How to Complete and Record a Polk County, Florida Quit Claim Deed

To complete and record a Polk County, Florida quit claim deed, you draft a deed that meets Florida’s content and formatting rules, sign it in front of two witnesses and a notary, and submit it to the Polk County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller at 255 N. Broadway Ave. in Bartow or through one of the Clerk’s approved e-recording partners.¹ A quit claim deed transfers whatever interest the grantor actually holds, with no promise that the interest is valid or that the title is clean. That makes the form itself simple, but miss one of Florida’s recording requirements and the deed comes right back to you.

Understand What a Quit Claim Deed Transfers

A quit claim deed hands over the grantor’s interest in the property, whatever that interest happens to be. If the grantor didn’t actually own the property, or if liens, encumbrances, or competing claims exist, the grantee takes those problems with no legal recourse against the grantor. Title insurance companies are generally unwilling to issue a new policy based on a quit claim deed alone. If you are the grantee and want title coverage, plan on a full title search and possibly working with an attorney to convert your interest into a warranty deed later. Even then, any defects that existed at the time of the quit claim transfer may still surface.

That is why quit claim deeds show up most often between family members, between spouses, into or out of trusts, or to clear up a cloud on title. In an arm’s-length sale between strangers, a warranty deed is almost always the better instrument.

Pull the Legal Description and Parcel ID First

Before you fill out anything, get two pieces of information from the Polk County Property Appraiser’s website: the parcel identification number and the full legal description.² Search by owner name, address, or parcel ID. The listing shows the legal description, which spells out the exact boundaries using metes and bounds, lot and block numbers, or a plat reference.

Copy the legal description exactly as it appears on the most recent recorded deed. Do not pull it from a property tax bill. Tax bills routinely truncate or abbreviate the description, and a shortened version creates confusion about what was actually transferred. If you can’t locate the prior deed, the Clerk’s Official Records search lets you look up previously recorded instruments by name or document number.³

What the Deed Has to Contain

The Polk County Clerk’s office provides blank forms under Forms and Packets on its website.⁴ Whether you use that form or draft your own, Florida law requires the following on the document:

A blank space of at least 3 inches by 3 inches in the top-right corner of the first page, and 1 inch by 3 inches on each additional page. The Clerk uses this area for recording stamps and will not accept a deed without it.⁵
The full legal name and mailing address of every grantor (person signing) and every grantee (person receiving).⁵
A consideration statement. For a gift or family transfer, this is typically phrased as “for the sum of $10.00 and other good and valuable consideration.” For a sale, list the actual purchase price. That number drives how much documentary stamp tax you owe.
Granting language showing the grantor releases all right, title, and interest in the property to the grantee, without warranting anything about the title.
The full legal description you pulled from the Property Appraiser or prior deed, plus the parcel identification number.
The name and mailing address of the person who prepared the deed. Missing this gets the deed rejected.⁵

Every name on the deed — grantor, grantee, witnesses, notary — must be printed or typed directly beneath the corresponding signature. If the Clerk can’t match a signature to a legibly printed name right below it, the deed may be refused.⁵

Signing, Witnesses, and Notarization

Florida requires the grantor to sign in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.⁶ Both witnesses must sign and include their printed names and mailing addresses beneath their signatures. This is not optional. A deed missing two witness signatures is legally deficient and the Clerk will not record it.

Florida Statute 689.01 does not itself require notarization for a deed to be valid, but the recording statute effectively does. Section 695.26 requires that if a notary’s signature appears on the instrument, the notary’s name must be printed beneath it, and as a practical matter the Clerk’s office expects deeds to be notarized before they will accept them.⁵ The notary verifies the grantor’s identity using a valid photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport, completes the acknowledgment block with the date and county of execution, and affixes the notary seal. Florida caps notary fees at $10 per notarial act.⁷

Submitting the Deed to the Polk County Clerk

Once the deed is signed, witnessed, and notarized, bring or send it to the Clerk’s recording office at 255 N. Broadway Ave., Bartow, FL 33830.³ You can also submit electronically through one of the Clerk’s e-recording partners listed on the Clerk’s website.¹ Only the Bartow office is listed for Official Records submissions, so contact the Clerk before taking a deed to any branch location.

After processing, the deed is assigned a book and page number in the Official Records and the original is mailed back to the person who submitted it.

Recording Fees and Documentary Stamp Tax

The administrative recording fee is $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page.⁸ Most quit claim deeds fit on one or two pages, so expect $10.00 to $18.50 for the recording itself. Fees are due at submission.

On top of that, Florida charges a documentary stamp tax of $0.70 for every $100 of consideration.⁹ “Consideration” is broader than the cash price. It includes the balance of any mortgage or lien on the property, whether or not the grantee formally assumes that debt. A property transferred as a gift with a $150,000 mortgage still triggers $1,050 in documentary stamps ($150,000 ÷ 100 × $0.70).

If the transfer truly involves no money and no mortgage, just “love and affection and $10,” the minimum tax is $0.70. A narrow exemption exists for transfers between spouses involving homestead property where the only consideration is the outstanding mortgage balance. Transfers between former spouses under a divorce decree also qualify when the property was the marital home.¹⁰ Outside those situations, the tax applies regardless of who the parties are or why the transfer is happening.

Homestead Exemption After the Transfer

If the property carried a Florida homestead exemption, the new owner has to file a new homestead exemption application with the Polk County Property Appraiser. Homestead exemption does not transfer automatically with the deed. Even adding a name to an existing deed can jeopardize the Save Our Homes assessment cap that limits annual increases in assessed value. Apply for homestead exemption by March 1 of the year following the transfer to avoid a gap in tax savings.

Think About Gift Tax and Medicaid Before You Sign

When property changes hands through a quit claim deed for less than fair market value, the IRS treats the difference as a gift. For 2026, each person can give up to $19,000 per recipient per year without any gift tax reporting requirement.¹¹ If the fair market value exceeds that annual exclusion, the grantor must file IRS Form 709 for the year of the transfer.¹² Filing Form 709 does not necessarily mean owing tax. It reduces the grantor’s lifetime gift and estate tax exemption.

The grantee should also understand cost basis. When you receive property as a gift rather than buying it, you take over the grantor’s original cost basis (what they paid, plus qualifying improvements) rather than the current market value. That carryover basis can mean a much larger capital gains tax bill if you eventually sell.

Transferring a home through a quit claim deed can also create problems if the grantor later applies for Medicaid long-term care. Florida follows the federal 60-month look-back period, meaning Medicaid reviews all asset transfers made within five years before the application date. Gifting property during that window can trigger a penalty period of ineligibility, a stretch of time during which Medicaid will not pay for nursing home or assisted living costs. The penalty length depends on the value of the transferred property divided by the state’s average monthly cost of nursing home care. For a home worth several hundred thousand dollars, the penalty can easily exceed a year. Limited exceptions exist for transfers to a spouse, a child under 21, a blind or permanently disabled child, a sibling who co-owned and lived in the home for at least a year before the applicant entered a facility, or an adult child who served as a live-in caregiver for at least two years before institutionalization. Anyone considering a quit claim transfer as part of Medicaid planning should consult an elder law attorney well before the five-year window becomes relevant.

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Polk County Clerk, FL. eRecording
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Polk County Property Appraiser. Polk County Property Appraiser – Property Search
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Polk County Clerk, FL. Official Records
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Polk County Clerk, FL. Forms and Packets
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 695.26 – Requirements for Recording Instruments Affecting Real Property
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 689.01 – How Real Estate Conveyed
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 117.05 – Use of Notary Commission, Notary Fee
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Polk County Clerk, FL. Fees
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 201.02 – Tax on Deeds and Other Instruments Relating to Real Property or Interests in Real Property
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Florida Department of Revenue. Documentary Stamp Tax
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Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return