 67th Avenue, Hialeah, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
Who records your deed in Miami-Dade, and how we record it
A deed on a Hialeah home is recorded by the Miami-Dade Office of County Recorder, run by the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, Juan Fernandez-Barquin. The Recorder is downtown, on the fifth floor of the Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center, 20 NW 1st Avenue, Miami, open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Recorder’s phone is 786-463-0566.
The Clerk does have a Hialeah District Court at 11 East 6th Street, about 2 minutes on foot from Hialeah City Hall, open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Clerk’s page for that courthouse lists civil cases, marriage licenses, traffic and parking in Room 100 and domestic violence intake in Room 105, and does not list recording. A deed handed in at the Hialeah counter therefore still has to travel downtown.
You will not need to make either trip. We record your deed electronically through Simplifile, which is on the Clerk’s own list of approved e-recording services. The Clerk reviews each e-recorded document before it becomes public, which usually takes 1 to 3 business days. The posted recording fee is $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, 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 the Clerk returns it. The deed also appears in the Clerk’s official records search, where you can look it up by your name and print a copy at home for the file drawer.
If a bank or title company asks for a certified copy, the County Recorder charges $1 a page plus $2 to certify.
Then take two minutes to sign up for the Clerk’s free Property Fraud Alert. You register your folio number, and the Clerk emails you within 24 hours whenever a deed is recorded against it. The alert is the simplest early warning there is against someone recording a false deed on your house. If one ever appears, the Clerk’s property fraud page posts fill-in forms for a quiet title complaint over a forged deed, and we can take it from there.
Signing your deed from Hialeah
A Florida deed needs two witnesses and a notary. We set up the signing for you by video, so you can sign at your kitchen table in Hialeah with the witnesses in the room and the notary on the screen.
If you are recording a deed yourself, the Clerk posts a checklist. The deed must be the original, with the addresses of the grantor and grantee, two witnesses whose printed names and post office addresses appear under their signatures, a full notary acknowledgment and a “prepared by” statement. The Clerk also asks for a Property Transfer form, encourages the folio number, and wants a self-addressed stamped envelope for the return. When we draft it, those are handled.
The bank, the mail, printing, lunch and a park near City Hall
Hialeah City Hall is at 501 Palm Avenue, a stretch the City’s website now lists as 501 President Donald J. Trump Avenue, and the City’s main number is 305-883-5800. The errands that go with a deed are close by.
The Hialeah post office at 325 East 1st Avenue is about 7 minutes on foot southeast of City Hall. The retail counter is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and the phone is 305-889-5421, which helps when an original has to go out by certified mail.
Bank of America has its Hialeah Miami Springs financial center and ATM at 175 East Hialeah Drive, about 11 minutes on foot from City Hall, if you bank there and need a cashier’s check.
When you are done, Babcock Park at 651 East 4th Avenue, a city park with a children’s playground and basketball courts, is about 14 minutes on foot east of City Hall.
To print a document near City Hall, the City’s Curtiss e-Library at 501 East 4th Avenue, about 12 minutes on foot, prints in black and white for 20 cents a page and in color for 50 cents. The branch is open Monday to Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at 305-883-6950. The main John F. Kennedy Library at 190 West 49th Street is open longer, Monday to Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at 305-821-2700, and it lets you send a document from your phone and pick up the printout the same day.
For lunch, Siamo Ristorante, a family-owned Italian restaurant and pizzeria across the canal at 17 Westward Drive in Miami Springs, is about 15 minutes on foot from City Hall. The restaurant opens at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday and is closed Mondays, at 305-449-9553.
For a cafecito, Karla Cuban Bakery’s Hialeah shop at 7950 West 28th Avenue, on the west side of the city, has a ventanita, the little walk-up window, serving cortadito, croquetas and pastelitos, and opens at 6 a.m. The bakery is a drive from City Hall rather than a walk.
To print or copy a document, the Office Depot at 3600 NW Le Jeune Road in Miami Springs has a print counter and self-service kiosks for copies, scans and faxes. The store is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 305-884-8882, and it is a short drive south of City Hall.
The racetrack with the flamingos
The landmark every Hialeah owner knows is Hialeah Park, at 100 East 32nd Street, a short drive north of City Hall. The track’s own history says it opened for thoroughbred racing on January 15, 1925, and that Joseph Widener imported its first flamingos from Cuba in 1934 for the infield lake. The flock bred there so well that the infield was named a National Audubon sanctuary, and Amelia Earhart said her farewell to the continental United States from Hialeah before her 1937 flight around the world. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Your homestead exemption in Miami-Dade
Homestead is handled by the Property Appraiser of Miami-Dade County, Tomás Regalado. The office has no branch in Hialeah. Its main office is in Suite 710 of the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW 1st Street, Miami, and its other office is in Cutler Bay, both open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The residential exemptions line is 305-375-4712. You can apply through the Property Appraiser’s online exemptions portal, and the application and documents are due by March 1.
The Property Appraiser brings its exemption specialists to Hialeah several times a year. In 2026 it held outreach events at the Milander Center for Arts and Entertainment, 4800 Palm Avenue, on February 26, and at the Miami Dade College Hialeah Campus, 1780 West 49th Street, on July 28, each offering one-on-one help with homestead applications. Upcoming events are posted on the Property Appraiser’s event list.
Questions about a recorded deed or a change of ownership go to the deed line at 305-375-4064 or to [email protected], which is also the address for updating where your tax bill is mailed.
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 Miami-Dade Property Appraiser lists a $5,000 reduction in assessed value for an honorably discharged veteran with a service-connected disability of at least 10 percent, and an exemption from all property taxes on the homestead for an honorably discharged veteran with a service-connected total and permanent disability. Veterans 65 and older with a combat-related disability have a separate application, form DR-501DV. Each exemption carries over to an un-remarried surviving spouse who holds title and homestead, and each application with its VA letter is due by March 1.
Miami-Dade County’s Veteran Services Program helps veterans and their families apply for VA benefits at no cost, and it comes to Hialeah every week. Its counselor is at the Hialeah Community Resource Center, 300 East 1st Avenue, about 6 minutes on foot from City Hall, on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 305-884-4801. Bring proof of military service.
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. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles requires every name change on a license to be made in person, and only after the Social Security Administration has updated your name, allowing 24 to 48 hours after that. In Miami-Dade the driver license offices are now run by the Tax Collector, Dariel Fernandez. The nearest full-service office to Hialeah City Hall is Northside, at 7900 NW 27th Avenue in Miami, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 305-375-5448, and the Tax Collector says its offices take both appointments and walk-ins during those hours. Book only through mdctaxcollector.gov, because the Tax Collector has warned that unofficial appointment websites are issuing invalid confirmations.
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. The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade issues death certificates without an appointment, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Its North Dade Vital Records office carries a Hialeah address, 18680 NW 67th Avenue, north of the city center, and its phone is 305-628-7230. The downtown Health District Center at 1350 NW 14th Street, Miami, issues them too, at 305-575-5030. Both charge $20 for the first certificate and $16 for each additional copy, and ask for a copy of a valid ID with every request. We prepare and record the rest.
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: Miami-Dade Clerk, Official Records · Miami-Dade Clerk, Hialeah District Court · Miami-Dade Clerk, Soto Justice Center · Miami-Dade Clerk, Property Fraud Alert · City of Hialeah · City of Hialeah, Babcock Park · Property Appraiser of Miami-Dade County, homestead · Property Appraiser contacts · Property Appraiser outreach events · Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade, death certificates · Florida Department of Health, North Dade Vital Records · USPS, Hialeah post office · Office Depot Store #213, Miami Springs · OpenStreetMap walking routes (FOSSGIS foot router) · Bank of America, Hialeah Miami Springs · Hialeah Public Libraries, Locations and Hours · Hialeah Public Libraries, Computers and Internet (printing fees) · Siamo Ristorante · Karla Cuban Bakery Hialeah · Hialeah Park, history · Hialeah Park, famous flamingos · Hialeah Park, contact · Miami-Dade County Veteran Services Program · Property Appraiser, 10 percent disabled veteran · Property Appraiser, totally and permanently disabled veteran · Property Appraiser, veterans 65 and older with a combat-related disability · FLHSMV name and address changes · FLHSMV Miami-Dade office locations · Miami-Dade Tax Collector, driver license services (archived July 25, 2026) · Miami-Dade Tax Collector
The Mistakes We Fix for Miami-Dade 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 →
One home, one deed, no probate for your Hialeah family.
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 Hialeah
We work with homeowners across Miami-Dade County, including Hialeah Gardens, Miami Lakes, Westland, Palm Springs North, Country Club, Miami Springs, and the surrounding area. StepUpLaw is a Miami firm serving Hialeah families wherever you are; this is not a Hialeah office, and we frame our work that way out of respect for Florida's advertising rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a Hialeah office to set up a lady bird deed?
No. StepUpLaw is a Miami firm that serves Hialeah and Miami-Dade 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 Hialeah lady bird deed get recorded?
With the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, 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 Hialeah 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 Miami-Dade County families use it.
Can the notary be one of the two witnesses on my Hialeah 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 the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and Comptroller is also what starts that clock.
Can I still sell my Hialeah 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 Hialeah and Miami-Dade County residents wherever they are. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.