How Do I Get a Quitclaim Deed in Florida?
You get a Florida quitclaim deed in seven steps, and the whole process usually takes about a week. The county clerk charges $10 to record the first page and $8.50 for each page after, and this firm drafts and records the deed for a flat $399.
- Start from the Florida statutory quitclaim form.
- Copy the legal description from the last recorded deed.
- Sign before two witnesses and a notary.
- Have your spouse sign if the property is your homestead.
- Pay documentary stamp tax if the deed carries a price or a mortgage.
- Record the deed with the clerk in the county where the property sits.
- Understand before you sign that the deed gives the property away now.
A quitclaim deed transfers whatever interest the signer owns, with no promise that the title is good. The full explainer on what the deed is and when to use it is on the Florida quitclaim deed page.
Step 1. Start From the Florida Statutory Form
Florida law has prescribed a quitclaim form since July 1, 2023, when the Legislature passed a bill aimed at title fraud. A quitclaim must be in substantially that form. The form is captioned as a quitclaim deed, names the first party (the person giving up the interest) and the second party (the person receiving it) with their post office addresses, recites the consideration, and uses the granting words "remise, release, and quitclaim" over the legal description of the land.
The form also carries a blank for the parcel identification number. Leaving the parcel number off does not make the deed invalid or unrecordable, and the statute says so directly.
Many printable Florida quitclaim forms online predate 2023 and do not follow the statutory layout. No Florida court has yet decided what happens to a quitclaim that departs from the form, and the clerk checks a separate list, which is in Step 3. Following the form costs nothing, so use its caption and granting words.
Step 2. Copy the Legal Description From the Prior Deed
The legal description comes from the last recorded deed for the property, copied word for word. The short description on the property tax bill or the property appraiser’s website is an abbreviation, and it is not a substitute.
A wrong description matters more on a quitclaim. Florida has a short curative procedure for a single error in the legal description of a deed, such as a transposed lot and block, and the statute excludes quitclaim deeds by name. A one-word error in a quitclaim needs a new deed from the same people, or a lawsuit if one of them has died. The page on how to find the legal description of your property shows where to look.
Step 3. Sign Before Two Witnesses and a Notary
Two subscribing witnesses make a Florida deed valid, and a notary’s acknowledgment makes it recordable. The witnesses watch you sign and then sign themselves. The notary can be one of the two witnesses, provided the notary actually watches you sign and signs a witness line as well as the notary block.
The clerk will refuse to record the deed unless it shows the printed name and post office address of each signer, each witness and each grantee, the name and address of the person who prepared it, the notary’s printed name, and a blank 3-inch by 3-inch space at the top right of the first page. The witness address requirement took effect January 1, 2024.
You can sign anywhere. Florida accepts an acknowledgment taken by a notary in another state on a deed to Florida land, and a deed can be signed by remote online notarization with the witnesses attending by video.
Step 4. Have Your Spouse Sign if the Property Is Homestead
If you are married and the property is your Florida homestead, your spouse must join in the deed, and that rule applies even when your spouse’s name is not on the title. The requirement comes from the Florida Constitution. A deed of a married owner’s homestead without the spouse’s signature can fail as to the home, and nobody finds out until a closing years later.
The statutory form has no line that asks whether you are married or whether the property is your homestead. That question is the first one I ask, together with whether a minor child lives in the home.
Step 5. Pay Documentary Stamp Tax on a Price or a Mortgage
Florida taxes a deed at 70 cents for every $100 of consideration, or 60 cents in Miami-Dade County with a surtax on property other than a single-family home. Consideration includes any money paid and also the balance of any mortgage on the property, whether or not the new owner assumes the loan.
- A gift of a property with no mortgage owes no tax, and most deeds that recite a nominal $10 pay the $0.70 minimum.
- A gift of a mortgaged property is taxed on the unpaid balance. Adding your daughter as a half owner of a home with a $150,000 mortgage passes half the debt, so the tax runs on $75,000 and comes to $525.
- A deed into your own revocable trust is not a taxable transfer.
- A homestead transfer between spouses where the only consideration is the mortgage is exempt.
The tax is paid to the clerk when the deed is recorded. The detail for every kind of deed is on Florida documentary stamp tax.
Not sure a quitclaim is the right deed?
Book a free 30-minute consult. We will check the title, the spouse and the mortgage, and tell you whether a quitclaim, a lady bird deed or a deed to your trust does what you want.
Book your free consultStep 6. Record the Deed With the Clerk
The deed is recorded with the clerk of court in the county where the property sits, which is not necessarily the county where you live. Recording costs $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page after, so a two-page deed records for $18.50 before any stamp tax. Most clerks accept electronic recording.
A deed passes ownership when it is signed and delivered, and recording protects the new owner against a later buyer or creditor who had no notice of it.
Step 7. Know What a Quitclaim Gives Away
A quitclaim deed to a family member is a gift of the property on the day it is delivered, and the signer cannot take it back alone. The ways back are a new deed signed by the new owner or a lawsuit, and the quitclaim page tells the story of one of those lawsuits.
The gift also carries your tax basis with it. A parent who bought a home for $90,000 and quitclaims it to a son passes the $90,000 basis, so a sale at $400,000 leaves $310,000 of taxable gain. The same home left at death through a lady bird deed takes a new basis equal to its value at death. The calculation is on the step-up in basis page.
The gift also starts Florida Medicaid’s five-year look-back and puts the home within reach of the new owner’s creditors and divorce.
If the goal is for the house to pass to your children when you die, a lady bird deed does that for the same $399 while you keep the house, the right to sell it and the step-up.
How Much Does It Cost to Get a Quitclaim Deed in Florida?
This firm drafts and records a quitclaim, warranty or life estate deed for a flat $399, with recording and any stamp tax passed through at cost. Doing it yourself still costs the recording fee, the stamp tax and a notary, and the full comparison is on how much it costs to transfer a deed in Florida.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Quit Claim a Property in Florida?
Sign a quitclaim deed naming the new owner, with the legal description copied from the last recorded deed, before two witnesses and a notary. Record it with the clerk in the county where the property sits, for $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page after. On a married owner’s homestead the spouse signs too.
How Do You Quick Claim a House?
A quick claim deed is a quitclaim deed, and the steps are the same. The name reflects how little the deed promises, because a quitclaim gives no guarantee that the title is good. A buyer paying a stranger for a house should insist on a warranty deed and title insurance instead.
How to Do a Quick Deed Transfer?
A quick deed transfer is a quitclaim. List both parties with their post office addresses, copy the legal description from the prior deed, sign before two witnesses whose names and addresses are printed under their signatures, have a notary acknowledge your signature, and record the deed. Stamp tax applies to any price or mortgage.
How Do I Get a Quick Deed?
Draft one yourself from the Florida statutory quitclaim form, or have a lawyer draft it. This firm drafts and records a quitclaim for a flat $399 plus the county recording fee and any documentary stamp tax. Either route ends at the clerk’s recording desk in the county where the property sits.
How Does a Quitclaim Deed Work?
A quitclaim deed transfers whatever interest the signer owns on the day it is delivered, with no promise about the title. The new owner owns the property from that day and takes the signer’s tax basis. Recording the deed with the clerk protects the new owner against later buyers and creditors.
How Do You Do a Quitclaim Deed on a House?
Follow the seven steps above, with two checks that matter more for a home. A married owner’s spouse must sign a homestead deed, and a mortgage balance passing with the house counts as consideration for documentary stamp tax. The loan stays in the original borrower’s name after the deed records.
How Does a Quitclaim Deed Work in a Florida Divorce?
The spouse leaving the house signs a quitclaim to the spouse keeping it, usually as the settlement agreement directs. The deed changes the title and leaves the mortgage in both names until a refinance or payoff. A homestead transfer between spouses where the mortgage is the only consideration owes no stamp tax.
Is Selling a Home With a Quit Claim Deed Safe?
Not for the buyer. A quitclaim conveys only what the seller holds that day and promises nothing about liens or other owners’ claims. A buyer who finds a problem later has no warranty to sue on, so an arm’s-length sale uses a warranty deed and an owner’s title insurance policy.
Where Can I See a Florida Quit Claim Deed Filled Out?
Every recorded Florida quitclaim is a public record, so the clerk’s official records search shows filled-out examples. Use them for layout only, because many predate the statutory form that took effect July 1, 2023, and each one carries someone else’s legal description.
Common Situations
The divorce deed. A wife in Pinellas County keeps the marital home under the settlement agreement. Her former husband signs a quitclaim to her before two witnesses and a notary, the deed records for $18.50, and no stamp tax is due because the home was their homestead and the mortgage was the only consideration. The mortgage still names both of them until she refinances.
The deed that should have been a lady bird deed. A widower in Ocala wants his daughter to have the house without probate and prints a quitclaim. The daughter would own the house that day, his $85,000 basis would pass to her, and the gift would start Florida’s five-year Medicaid look-back. The widower records a lady bird deed instead, keeps the house and the right to sell it, and the house still passes to her at his death without probate.
Sources of Law
- Fla. Stat. §689.025 (statutory quitclaim form; (2) legal description; (3) parcel identification number blank, omission does not affect validity or recordability), created by §4 of ch. 2023-238, Laws of Fla., effective July 1, 2023. No Florida decision construing §689.025 was found in a search of the Florida case corpus on 2026-10-01. (retrieved 2026-10-01)
- Fla. Stat. §689.041(1)(a) (the scrivener’s-error curative procedure applies to "any deed, other than a quitclaim deed"). Fla. Stat. §689.01 (two subscribing witnesses).
- Fla. Stat. §695.26(1)(a) to (f) (recording requirements, including witness names and post office addresses, the preparer, the grantee’s address and the reserved 3-inch by 3-inch space); §695.03 (acknowledgment, including before an officer of another state); §695.01 (recording against creditors and purchasers).
- Fla. Const. Art. X, §4(c) (a married owner may alienate homestead only with the spouse’s joinder).
- Fla. Stat. §201.02(1)(a) (70 cents per $100; consideration includes the amount of any mortgage whether or not assumed) and (7)(b) (homestead between spouses where the only consideration is the mortgage); Fla. Admin. Code R. 12B-4.013(18) (gift of mortgaged realty taxed on the unpaid balance) and 12B-4.014(2)(a) (gift of unencumbered realty not taxable).
- Fla. Stat. §28.24 (clerk recording charges, $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page).
- IRC §1015 (basis of property acquired by gift) and §1014 (basis at death). 42 U.S.C. §1396p (Medicaid transfer look-back).
- Springer v. Merricks, No. 4D2023-0266 (Fla. 4th DCA Nov. 27, 2024), slip opinion read in full from the court’s text held in the local case corpus, 2026-10-01. Cited by docket number because the text held locally carries no reporter citation. Other parties’ case, not a matter handled by this firm.
- Advertised fees are honored for 90 days from the posted date. Government costs (recording, documentary stamp tax, certified copies) are additional and passed through at cost. Litigation, including a suit to cancel or reform a deed, is quoted per matter.
What I See When a Quitclaim Deed Is Signed in a Hurry
I have seen this go wrong far more often through a missing signature than through a bad plan. In 14 years of law practice, the quitclaim deeds that reach me are simple ones signed at a kitchen table with whoever happened to be in the room.
A 2024 case from the Fourth District shows the shape. An 89-year-old woman in Martin County had known her neighbor since he was a boy. In 2020 he paid off the last $26,446.43 of her mortgage, and in exchange she signed a promissory note, a deed of trust and a quitclaim deed that let her live in the house for life and gave him the house at her death. One of the two witnesses signed the deed outside the other’s presence. The owner later talked to her sister and sued. A jury found that he had used her trust in him and her weakness of mind to get her signature, and also that the quitclaim was not signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. The court cancelled the deed and gave her back clean title. On appeal he recovered the $26,446.43 and $639.82 of taxes he had paid, because the parties had agreed before trial that he would, and the house stayed hers.
In reading that case and the ones like it, I have a few take-home points.
The first is the witnesses. Two people watching the same signature is the cheapest protection a Florida deed has, and a witness added later hands the other side an argument that has nothing to do with anyone’s intentions.
The second is who arranges the signing. A deed that benefits the person who brought the paperwork, chose the witnesses and drove the owner to the notary is the deed that gets challenged. Avoid letting the person who receives the property run the signing, however kind the arrangement looks.
Practice pointer. I put the owner, two witnesses and the notary in the same room or on the same video call, and I read the deed’s effect to the owner out loud before anyone signs. The owner should be able to say in one sentence who owns the house after the signing.
The honest limit is that the opinion reports the jury’s findings rather than the testimony, so I cannot tell you that the witness defect alone would have undone the deed. Both problems were avoidable on the day of the signing.
Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., admitted in Florida since 2012. The case described above is a published decision of a Florida court rather than a matter handled by this firm. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Updated on October 1, 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. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.