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Lady Bird Deed in Melbourne, Florida

Your Melbourne home is likely the most valuable thing you own. A lady bird deed keeps it out of probate while you stay in full control for the rest of your life.

  • No probate on the home, recorded right here in Brevard County
  • Full control for life, so you can sell, refinance, or change it anytime
  • Keeps the step-up in basis, and avoids the Medicaid penalty that gifting the home would trigger
Book a No-Cost Phone Consult Attorney-drafted, $399 flat + recording

Quick Overview

For Melbourne homeowners, a lady bird deed is the simplest way to pass the home with no probate while keeping full control during your life. It is attorney-drafted from $399 plus recording and e-recorded for you in Brevard County. The recording steps, the common mistakes, and the cost that decide it are below.

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

  1. Why Melbourne Homeowners Use a Lady Bird Deed The home passes to your family the moment you die, with no probate, while you keep full control to sell or change it for life. With Melbourne values near $349,000, keeping that out of court matters.
  2. Recording a Lady Bird Deed in Brevard County Your deed protects the family only once it is recorded with the Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller. We e-record it for you, so you never drive to a courthouse, and the cost is set by Florida law.
  3. The Mistakes We Fix for Brevard County Families A plain gift to the kids loses the step-up and can trigger a five-year Medicaid penalty. A do-it-yourself form often misses the homestead and spousal rules that quietly void it.
  4. What It Costs A flat $399 for an individual or $449 for a joint deed, the same price the form mills charge, with an attorney behind it. Only the government recording cost is added, at cost.

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

Why Melbourne Homeowners Use a Lady Bird Deed

Most families in Melbourne 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.

Melbourne anchors the Space Coast, with about one in five city residents age 65 or older and an even higher retiree share across Brevard County. A Space Coast mix of a sizable beachside retiree population for elder-law and Medicaid content and working aerospace households for first estate plans. With a median home value around $349,000, keeping that value out of probate and protecting the step-up in basis matters here. See exactly how a lady bird deed works → You do not need a lawyer with an office in Melbourne, because the deed records in Brevard 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 Brevard County

A deed only protects your family once it is properly recorded, and in Brevard County that happens with the Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller. The Brevard County recording office sits at 400 South Street in Titusville, the county seat, 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 Melbourne, Step by Step

Brevard County has 182,211 homesteads, and the Save Our Homes cap holds the average one $114,198 below its market value in 2026. 39,103 Brevard County parcels belong to an owner with a mailing address in another state, and 2,480 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 Brevard County court opened 2,574 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 Melbourne around Brevard Clerk, Melbourne Branch Courthouse, with numbered markers for the places named below
  1. 1Brevard Clerk, Melbourne Branch Courthouse, 51 Nieman Avenue, Melbourne, FL. Directions
  2. 2Nami’s Korean Bistro, 24 South Babcock Street, Melbourne, FL. Directions
  3. 3TD Bank, 1025 S Babcock St, Melbourne, FL. Directions
  4. 4Melbourne Post Office, 640 E New Haven Ave, Melbourne, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  5. 5Moon River Cafe, 728 E New Haven Ave, Melbourne, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  6. 6The Roots, 2011 Melbourne Court, Melbourne, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  7. 7Claude Edge Front Street Park, 2205 Front Street, Melbourne, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  8. 8Brevard County South Services Complex (Property Appraiser and Tax Collector), 1515 Sarno Road Melbourne, FL 32935 (a drive, not on the map). Directions
  9. 9Office of Vital Statistics, Viera, 2565 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, FL (a drive, not on the map). Directions
Who records your deed in Brevard County, and why we e-record it

In Brevard County, deeds are recorded by the Recording Division of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Rachel M. Sadoff. The Recording Division answers at 321-637-2006 and by email at [email protected]. The Clerk’s offices are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Clerk has a Melbourne Branch Courthouse at 51 Nieman Avenue, and other offices in Viera, Palm Bay, Merritt Island and Titusville. The Clerk does not publish which counter takes a deed for recording. The Recording Department’s published address is P.O. Box 2767 in Titusville, and overnight packages go to 700 South Park Avenue, Building B, in Titusville. If you ever want to bring a document in person, call 321-637-2006 first and ask whether the Melbourne branch will accept it that day.

You will not need to drive anywhere or mail anything to Titusville. We record your deed electronically through Simplifile, which is on the Clerk’s own list of e-recording vendors. The Clerk says e-recording saves postage and courier fees and speeds up recording, and that a short payment is settled electronically instead of the paper deed being sent back. Brevard posts its recording fee as $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page after, so a two-page deed records for $18.50.

After it records: find it, copy 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 search by your name and view, print or save the recorded image. Brevard’s index and images there go back to January 1, 1981.

If a bank or title company asks for a certified copy, the Clerk charges $1 a page for the copy and $2 to certify the document. Copies are ordered through the Clerk’s Research and Copy Request Center, and the Land Records and Research Department answers questions at 321-637-2004.

Then take two minutes to sign up for the Clerk’s free Recording Notification Service. The service emails you whenever a document is recorded under a name or property you register, up to 10 per email address, and your registration stays on until you unsubscribe. Watching the record is the simplest early warning there is against someone recording a false deed on your house. If an alert ever looks wrong, the Clerk sends you to local law enforcement and to its Fraud, Waste and Abuse line at 321-637-6541.

Signing your deed in Melbourne, or from anywhere

A Florida deed needs two witnesses and a notary. We set up the signing for you by video, so you can sign from your own kitchen table in Melbourne or from wherever you are. Since March 1, 2026, the Brevard Clerk’s office charges $10 for notary services. The Clerk does not say which branch offers the service, so call the main line at 321-637-5413 before you go.

The Clerk publishes a quitclaim deed form but no recording checklist, and its staff are not allowed to give advice on preparing a document for recording. When we draft your deed, we prepare it to Florida’s recording requirements so it records the first time.

The Clerk’s Melbourne Branch Courthouse also takes passport applications, with appointments available, and sells passport photos, in case you have other errands at the Clerk’s office. The Merritt Island and Palm Bay branches close between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and the Melbourne branch stays open through lunch.

For lunch near the Melbourne branch, Nami’s Korean Bistro on South Babcock Street, at number 24, is about 12 minutes on foot from 51 Nieman Avenue. The restaurant opens Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and is closed Mondays, at 321-587-1768. TD Bank has a branch at 1025 South Babcock Street, a short drive south, if you bank there and need a cashier’s check.

Historic downtown Melbourne on East New Haven Avenue is a short drive southeast of the branch and has the errands in one walkable stretch. The Melbourne post office at 640 East New Haven Avenue has its retail window open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon, at 321-723-6164, which helps when an original has to go out by certified mail. Moon River Cafe, a coffee shop at 728 East New Haven Avenue, is about 4 minutes on foot from the post office and posts its hours as Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 321-210-9704. The Roots, at 2011 Melbourne Court, serves breakfast, brunch and lunch every day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., about 5 minutes on foot from Moon River Cafe, at 321-220-0636.

Parking downtown is free. The City lists free public parking in the garage and lot next to City Hall, with no time limit on floors 2 through 5 of the garage, in the lot in front of the Henegar Center across New Haven Avenue from the post office, in the lot behind the Henegar Center, and along New Haven Avenue and its side streets, where posted time limits apply only from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The City may charge in its lots and the City Hall garage during special events and posts notice on its website first.

For the river afterward, Claude Edge Front Street Park at 2205 Front Street sits on the Indian River at the base of the Melbourne Causeway, about 12 minutes on foot from Moon River Cafe.

Your homestead exemption in Brevard County

Homestead is handled by Dana Blickley, the Brevard County Property Appraiser. The office serving Melbourne is in the Brevard County South Services Complex at 1515 Sarno Road, at 321-255-4440, and there are other offices in Viera, Palm Bay and Titusville. All four are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and a specialist at any of them will help you file in person. The Exemptions desk answers at 321-264-6700, Option 1, and by email at [email protected].

You must own the home and make it your permanent residence on January 1, and the application is due by March 1. Most owners can file online. If your home is held in a trust, the Property Appraiser asks for a copy of the trust agreement or a recorded memorandum of trust.

The Property Appraiser asks owners to contact the office if they changed title. When your lady bird deed records, ask the Exemptions desk whether it needs anything new from you. We can make that call with you.

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 at a local office, and only after the Social Security Administration has updated your name, allowing 24 to 48 hours after that. In Brevard the Tax Collector runs the driver license offices, and every service needs an appointment. The Melbourne office is at 1515 Sarno Road, in the same South Services Complex as the Property Appraiser, open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. South Brevard residents call 321-633-2199.

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. Certified death certificates for Melbourne families come from the Department of Health’s Office of Vital Statistics in Viera, at 2565 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at 321-454-7163. The office charges $12 a certificate, takes cash, Visa, MasterCard or a money order but no personal checks, and issues records for Florida deaths from 2009 on to a family member with a valid picture ID. 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: Brevard Clerk office locations · Brevard Clerk office directory · Brevard Clerk eRecording · Brevard Clerk mailing addresses · Brevard Clerk hours of operation · Brevard Clerk official records · Brevard Clerk official records FAQ · Brevard Clerk Recording Notification Service · Brevard Clerk Recording Notification Service FAQ · Brevard Clerk fee chart · Brevard Clerk notary services update · Brevard Clerk meet the Clerk · Brevard Clerk passports · Brevard County Property Appraiser locations and departments · Brevard County Property Appraiser exemptions · Nami’s Korean Bistro · FDIC BankFind branch locations, Melbourne · USPS, Melbourne post office · Moon River Cafe · The Roots Restaurant · City of Melbourne parks directory · OpenStreetMap walking routes (FOSSGIS foot router) · Florida Department of Health in Brevard County, death certificates · City of Melbourne, Downtown Melbourne public parking · FLHSMV name and address changes · FLHSMV Brevard County office locations

The Mistakes We Fix for Brevard 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 Melbourne 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 consult

What 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 →

Lady bird deed
$399 · $449 joint
Passes the home to your family at death with no probate, and you keep full control and your homestead protection while you live. One owner $399, joint owners $449. Drafted with the homestead language Florida requires. A quitclaim, warranty or life-estate deed is $399.
Deed revocation or amendment
$250
Revoking or correcting a deed already on record.
Recording costs vary by county and start at $19.20 for a deed. Documentary stamp tax, court filing fees, publication and certified copies are additional and passed through at cost.

Communities We Serve Near Melbourne

We work with homeowners across Brevard County, including Eau Gallie, Suntree, West Melbourne, Viera, Indialantic, Satellite Beach, Palm Bay, and the surrounding area. StepUpLaw is a Miami firm serving Melbourne families wherever you are; this is not a Melbourne office, and we frame our work that way out of respect for Florida's advertising rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a Melbourne office to set up a lady bird deed?

No. StepUpLaw is a Miami firm that serves Melbourne and Brevard 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 Melbourne lady bird deed get recorded?

With the Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit 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 Melbourne 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 Brevard County families use it.

Can the notary be one of the two witnesses on my Melbourne 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 Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller is also what starts that clock.

Can I still sell my Melbourne 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 Melbourne and Brevard County residents wherever they are. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.

Keep your Melbourne home out of probate

Book a No-Cost Phone Consult with Attorney Kevin D. Klagge, Esq. We confirm the deed fits, draft it, and record it in Brevard County for a flat $399 (individual) / $449 (joint) plus recording.