Florida Lady Bird Deed: Keep Your Home Out of Probate

What Is a Lady Bird Deed in Florida?

The formal name is an enhanced life estate deed. The nickname comes from Lady Bird Johnson, the former First Lady. Florida has no "lady bird law" and no statute creating the deed. Courts recognize it under common-law authority going back more than a century, and the Florida Bar's Uniform Title Standards confirm how title companies should treat it.

A lady bird deed splits ownership into two parts. The owner keeps a life estate with enhanced powers during life. Named beneficiaries receive a remainder (the part that passes at death) that becomes theirs only when the owner dies. No present transfer of ownership happens when the deed is signed and recorded. The owner stays in full control, able to sell, mortgage, lease, refinance, change beneficiaries or revoke the deed entirely, all without the beneficiaries' consent or knowledge.

Florida does not have a transfer-on-death deed statute. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia (35 of the 51 jurisdictions) recognize a transfer-on-death deed by statute. In those states you can record a TOD deed that names a beneficiary and revoke it anytime. New York, for example, has a TOD deed statute. Florida does not. A TOD deed form from another state is not a Florida TOD deed because Florida has no statute creating one. The lady bird deed fills that gap. The lady bird deed is the primary deed-based tool for passing a Florida home outside probate while keeping lifetime control.

You may hear the phrase "lady bird trust" or "lady bird clause." Both refer to the same idea. A lady bird trust usually means a deed that names a living trust as the beneficiary, so the home pours into the trust at the owner's death and follows the trust's instructions for distribution or protection. A lady bird clause is the reserve-powers language in the deed itself, the language that keeps the deed revocable and keeps the owner in control. A state supreme court has described the enhanced life estate deed in a Medicaid case, confirming that a few states recognize deeds with reserved powers like Florida's.

How Does a Lady Bird Deed Work?

The deed reserves every power the owner had before signing it. The owner keeps possession, use and enjoyment without liability for waste. The owner keeps the full power to sell, lease, mortgage, encumber, give away or otherwise dispose of the property in fee simple (full ownership), without anyone else joining the deed. The owner keeps all proceeds from any sale. The owner keeps the power to diminish, terminate or completely divest any remainder interest by recording a new deed, signing a deed to someone else or simply revoking.

The power to divest the remaindermen (the named beneficiaries) is what makes the deed "enhanced." In a traditional life estate, the remainder is fixed the moment the deed is recorded. The remainderman has a present, vested interest that day. The owner cannot sell the home without the remainderman joining the deed. The owner cannot change the beneficiary without the remainderman's consent. A lady bird deed works differently. The remainderman's interest is vested but divestible, which means the owner can wipe it out at any time by signing another deed.

The practical difference shows up in control, taxes and Medicaid planning. With a lady bird deed the owner can sell or refinance alone, change beneficiaries anytime, revoke the deed entirely, and owe no gift tax at signing because the transfer is incomplete. With a traditional life estate the owner loses that control the moment the deed is recorded, the remainder is a completed gift that may require a Form 709, and Florida's Medicaid agency will treat the remainder as a penalized transfer.

Title companies look for express language reserving the power to divest the remaindermen. Our templates reserve possession, the full power to sell or mortgage without joinder (the requirement that others sign), retention of all proceeds, and the power to diminish, terminate or completely divest any remainder interest by further conveyance, new deed or revocation. Without that divestment language the deed is a traditional life estate, and the owner is stuck with whatever the deed says.

Does a Lady Bird Deed Avoid Probate?

Title vests in the remainder beneficiary at the moment of the owner's death, by operation of law. The beneficiaries do not need a petition, a court order or a new deed. The beneficiaries record a certified death certificate and an affidavit confirming survivorship. The parcel never enters the probate estate because the remainder was already conveyed during life by the deed itself.

Compare that to an ordinary deed or a will. If the home is in the owner's name alone and the owner dies without a lady bird deed, the home goes through probate. Someone must open an estate, petition the court, serve notice on creditors, wait the statutory period, get a court order and record it. The cost and delay depend on the estate's size, but the process is public and can take months or longer.

A lady bird deed avoids all of that. The family's steps are straightforward. Obtain a certified copy of the death certificate from the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Prepare a short affidavit confirming that the beneficiary survived the owner and that the deed has not been revoked or superseded by a later conveyance. Record both documents in the county where the property sits. Once recorded, the beneficiary holds clear title and can sell, refinance or keep the home without waiting for a probate court or paying probate attorney fees.

Florida law allows deeds to be witnessed remotely by audio-video technology. The act of witnessing is satisfied if the witness hears the owner make a statement acknowledging that the owner has signed. Once recorded, the deed may not be denied constructive notice based on alleged failure to comply strictly with the notarization rules, though challenges based on fraud, forgery, incapacity or undue influence remain possible. The same remote execution works when the owner is out of state or prefers to sign from home, and the recorded deed carries the same legal effect as one witnessed in person.

Swipe the table sideways to compare all three options.

What Makes a Lady Bird Deed Valid in Florida?

Florida law requires a deed to be in writing, signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. A notary acknowledgment is needed to record the deed. Those requirements come from the statute governing conveyances of real property, which has been on the books for generations. A deed must satisfy all of them.

The legal description must be exact. Copy it from the prior recorded deed, not from a property-tax bill. Tax bills often shorten or abbreviate the description, and a mismatch can cause title companies to reject the deed at closing years later. The failure pattern is invisible during the owner's life. The failure surfaces only when the family brings the deed and the death certificate to a title company and the title company refuses to insure.

The reserve-powers clause is what makes the deed a lady bird deed instead of a traditional life estate. Title companies look for language expressly reserving the grantor's power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and manage the property, and especially the power to divest the remaindermen entirely without their consent. If that language is missing the deed creates a traditional life estate, and the owner loses control the moment the deed is recorded. Misdrafting is the deed's biggest risk. Review every deed for unambiguous enhanced-powers language before recording.

Execution means two witnesses and a notary. Florida recognizes remote online witnessing for deeds. The witnesses may be present through audio-video communication technology, and the act of witnessing is satisfied if the witness hears the owner make a statement acknowledging that the owner has signed the electronic record. Once recorded, the deed may not be denied constructive notice for alleged failure to comply strictly with the witnessing rules, though challenges based on fraud, forgery, incapacity or undue influence remain possible.

Delivery and recording matter. Title passes when the deed is delivered, and recording creates a presumption of delivery. A deed that was signed but never delivered and never recorded may still need to be proved delivered if found after the owner's death. Without that proof, the property goes through probate. We deliver the deed to recording ourselves, so the owner knows the deed is in the chain of title the day after signing. The flat fee from $399, plus recording, includes that delivery.

Who Has to Sign: Spouses, Homestead and Minor Children

A lady bird deed on homestead property fails if the wrong people sign it or if the wrong people are left out. Florida law treats homestead differently from other real estate, and the rules come from the Florida Constitution itself.

A married owner cannot convey or mortgage homestead without the spouse joining the deed. The Florida Constitution says the owner of homestead real estate, joined by the spouse if married, may alienate the homestead by mortgage, sale or gift. A deed on homestead that names children as remaindermen to the exclusion of a non-joining spouse is void as to the homestead. A lady bird deed to adult children works only if the spouse joins and waives the devise (the right to inherit through a will) restriction, or if there is no spouse. The spousal joinder (signature) requirement is about marriage, not ownership. If you are married and the property is your homestead, your spouse signs the deed alongside you.

Florida also restricts who can inherit homestead through a will or deed. Homestead cannot be devised away from a surviving spouse or minor child, except that the homestead may be devised to the owner's spouse if there is no minor child. When a minor child survives, homestead passes to no one by deed or by will. The descent rules in the statute apply instead. A lady bird deed to adult children fails if a minor child later comes into the picture and survives the owner.

A spouse can waive the devise restriction using a safe-harbor statement that Florida law provides. The waiver language reads: "By executing or joining this deed, I intend to waive homestead rights that would otherwise prevent my spouse from devising the homestead property described in this deed to someone other than me." The spouse signs the deed with that language, and the devise restriction no longer applies.

The waiver has limits. The safe-harbor language waives only the devise restriction. The spouse still keeps the right to join any sale or mortgage of homestead during the owner's life. The waiver does not touch elective share rights (the spouse's right to claim a portion of the estate), homestead creditor protection, or any other spousal right. A minor child's protection cannot be waived at all.

How Does a Lady Bird Deed Work With Medicaid?

A lady bird deed does not create a transfer that triggers a Medicaid penalty. The owner keeps full control, including the power to sell the home and keep all the proceeds, so Florida treats the deed as though no transfer happened.

The Department of Children and Families policy manual says it directly. If an individual retains life estate using a lady bird deed or life estate with powers, no transfer has occurred. The individual retains full ownership powers in the property and it is only upon their death that the property transfers ownership to the remainderman. A separate section confirms that an enhanced life estate has the same rights as complete ownership, including the right to sell without the consent of the remainderman, and that the property counts the same as other real property for purposes of homestead exclusion.

The practical result is that a client can record the lady bird deed and apply for Medicaid the next day without a penalty period. The home stays excludable while the owner lives there or intends to return, and the deed does not change that treatment. The five-year look-back period does not apply because no transfer occurred.

Medicaid estate recovery is a different question. Florida recovers by filing a claim against the probate estate after the recipient dies. Property that passes outside probate, including a remainder through a lady bird deed, is not part of that estate. Protected homestead stays exempt regardless of how it passes. A homestead passing to a surviving spouse or heirs is already beyond recovery under Florida law. A revocable living trust works differently because Florida law makes the trust liable for estate claims when the probate estate falls short.

A traditional life estate deed without the reserved powers is a different story. The remainder is a completed gift at signing, and the five-year look-back period applies. Recording that deed and then applying for Medicaid creates a penalty period tied to the home's value. The reserved powers in a lady bird deed are what keep it outside the look-back rules and outside the penalized-transfer category.

We cover how these rules apply to your particular situation at the no-cost consult.

Taxes: Step-Up, Gift Tax, Property Tax and Documentary Stamps

A lady bird deed keeps your home in your taxable estate, and that is exactly where you want it. The taxable estate is what triggers the step-up in basis that wipes out capital gains for your beneficiaries.

Because the owner keeps a retained life interest, the home stays in the owner's taxable estate under federal tax law. The estate inclusion is what produces a full step-up in basis to the home's value on the date of death. A home bought for $90,000 and worth $300,000 at death gives the beneficiaries a $300,000 basis. A near-term sale owes little or no capital gains on the $210,000 of appreciation. An outright gift during life produces a carryover basis instead, meaning the beneficiaries inherit the original purchase price and owe capital gains on the full appreciation when they sell.

The deed creates no federal gift tax at signing. The owner keeps revocable control, so there is no completed gift. No Form 709 is required. The owner does not use any of the $19,000 annual exclusion per donee or any of the lifetime unified credit. A traditional life estate deed without the reserved powers does count as a completed gift and may require a Form 709 to report it.

Property taxes stay the same while the owner lives. Signing the deed is not a change of ownership because no present transfer occurs. The homestead exemption stays in place, and that means currently the first $25,000 against all taxes and the second $25,000 against all but school levies (up to $50,000 total). The Save Our Homes cap continues, limiting assessed value increases to 3 percent or CPI, whichever is less. Any senior, disability or veteran exemptions remain as well.

After the owner dies, the death is a change of ownership and the property appraiser reassesses at fair market value as of January 1 following the death, regardless of whether anyone applies. The remainderman who wants a homestead exemption must apply by March 1 of the year after they take title. Applying on time earns the beneficiary their own exemption and a fresh Save Our Homes cap based on the reset value. Missing March 1 means no exemption that year.

A lady bird deed is not subject to documentary stamp tax, whether or not the home has a mortgage. The Florida Department of Revenue has confirmed that a lady bird deed transfers no present beneficial interest. A minimum amount may still be collected at recording because the deed recites a nominal consideration.

What Does Amendment 3 Mean for a Lady Bird Deed?

Amendment 3 is a proposed change to the Florida Constitution on the November 3, 2026 ballot. The ballot summary states that the amendment increases the homestead exemption for all non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with adjustments for inflation thereafter. The summary also says the amendment reduces the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead properties from 10 percent to 5 percent.

Under the ballot summary, persons who are not Florida residents on December 31, 2026, will receive the existing homestead exemption upon qualifying, with the increased exemption beginning in the fifth year of exemption, to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution. The amendment would require counties and municipalities to use property taxes for categories including public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt service, retirement benefits for employees, and operations and administration.

A lady bird deed keeps the homestead exemption either way because the owner keeps the life estate. Whether voters approve the amendment or not, the deed does not change your eligibility for the exemption. You remain the owner for property tax purposes until you die.

If Amendment 3 passes, the amendment takes effect January 1, 2027. The larger exemption would apply to your homestead while you hold the life estate. Your remainderman would need to qualify for their own exemption after your death, just as they would under current law.

Can You Use a Lady Bird Deed on a Second Home, a Rental or a Mortgaged Home?

A lady bird deed works on any Florida real property you own, whether or not you live there. The homestead rules apply only to property that qualifies as your homestead under the Florida Constitution. A second home, a vacation property or a rental property is non-homestead, and the extra requirements for homestead do not apply to it.

When the property is not your homestead, a spouse does not have to join the deed. An unmarried owner or a married owner signing on non-homestead property can sign alone, name any beneficiaries and change them later without anyone else's consent. The full reserve-powers clause still belongs in the deed so the title is clear when the time comes. The deed still avoids probate, still preserves the step-up in basis at death and still keeps Medicaid treatment as an incomplete transfer.

A mortgage on the property does not prevent you from signing a lady bird deed. The deed does not pay off the mortgage or move it anywhere. The lien stays on the house, and the remaindermen take subject to it when you die. During your life, you keep the power to sell, to refinance and to take out a home equity line without your beneficiaries' consent or signature. Signing a new mortgage or HELOC does not defeat the lady bird remainder. The reserve powers include the right to mortgage the property, so the owner signs alone and the remainder survives. The beneficiaries will own the house with whatever liens are on it at your death. The lender's interest is protected by the recorded mortgage.

Some lenders ask that the lady bird deed be revoked before closing a refinance or reverse mortgage. When that happens, you record a new lady bird deed right after closing. Loan terms and lender preferences vary.

Does a Lady Bird Deed Protect Against Creditors?

A lady bird deed does not hide property from your creditors. Liens and judgments that attach to your interest during your life must be cleared before a title company will insure a sale. The deed cannot move property beyond an existing creditor's reach. An owner who signs a lady bird deed while owing money still owes that money, and the creditor can still record a lien against the property.

When an owner dies with a judgment lien on the property but the creditor never levied against it, the lien generally does not carry to the remaindermen. Florida title standards and case law support this outcome, though the lien still appears on the chain and may need a release or a quiet-title action (a court action to clear disputed ownership) before the remaindermen can sell with clear title. The remaindermen receive the property free of personal debts that were never enforced during the owner's life.

The beneficiaries' creditors cannot force a sale while the owner lives. The remainder interest is divestible, meaning the owner can revoke it at any time, so there is nothing fixed for a creditor to attach. A beneficiary's IRS lien may require special title handling even before death. After the owner dies, the property belongs to the beneficiaries, and their creditors can reach it like any other asset the beneficiaries own.

Homestead creditor protection is a separate matter. If the property is your homestead, the Florida Constitution already shields it from most creditors during your life and, when it passes to certain heirs, after your death. The lady bird deed does not add to that protection or take it away. A second home or rental property does not carry homestead protection, so creditor exposure is higher.

What Happens If the Owner Later Loses Capacity?

Capacity to sign a deed is measured at the moment of signing. A person who has full capacity today can sign a lady bird deed even if a future decline is expected. Once the deed is recorded, it remains in effect. The question is what happens if the owner later wants to sell the house, change the beneficiaries or revoke the deed, but no longer has the capacity to sign a new deed.

The reserved powers in a lady bird deed are generally personal to the owner. Florida law does not automatically let someone else exercise them on the owner's behalf. The owner's life estate and the remainder both stay in place, but the power to change things may be frozen until death.

An agent under a durable power of attorney may be able to act, but only if the power of attorney specifically grants that authority. Florida law requires that certain real-property powers be signed or initialed separately by the principal, including the power to create or change rights of survivorship and the power to change a beneficiary designation. Changing the beneficiaries on a lady bird deed would likely fall into one of these categories. Without that separately signed authority in the power of attorney document, the agent cannot do it.

No Florida appellate decision answers whether an agent under a power of attorney may exercise the reserved powers in a lady bird deed. The issue has not been decided by an appellate court. A treatise on Florida real estate transactions notes that reserved powers are generally personal and cannot normally be delegated. The law is unsettled.

A guardian appointed by the court has broader authority but still needs court approval to sell, mortgage or lease homestead property. A guardianship proceeding takes time, costs money and involves court oversight. A deed can be drafted to say that an agent or a guardian may exercise the reserved powers. Planning for incapacity before it happens avoids the uncertainty and expense of asking a court to sort it out later.

Can You Sign a Lady Bird Deed From Home?

Florida law allows deeds to be signed with witnesses and a notary present through audio-video technology. The statute says that any requirement for two subscribing witnesses may be satisfied by witnesses being present and electronically signing by means of audio-video communication technology. The act of witnessing is satisfied if the witness is present through audio-video communication at the time the principal signs and hears the principal make a statement acknowledging the signature.

An online notary physically located in Florida may perform an online notarization regardless of whether the principal or any witnesses are physically located in Florida at the time. The witness may be in the physical presence of the principal or remote from the principal, provided both are using audio-video communication technology. A remote witness must be a United States resident and must be physically located in the United States or a United States territory at the time of witnessing. A Florida homeowner who spends winters in another state can sign a lady bird deed without traveling back.

Florida law lists certain documents that require extra steps when fewer than two witnesses are in the physical presence of the principal. The list includes wills, certain trusts with testamentary aspects, health care advance directives, certain spousal agreements and powers of attorney authorizing certain transactions. A deed is not on the list, so a lady bird deed may be signed entirely online without the additional screening requirements that apply to those other documents.

The signing looks like a video call. The notary verifies identity using the methods the state requires, the witnesses observe the signing through the screen, and everyone signs electronically. The notary attaches the electronic certificate, and the deed is ready for recording in the county where the land sits. The whole process can happen from a living room, a hospital room or anywhere with a stable internet connection. You do not need to visit a law office or find a local notary. The flat fee from $399, plus recording, covers the deed whether signed in person or online.

What Florida Courts Have Said About Lady Bird Deeds

Florida courts have decided real disputes over lady bird deeds, and each case teaches something about how the deed works and how it fails.

A grandmother and grandfather put two parcels in their living trust in 2006. In 2018 the grandfather wanted those parcels to pass to his grandchildren, so he signed lady bird deeds to them. The attorney never learned the trust owned the land. The grandfather signed as an individual rather than as trustee and died in 2020. His daughter, as successor trustee, sued to evict her own children. The trial court reformed the deeds, and the Florida First District Court of Appeal affirmed. The appeals court described the situation plainly. "It is undisputed that James, Dominic, and Caroline were mistaken, and all made the same mistake in believing that James could convey the property as an individual." The court added, "If the deeds had been prepared for James to sign as trustee rather than individually, then the parties' intention would have been carried out." The grandchildren kept the property. The lesson is to confirm who holds title before you sign.

A father signed remainder deeds to his children in May 1963, kept them with his will in a bank box, and told the children to pick them up when he died. He died in November 1974. One son argued the deeds were never delivered. The Florida First District Court of Appeal upheld delivery. "We believe there is substantial competent evidence to support the trial court's decision that Fred Parramore, during his life, vested remainder interests in his children by conduct recognizable as delivery of the deeds." The lesson is that delivery happens when the grantor lets go of control.

A federal court in Tampa decided the VoShelle case in April 2024. An owner with an IRS debt recorded a lady bird deed to her children in July 2014. The IRS lien had arisen before the deed. "VoShelle believed that with the Lady Bird Deed, when she died, her debt with the IRS would 'go away' and that the IRS would not be able to pursue the subject property . . . ." The court held the children took subject to the lien. "VoShelle has failed." The liability stood at $433,601.33. The lesson is that a lady bird deed does not erase a lien that attached before you signed.

A fourth case was decided in 2026. A husband and his first wife signed a lady bird deed. She died, he remarried, and he died shortly after. The second wife petitioned for homestead. The trial court dismissed the petition, but the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the dismissal because a motion to dismiss could not decide the deed's effect. The appeals court said, "We do not reach the parties' competing arguments concerning the ultimate effect of the deed or the homestead devise restrictions." The merits remain undecided. The question of what happens when you marry after recording a lady bird deed is still open.

Common Lady Bird Deed Mistakes

The mistakes that ruin a lady bird deed are invisible during the owner's lifetime. The family discovers them only after the owner dies and brings the deed and death certificate to close on the property.

A legal description copied from the tax bill instead of the prior recorded deed often contains errors or omissions. A single missing parcel number or compass bearing can lead a title company to reject the deed outright. A quiet-title action (a court action to clear disputed ownership) or probate may be the only way to fix it after the owner dies.

A deed signed by a married owner on homestead property, without the spouse joining, is void as to the homestead. Florida's constitution requires both spouses to join in any conveyance of homestead. No amount of corrective effort after the owner's death will cure a void deed, and the property passes through the estate instead.

A deed without survivorship or contingent language creates a problem when a beneficiary dies before the owner. That beneficiary's share passes through the beneficiary's own estate, which may require a probate proceeding. Naming "to my children, as joint tenants with right of survivorship" or "per stirpes (to their descendants if they die first)" avoids this outcome. A class gift such as "to my children" in a trust with no age limit on adoption can also backfire. In one Florida case, a daughter adopted a 27-year-old thirteen years after the settlor (the person who created the trust) died, and the adoptee became a taker. The lesson applies to deeds as well.

A deed that omits the reserve-powers clause or the divestment language becomes a traditional life estate deed. The owner loses the ability to sell or refinance alone, and the remainder becomes a completed gift that may require a Form 709. Florida's Medicaid agency will treat the remainder as a penalized transfer, potentially delaying eligibility by years.

A deed signed but never delivered and never recorded creates the simplest failure. Florida law requires recording in the county where the land is located. Recording creates a presumption of delivery. A deed found in a drawer after the owner's death may still need to be proved delivered, and without that proof the property goes through probate. The firm delivers every deed to recording to avoid this problem.

Lady Bird Deed or Living Trust, and the Pros and Cons

A lady bird deed works well for a single Florida home passing to adult beneficiaries with no complications. The owner keeps full control, avoids probate, preserves the step-up in basis, and pays nothing to Medicaid at signing. A lady bird deed costs less than a revocable living trust to prepare and record.

A revocable living trust fits better when the situation is more complicated. Property in more than one state avoids ancillary probate only if it is held in a trust. Minor beneficiaries need a trustee to manage their inheritance until they reach an age you choose. A beneficiary who is disabled or receiving government benefits needs a special needs trust to preserve eligibility. A beneficiary who is exposed to creditors, lawsuits or divorce benefits from a spendthrift trust with distribution protections. A trust can also include a sale mechanism when co-beneficiaries disagree, avoiding a partition action.

The two tools are not mutually exclusive. A common hybrid names the revocable living trust as the remainderman on the lady bird deed. The deed keeps its lifetime advantages and routes the home into protective sub-trusts at death. The firm recommends this structure whenever a beneficiary is disabled, creditor-exposed or subject to a contingent situation.

A lady bird deed has limits. The deed covers only Florida real property, so it does not help with out-of-state land, bank accounts or investment accounts. Multiple beneficiaries who disagree after the owner dies may end up in a partition suit. Named beneficiaries have no enforceable interest during the owner's life because the deed is fully revocable.

A flat fee from $399 for one owner or $449 for a married couple, plus recording, covers a lady bird deed. A Secure Will Estate Plan at $1,200, or $1,950 for a couple, includes a will, durable power of attorney, health-care surrogate designation, living will, HIPAA authorization, and a lady bird deed on your home.

How to Get a Lady Bird Deed, Step by Step

The first step is to confirm title and check for mortgages or liens. The legal description in the deed must match the prior recorded deed exactly, not the tax bill. A title search identifies any recorded liens that need to be addressed.

The second step is to confirm homestead and marital status. A married owner on homestead property needs the spouse to join the deed and include the safe-harbor waiver language. Minor children affect whether a lady bird deed is the right tool at all.

The third step is to draft the deed with the full legal description, beneficiaries and alternates, and the enhanced-powers language that reserves the right to sell, mortgage, and divest the remaindermen. Without the reserve-powers clause, the deed becomes a traditional life estate and loses the advantages of a lady bird deed.

The fourth step is to execute the deed. Florida law requires two subscribing witnesses and a notary acknowledgment. The owner may appear in person or through Florida's online notarization system. A remote witness must be a United States resident and physically located in the United States or a United States territory at the time of witnessing.

The fifth step is to record the deed. Florida law requires recording in the county where the land is located. The firm delivers every deed to recording directly so the deed does not end up in a drawer.

The sixth step is to review the deed when family circumstances change. A beneficiary who dies, a marriage or a divorce may call for a new deed. Because the deed is fully revocable, recording a new deed replaces the old one without needing anyone's consent.

A lady bird deed is a flat fee from $399 for one owner or $449 for a married couple, plus recording. Book a no-cost 30-minute consult by phone, Zoom, or WhatsApp to see whether a lady bird deed fits your situation.

Not sure a lady bird deed is the right tool? Try the Florida Deed Selector →

Wondering what probate would cost your family if you do nothing? Estimate Florida probate fees instantly with our calculator →

Where to Go From Here

A page on the cost of a lady bird deed explains recording fees and how the flat fee compares to other estate planning tools.

A page on the lady bird deed form describes what the deed looks like and why the language matters.

A page comparing a lady bird deed to a living trust helps you decide which tool fits your situation.

A page on lady bird deeds and Medicaid planning explains how the deed interacts with the five-year look-back and estate recovery rules.

A page on contesting a lady bird deed explains what grounds exist and how to defend a deed.

A page on lady bird deeds and mortgages covers refinancing, HELOCs, and reverse mortgages.

A page on what to do after a death with a lady bird deed walks through recording the death certificate and clearing title.

A page on the disadvantages of a lady bird deed presents the limits and situations where a different tool works better.

A page on naming multiple beneficiaries explains how co-owners share the property and what happens when they disagree.

A page on the tax consequences of a lady bird deed covers the step-up in basis, property taxes, and documentary stamps in more detail.

Related Lady Bird Deed Guides

• The form, what a valid one must contain (and what voids it)
• Pros and cons, the honest disadvantages and when the deed is the wrong tool
• Prepare one online with a real attorney (not a $349 form mill)
• With a mortgage, payoff, due-on-sale, and the refinance trap
• Multiple beneficiaries, when co-owners (and a trust) come in
• Can a lady bird deed be contested? (and the homestead/minor trap)
• Case story about the deed one word nearly broke (a real Florida appeal)
• Life estate explained, traditional vs. enhanced (lady bird)
• The “lady bird trust,” a lady bird deed that leaves the home to your revocable trust
• Tax consequences, step-up, gift tax, doc stamp, property tax
• Lady bird deed after death, how to clear title and sell
• Enhanced life estate deed, the formal name explained
• Why Florida has no transfer-on-death deed
• What it costs, $399 flat + recording, with a price comparison
• Lady bird deed vs. living trust
• Lady bird deeds and Medicaid planning
• Lady bird deed vs. a will, and which one controls the house
• Working with a Florida lady bird deed attorney, and why location does not matter
• Can you do your own lady bird deed, and when that is fine
• Which states allow lady bird deeds, and what the others use instead
• Lady bird deed states, the chart of all 50 states and what each one calls the deed
• Case story about the deed that left the husband out (a Florida appeal decided September 23, 2026)
• Lady bird deed vs. a transfer on death deed
• Is a lady bird deed legal in Florida?
• Why is it called a lady bird deed?
• Does a lady bird deed override a will?
• How to add someone to a deed in Florida
• A Florida durable power of attorney, and what an agent can sign
• Florida Amendment 3 and property taxes

Lady Bird Deeds Across Florida

We prepare and e-record lady bird deeds in every Florida county, with local recording details for the areas we work in most.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

A widow kept her signed lady bird deed in a desk drawer, planning to record it later. She died before getting to it. Her daughter brought the deed and the death certificate to a title company and was told the deed had never been delivered and the property had to go through probate. Recording the deed at signing would have established the presumption of delivery, letting the daughter file only a death certificate and an affidavit to clear title.

A couple added their son to the deed on their $320,000 home as a way to avoid probate. The son later went through a divorce, and his ex-wife claimed an interest in his share. The couple had also lost the step-up in basis on the gifted portion and would have owed capital gains if they sold. The son conveyed his interest back to the parents, and then they signed a lady bird deed naming him as the remainder beneficiary. The parents kept full control, and the step-up was preserved.

What Seven Florida Cases Show About Lady Bird Deeds

In 14 years of law practice, I have handled the disputes that follow a signed deed. I also litigate deeds after they fail, which enhances the practice of drafting deeds.

Six Florida appellate opinions use the term “lady bird deed” or “enhanced life estate deed,” and two more, decided in 1917 and 1942, construe the reserved power that makes the deed operate. The newest of the six, decided September 23, 2026, is covered in the question above about a spouse married after the deed was signed. I have analyzed all seven in depth, and I see flawed deeds recorded on a daily basis.

Clients are often confused about whether the deed costs them their homestead exemption, and ask me, "What wording preserves the exemption?" The honest answer is that no wording does it, because signing the deed is not a change of ownership, so the property appraiser has nothing to reassess and the exemption and the Save Our Homes cap simply continue. The wording that matters is the reserved power, and it is doing a different job.

In reviewing these cases, I have a few take-home points.

The first is control. I draft these so that an owner can prevent a future beneficiary from taking control of the owner’s property during the owner’s lifetime, and that retained control is the purpose of the instrument. I have reviewed a case going all the way back to 1917 where a father deeded land to his daughter, kept the right to resell it, and then sold it out from under her. She went to court to save her interest and she lost, because the deed said in plain words that he could do exactly that. Cases with this shape keep coming up, and it is usually a grown child who assumed the house was already theirs. Avoid any version of this deed that leaves out the reserved power, because that reservation is what preserves your control.

Second, the difference between an enhanced life estate deed and an ordinary life estate deed comes down to one provision. In a recent case I reviewed, a widow went to sell the marital home after her husband died and could not do it, because their deed gave the two of them a life estate and never authorized a sale. She tried to work around it using her position as trustee of the trust that held half the remainder, and that failed as well. I see this all the time. The couple’s deed named the right people and divided the remainder exactly the way they wanted, and the family still could not sell the house. Avoid form deeds, because a reader of the document does not notice a provision that was never written.

Third, a deed prepared by someone who benefits from it is not automatically void, and this is the point that surprises the families who call me. I have come across a case where an attorney drafted a deed that moved the remainder to himself and his wife, and even that did not void it on its face. The drafting shifted the burden of proof, which is not the same thing. Somebody in the family still has to file suit and prove what happened, and by then the owner has usually died and cannot explain any of it. Avoid assuming that a questionable deed corrects itself.

Lastly, almost none of these disputes were really about the law. I see the same three failures over and over, which are a missing provision, a deed nobody recorded, and a name typed into the wrong blank. Every one of them was preventable at the drafting stage for a few hundred dollars, and I would rather spend that time with you now than have your family spend years on it later.

Florida has no statute creating this deed, which rests instead on common law and the Florida Bar’s Uniform Title Standards. Several questions therefore have no controlling Florida decision, and I will identify those when they apply to your property rather than offer an answer the cases do not support.

Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., admitted in Florida since 2012. Each case described above is a decision of a Florida court rather than a matter handled by this firm. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Chapter 2 of Kevin D. Klagge’s free book, Are Florida Lady Bird Deeds Just for Women?, covers this question with every statute and case cited to its source.

Sources of Law

• Mobile homes: Fla. Stat. §319.261 (retiring the title to a mobile home permanently affixed to the owner’s land, by recording the original title, the legal description and a sworn statement with the clerk) and §319.28(1) (title to a vehicle or mobile home after the owner’s death by affidavit, without a probate order). Retrieved 2026-10-22.
• Common-law authority: Oglesby v. Lee, 73 So. 840 (Fla. 1917); Aetna Ins. Co. v. LaGasse, 223 So. 2d 727 (Fla. 1969); Fla. Bar Uniform Title Standards 6.10 to 6.12.
• Homestead: Fla. Const. Art. X §4(c); Fla. Stat. §732.4015, §732.7025; §196.031, §193.155 (exemption & Save Our Homes).
• McFarlane v. Holness, No. 4D2025-2750 (Fla. 4th DCA Sept. 23, 2026) (slip opinion; a surviving spouse’s homestead petition cannot be dismissed on the strength of a premarital enhanced life estate deed not attached to the petition; reversed and remanded, merits expressly left open). Corpus file: reference/caselaw/ladybird/mcfarlane-v-holness-4d2025-2750.md (dumped 2026-10-07).
• Incapacity and the reserved power: Kany v. Becks, 85 So. 2d 843 (Fla. 1956) (a life tenant’s incompetency does not terminate the life estate, as cited in Florida Real Estate Transactions §18.08[3]; opinion text not read for this page); Florida Real Estate Transactions §22.22 (powers are personal rights that cannot normally be inherited, delegated or assigned, citing In re Estate of Serrill, 159 So. 2d 246 (Fla. 1964), and Christopher v. Mungen, 61 Fla. 513, 55 So. 273 (1911), on a power of sale; opinions not read for this page). Fla. Stat. §709.2201(1) (an agent exercises only authority specifically granted; a general clause grants nothing) and (2)(b) (conveying or mortgaging homestead, with the spouse’s joinder), §709.2202(1)(d) and (e) (survivorship rights and beneficiary designations need a separately signed or initialed grant), §709.2105(2) (two witnesses and a notary), §689.111 (a deed of homestead by an agent requires a power executed in the same manner as a deed), §695.01(1) (a deed by an agent is not good against creditors or purchasers unless the power is recorded first), §744.441(2) and (12) (a guardian of the property may exercise a power the ward could have exercised and may sell or mortgage real property, homestead included, after court approval on petition). Fla. Bar Uniform Title Standards 1.1 (a power used for a deed is executed and recorded in the same manner as the deed), 1.3 (clear authority to convey real property), 18.4 and 18.6 (homestead conveyed by an agent or by a guardian on court order), September 4, 2024 compilation. (statutes verified against the 2026 text, 2026-10-18)
• Delivery, recording and the legal description: Parramore v. Parramore, 371 So. 2d 123 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978) (delivery is the life of a deed; constructive delivery of deeds kept in a bank box found from the grantor’s words and acts; opinion read in full, corpus file reference/caselaw/deeds/parramore-v-parramore-371-so2d-123.md); Fla. Stat. §695.01(1) (unrecorded conveyances against creditors and purchasers); §95.231(1) (5 years after recording, a lack of witnesses or a defective acknowledgment is cured, absent fraud, adverse possession or pending litigation); §689.041(1)(a) (the curative notice for a scrivener’s error applies to any deed other than a quitclaim deed) and (2)(c) (never to a metes and bounds description); Fla. Bar Uniform Title Standard 16.2. (text read 2026-10-18)
• Spouses, divorce and class gifts: Fla. Stat. §689.15 (a conveyance to two or more creates a tenancy in common unless the instrument expressly provides for survivorship, and tenants by the entirety become tenants in common upon dissolution of marriage); Florida Real Estate Transactions §20.03[1], [3][a] and [4][a] (neither spouse may convey or encumber entireties property alone; the conversion on dissolution applies unless the judgment provides otherwise, citing Sharp v. Hamilton, 520 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 1988); opinions not read for this page); Fla. Stat. §689.17 (an instrument creating a life estate with remainder to the life tenant’s heirs, or words of similar import, creates a remainder per stirpes to the lineal descendants in being when the life estate commences, subject to open to later-born descendants) and §689.175 (“heirs” language creates no reversion in the grantor). (text read 2026-10-18)
• Medicaid: DCF ESS Policy Manual §1640.0613.01 (“no transfer has occurred”); five-year look-back, 42 U.S.C. §1396p; estate recovery, Fla. Stat. §409.9101. Homestead vs. non-homestead asset treatment: SSI home exclusion, 20 C.F.R. §416.1212 (POMS SI 01130.100); income-producing property exclusion, DCF ESS §1640.0544.
• How estate recovery treats a lady bird deed, a transfer on death deed, joint tenancy and a revocable trust in all 50 states and DC is in the Medicaid estate recovery and home-transfer deed table (verified 2026-09-28).
• Tax: IRC §1014 (step-up), §2036(a) (retained life estate); Fla. DOR Technical Assistance Advisements 20B4-003 and 20B4-004 (both Oct. 16, 2020): an enhanced life estate deed is not subject to documentary stamp tax regardless of any consideration, 20B4-003 on mortgaged property; see documentary stamp tax on a Florida deed. Execution & recording: Fla. Stat. §689.01, §695.03. (retrieved 2026-06-05)

Updated on October 27, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. This article is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether a lady bird deed is right for you depends on your specific facts.