Florida Domestic Partnership Affidavit: Filing, Rights, and Benefits

A Florida domestic partnership affidavit is a notarized declaration filed with your county or city clerk stating that you and your partner share a household and agree to be jointly responsible for each other. Florida has no statewide registry, so filing depends on your local ordinance. Fees generally run from about $18.50 to $54, and the registration grants only a narrow set of local rights that fall well short of marriage under state and federal law.

Where You Can File in Florida

Because there is no state-level registry, availability depends on where you live. Counties and cities that maintain their own registries include Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Pinellas, and Orange counties, and the City of Orlando, among others. Each jurisdiction wrote its own ordinance, so eligibility rules, forms, and fees differ. You register with the clerk or recorder for the place where you and your partner live together.

If your county or city has no domestic partnership ordinance, you have no local mechanism to register. Couples in those areas can still put private legal documents in place, such as powers of attorney and health care directives, to protect each other.

Who Qualifies

The core eligibility rules look similar across Florida jurisdictions. In Broward County, both partners must be at least 18 and mentally competent to enter a contract. Neither can be currently married or registered in another domestic partnership. They cannot be related by blood in a way that would prohibit marriage under Florida law, they must live together in the county, and both must agree to be jointly responsible for each other’s basic food and shelter. Broward also bars anyone who has been in a different domestic partnership within the previous 30 days.¹

Miami-Dade County’s rules track Broward’s closely. Under Section 11A-72, each partner must be at least 18, competent to contract, unmarried, and not related by blood. Both must consider themselves members of the other’s immediate family and agree to be jointly responsible for maintaining the partnership. Each partner must notify the county in writing if those terms are no longer met or if either wants to end the registration.²

The blood-relationship restriction mirrors Florida’s marriage law, which prohibits unions between close relatives such as siblings, aunts and nephews, or uncles and nieces.³

What to Gather Before You File

Download the declaration form from your local clerk’s or comptroller’s website, or pick one up in person. Broward County’s form comes from its Records, Taxes and Treasury Division. In Orange County, the form is on the County Comptroller’s website, though the Clerk of Courts also serves as an acceptance center.⁴ Pinellas County posts its forms at mypinellasclerk.org.⁵

Every jurisdiction will ask for both partners’ full legal names, a shared residential address, and both signatures. Most require valid photo identification. A current Florida driver’s license, state-issued ID card, or U.S. passport are the safest options.

Proof of Shared Residence

You will need to show that you and your partner share a primary home. Palm Beach County accepts any of the following, so long as the address matches on both:

A mortgage or lease naming both partners
Government-issued photo IDs or driver’s licenses showing the same address for both
Tax returns showing the same address for both

All documents must display the same physical address for both people.⁶

Proof of Joint Financial Responsibility

Some jurisdictions also want evidence that you share financial obligations. Palm Beach County requires at least two of the following:

A mortgage or lease in both names
A joint bank account statement
A credit card statement with the same account number in both names
A vehicle title showing joint ownership
A retirement plan or life insurance policy naming one partner as the other’s beneficiary
Wills in which each names the other as primary beneficiary

Not every county demands this level of documentation, but pulling these records together beforehand prevents delays wherever you file.⁶

Filing the Affidavit

In most places, both partners appear together at the clerk’s office with the completed form and photo ID. The declaration must be signed by both partners and notarized. Broward County will notarize on-site for an additional fee if you haven’t already had it notarized elsewhere.¹ In Pinellas County, the declaration must also be signed by two witnesses in addition to being notarized.⁵

Filing fees vary by jurisdiction:

Broward County: $54, covering recording of the five-page declaration, one certificate of registration, and two laminated wallet cards¹
Palm Beach County: $50, covering recording of the four-page declaration and one certificate of registration⁶
Pinellas County: $50⁵
City of Tavares: $50 filing fee plus $18.50 in recording costs⁷

Once the clerk records the document, you receive a certificate of domestic partnership and, in some counties, wallet-sized ID cards. These serve as proof of registration with employers, hospitals, and other third parties. In-person filings are usually processed the same day; mailed applications take longer.

What the Registration Actually Gives You

A registered partnership in Florida grants only the rights spelled out in your local ordinance. It does not carry the broad protections of marriage.

The most concrete local benefit is visitation. In Miami-Dade County, a registered domestic partner can visit their partner at health care facilities, correctional institutions, and juvenile facilities on the same terms as a family member.⁸ Some jurisdictions also provide for emergency notification, so authorities will contact a registered partner if something happens.

What the affidavit does not provide matters just as much:

No automatic inheritance rights. Florida’s intestate succession laws do not recognize a domestic partner. Without a will or trust naming you, you inherit nothing.
No default health care decision-making authority. Under Florida Statute 765.401, when someone is incapacitated and has not designated a surrogate, the people who can make medical decisions are, in order: a court-appointed guardian, spouse, adult children, parents, adult siblings, an adult relative who has shown special care, and then a close friend. A domestic partner is not listed and would at best qualify as a “close friend,” near the bottom of the list. A written health care surrogate designation solves this problem.⁹
No property protections. Married couples in Florida have homestead protections and automatic ownership interests; domestic partners have none of these without separate agreements.

Federal Taxes and Benefits

The federal government does not treat domestic partnerships as marriages. The IRS states that individuals in registered domestic partnerships are not considered married or spouses for federal tax purposes.¹⁰ You cannot file federal taxes jointly. Each partner files as single or, with a qualifying dependent, as head of household.

Employer-provided health coverage is affected too. If your employer covers your domestic partner, the fair market value of that coverage is generally treated as taxable imputed income on your paycheck unless your partner qualifies as your tax dependent under IRS rules. Married spouses do not face this extra tax, and the difference can add hundreds or thousands of dollars in annual tax liability depending on the plan.

Federal programs built around “spouse,” such as Social Security survivor benefits and FMLA leave, generally do not reach domestic partners. The Family and Medical Leave Act defines “spouse” as a husband or wife through marriage, not a domestic partner.¹¹ An employer may voluntarily extend similar benefits, but federal law does not require it.

Using the Affidavit for Employer Health Insurance

One common reason people register is to enroll a partner in employer-sponsored health coverage. Many large employers that offer domestic partner benefits accept a government-issued certificate of domestic partnership as proof of eligibility during open enrollment or as a qualifying life event. Some employers use their own affidavit form on top of the county registration.

Two things to check with your benefits department. First, whether registering counts as a qualifying event that lets you enroll outside the normal window. Second, what happens if the partnership ends: most employers require notice within 30 days, after which the former partner loses coverage and may be offered a COBRA-equivalent continuation option. Coverage rules for domestic partners vary significantly from company to company, so read the benefits handbook carefully.

Changing or Ending a Registration

If your name changes by court order, you move to a new shared address, or you need to update dependents, you file an amended declaration with the same clerk. Pinellas County allows amendments for a legal address change, a legal name change, or an updated list of dependents.⁵ Broward offers a downloadable Amended Declaration of Domestic Partnership form through its Records, Taxes and Treasury Division and charges $18.50 to record the amendment.¹ Attach supporting documentation, such as a court order for a name change or a new lease for an address update.

Ending a registered partnership does not require a court proceeding, but it does require a formal filing. Submit a notarized Notice of Termination to the clerk’s office where you originally registered. Either partner can initiate it.

In Orlando, the partner filing must send a copy of the Notice of Termination to the other partner at their last known address and give proof of service, such as a certified mail receipt, to the City Clerk’s Office.¹² Palm Beach County uses a similar approach: only one partner needs to sign the termination as long as proof of mailing to the other is included, though both can sign together. Palm Beach County charges $20 to record a termination.¹³

One detail that surprises people: if you and your domestic partner later marry each other, the partnership does not automatically dissolve. Orlando’s ordinance explicitly requires couples who marry to file a termination of their domestic partnership.¹² Leaving an old registration on file after marriage creates confusion with employers, insurers, and government agencies.

Documents to Sign Alongside the Affidavit

Because Florida law does not extend the automatic protections of marriage to domestic partners, treating the affidavit as a full legal solution is a mistake that becomes painful in a medical emergency, a death, or a separation. Consider putting the following in place:

A health care surrogate designation naming your partner as the person authorized to make medical decisions if you become incapacitated. This overrides the statutory proxy list under Florida Statute 765.401, where a partner would otherwise rank near the bottom.⁹
A durable power of attorney authorizing your partner to handle financial and legal matters if you cannot.
A will or trust. Without one, your partner inherits nothing under Florida’s intestate succession laws; everything passes to your legal next of kin.
A cohabitation or property agreement defining how jointly acquired assets and debts are handled during the relationship and if it ends.

The affidavit puts your relationship on the public record. These additional documents fill in the legal protections the affidavit alone cannot provide.

1
Broward County. Records Domestic Partnership
2
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade Legislative Item File Number 080406
3
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 741.21 – Incestuous Marriages Prohibited
4
Orange County Clerk of Courts. Domestic Partnerships
5
Pinellas County Government. Domestic Partnership
6
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Domestic Partnership
7
City of Tavares. Domestic Partnership Registration Affidavit
8
Miami-Dade County. Domestic Partnerships
9
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 765.401 – The Proxy
10
Internal Revenue Service. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions for Registered Domestic Partners and Individuals in Civil Unions
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act
12
City of Orlando. Terminate a Domestic Partnership
13
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Domestic Partnership FAQ