A Florida Continuous Marriage Affidavit is a short, notarized statement you record with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where your property sits, swearing that you and your deceased spouse stayed married without interruption from the date you took title until the date of death. Recording it confirms your sole ownership by survivorship so you can sell, refinance, or insure the property without opening probate. The work is straightforward: gather three source documents, fill in a one-page form that matches them exactly, sign in front of a Florida notary, and pay the Clerk $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 28.24 – Service Charges by Clerk of the Circuit Court
Why Title Companies Ask for It
When a married couple takes Florida real estate together, they hold it as tenants by the entireties, and the surviving spouse automatically owns the whole property at the first death with no court order required. Florida Statutes Section 689.15 preserves that survivorship right for spouses.2Florida Legislature. Florida Code 689.15 – Estates by Survivorship The problem is that a title examiner looking at the recorded deed cannot tell whether the marriage lasted. A divorce at any point would have broken the entireties estate and left each former spouse with a separate half interest, which would not pass automatically at death. The affidavit puts a sworn statement on the public record saying no divorce occurred, giving title insurers what they need to insure your sole ownership. Without it, you are likely to hit title objections when you try to sell or refinance, and resolving them can mean opening a probate.
Documents to Gather First
Every entry on the affidavit has to match an underlying document exactly. Pull these before you fill anything in:
- The recorded deed, for the full legal names of both spouses, the legal description of the property, and the recording information (Official Records book and page number, or instrument number). If you don’t have your copy, your county’s Clerk of Court or Property Appraiser website will have it.
- The marriage certificate, for the exact marriage date. A one-day mismatch can trigger a title objection.
- The death certificate, for the exact date of death as recorded by the Florida Department of Health.
- A valid photo ID for the notary. Florida accepts a Florida driver license or state ID, a U.S. passport, an out-of-state, Canadian, or Mexican driver license, a military ID, a VA health identification card, or a USCIS-issued identification card. It must be current or issued within the past five years and bear a serial or identifying number.3Florida Senate. Florida Code 117.05 – Use of Notary Commission, Duties, Restrictions
Blank forms are usually available from your county Clerk of the Circuit Court or from a title insurance company, and some counties post fillable versions online. There are two versions: one the surviving spouse signs personally, and a third-party version signed by a family member or friend with personal knowledge of the marriage. Use the version that matches who will swear to the facts. Title companies generally prefer the surviving spouse’s own statement when that spouse is available.
Filling Out the Form
The form is only a page or so, but each field has to be right.
- County and state. Enter the county where the property is located and “Florida” as the state so the Clerk indexes the document correctly.
- Affiant’s name and address. Your full legal name as it appears on the deed, with your current residential address. For a third-party affidavit, that person’s details go here instead.
- Both spouses’ names. Spelled exactly as they appear on the recorded deed. If a name changed after the deed was recorded, you may need separate documentation to bridge the discrepancy.
- Dates of continuous marriage. The start date matches the marriage certificate; the end date matches the date of death. The form’s core statement is that the marriage was continuous and uninterrupted between those two dates.
- Legal description of the property. Copy it word-for-word from the recorded deed. Do not substitute the street address. A typo here can keep the affidavit from connecting to the correct property in the index.
- Deed recording information. The Official Records book and page number, or the instrument number, from when the original deed was recorded. This links the affidavit to the right title chain.
Some versions include an indemnification clause making you personally liable to the title insurer if a statement in the affidavit turns out to be false. Read it before signing. A false sworn statement in a document like this exposes you to a charge of perjury by false written declaration, a third-degree felony under Florida law,4Florida Senate. Florida Code 92.525 – Verification of Documents, Perjury by False Written Declaration, Penalty carrying up to five years in prison5Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties, Applicability of Sentencing Structures, Notification Requirements and a fine of up to $5,000.6Florida Legislature. Florida Code 775.083 – Fines
Check every name, every date, and the legal description against your source documents one more time before you take it to a notary. Fixing a mistake after recording means preparing a corrective document and paying another recording fee.
Leave Social Security Numbers Off
Some older templates include a field for the affiant’s Social Security number. Florida law prohibits putting a Social Security number, bank account number, or credit or debit card number into a document filed in the official records unless another statute specifically requires it,7Florida Legislature. Florida Code 119.0714 – Court Records, Applicability of Other Exemptions, Court Records That Are Not Public and no law requires one here. Leave the field blank or draw a line through it.
Signing in Front of a Notary
Sign only in the presence of a Florida notary public. The notary has to witness the signature, administer the oath or affirmation that the contents are true, verify your identity with one of the accepted IDs, and then apply the stamp and signature. Banks, UPS stores, law offices, and title companies commonly offer notary services. Florida caps the notary fee at $10 per signature, and some locations provide the service free to account holders or clients. Mobile notaries will travel to you for an added fee if you are homebound or in a healthcare facility.
If a third-party affiant is signing, that person has to appear before the notary with their own valid photo ID.
Recording It With the Clerk
Take the notarized affidavit to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is located, or mail it in. Many counties also accept documents through an e-recording portal. The statewide fee under Florida Statute 28.24 is $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page,1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 28.24 – Service Charges by Clerk of the Circuit Court so most affidavits run between $10.00 and $18.50 to record. If you mail it, include a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check payable to the Clerk of Court. Call the recording department first to confirm they accept mailed submissions and to verify the exact amount.
Ask for a certified copy of the recorded affidavit for your files. The certification is $2.00 plus $1.00 per page. Once the Clerk processes the filing, the document gets its own Official Records book and page number (or instrument number) and shows up in the public records index, where any future title search will find it.
What the Affidavit Does Not Do
Recording the affidavit is not a conveyance, so no documentary stamp tax applies. It also does not trigger a mortgage’s due-on-sale clause: federal law under the Garn-St. Germain Act prevents a lender from calling the loan when property passes to a surviving joint tenant or tenant by the entirety at the other owner’s death.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions You do need to keep making the monthly payments; the protection stops acceleration, not the debt. Contact the loan servicer to update the account and remove the deceased spouse’s name. Most servicers have a set process and will ask for the death certificate and the recorded affidavit.
One tax point worth knowing for later: when you eventually sell, the decedent’s half of the property gets a new basis equal to its fair market value on the date of death, while your original half keeps its original cost basis.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent That split basis is what you’ll use to calculate capital gain. The affidavit itself has no tax consequence.