To legally kick your child out of the house in Florida once they are an adult, you have to treat them as a lawful occupant and use the same court process that applies to any other resident: deliver written notice to leave, and if they refuse, file either an unlawful detainer or an eviction action in county court and let the sheriff carry out the removal. Skipping steps is what turns a manageable case into an expensive one.
Why You Cannot Just Tell Them to Go
Once your child turns 18 and lives in your home with your permission, Florida law treats them as a lawful occupant with a right to remain until that right is formally ended. If your child contributes anything toward household expenses that a court could characterize as rent, they may be classified as a tenant at will under Florida’s landlord-tenant law, which triggers the full set of tenant protections even without a written lease.1Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.57 – Termination of Tenancy Without Specific Term If your child pays nothing, they are still a permitted occupant whose removal requires a court order.
That means you cannot force them out by ordering them to leave, moving their belongings to the curb, shutting off the water, or changing the locks. Those tactics are illegal regardless of who owns the home, and the penalties are covered further down. The only sound path runs through a courtroom.
Step One: Written Notice to Vacate
The first formal step is a written notice ending your child’s permission to live in the home. Include your name, your child’s name, the property address, and a clear date by which they must leave.
How Much Notice Is Required
If your child pays monthly rent or contributes regularly to household costs in a way a court could read as rent, the tenancy is month-to-month, and you must give at least 30 days’ written notice before the end of a monthly period.1Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.57 – Termination of Tenancy Without Specific Term If rent would be due on the first of the month, deliver the notice at least 30 days before the first of the following month.
If your child has never paid rent and lives in the home purely by your permission, the situation falls under Florida’s unlawful detainer statute, and no pre-filing notice is technically required.2The Florida Legislature. Florida Code Chapter 82 – Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainer Even so, giving at least 15 days’ written notice before filing is strongly advisable. Judges look favorably on parents who gave their child a reasonable chance to leave.
How to Deliver It
Notice can be delivered by hand, by mail, by email if your child has previously agreed to receive notices electronically, or by leaving a copy at the residence if your child is not home.3The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.56 – Termination of Rental Agreement Keep proof either way. Send it certified mail with return receipt, photograph the notice taped to the door with a timestamp, or hand it over in front of a witness. “I told them” without documentation will not carry a courtroom.
Step Two: File in County Court
If your child does not leave by the notice deadline, you file suit in the county court where the property sits. Which type of case you file depends on whether rent was involved.
No Rent Paid: Unlawful Detainer
When your adult child has never paid rent, file an unlawful detainer action under Florida Statutes Chapter 82.4Justia. Florida Code Chapter 82 – Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainer You file a complaint, the clerk issues a summons, and both are formally served on your child by a sheriff’s deputy or a licensed private process server. If the server cannot locate your child after at least two attempts six hours apart, the documents can be posted on a conspicuous part of the property.
Rent Paid: Eviction Under Chapter 83
If your child has been paying rent, the correct action is a formal eviction under Chapter 83, Part II. The mechanics are similar: file a complaint, get a summons, arrange service. The critical difference is that the 30-day termination notice must already have been delivered and must have fully expired before you file.1Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.57 – Termination of Tenancy Without Specific Term Filing one day early is one of the most common ways these cases get dismissed.
Step Three: Hearing, Judgment, and Sheriff Removal
Once served, your child has a short window to respond. In a Chapter 83 eviction, they have five days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, to file a written answer with the clerk. If they miss that window, you can ask for a default judgment, which is often granted without a hearing.
If your child does answer, the court schedules a hearing where both sides present their case. This is where your paperwork earns its keep: the written notice, proof of delivery, and evidence that the notice period expired before filing. If the judge rules for you, the court issues a final judgment and a writ of possession directing the sheriff to remove your child from the property.5The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.62 – Restoration of Possession to Landlord
The sheriff then posts a 24-hour notice on the property. After that 24 hours passes, the sheriff physically removes the occupant. Weekends and legal holidays do not pause the clock.5The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.62 – Restoration of Possession to Landlord
What You Cannot Do While You Wait
Florida Statute 83.67 forbids self-help tactics against a resident. You cannot:
- Change the locks or install any device that blocks entry
- Shut off water, electricity, gas, or garbage service
- Remove your child’s belongings before a lawful eviction is complete
- Remove doors, windows, or walls to make the home uninhabitable
Do any of these, and your adult child can sue you. A court can award actual damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus attorney’s fees and court costs.6Justia. Florida Code 83.67 – Prohibited Practices Where no rent was paid, “three months’ rent” is typically calculated on the fair market rental value of the space they occupied, which in Florida’s current market can be a large number. A shortcut can flip you from property owner to defendant.
If You Are in Danger, Use an Injunction Instead
The eviction process takes weeks. If your adult child is threatening you, harming you, or making you fear for your safety, there is a much faster tool: a domestic violence injunction under Florida Statute 741.30.7Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 741.30 – Domestic Violence Injunction
Parents and adult children living together qualify as household members under the statute. If you can show an immediate and present danger of domestic violence, a judge can issue a temporary injunction the same day you file, without your child present, awarding you exclusive possession of the home and requiring your child to leave immediately.7Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 741.30 – Domestic Violence Injunction There is no filing fee. A full hearing typically follows within 15 days. This route is not a substitute for the normal process when the situation is simply frustrating; judges take exaggerated claims seriously. When the danger is real, it is the tool that gets you protection in hours rather than weeks.
Belongings Left Behind
Your child will often leave things behind. Florida law requires you to send written notice describing the property, stating where it can be claimed, and giving a deadline to pick it up. You can charge reasonable storage costs.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 715.104 – Notification of Former Tenant of Personal Property Remaining on Premises
Do not throw anything out right away. If the combined value of the property is more than $500, you must hold it for at least 15 days after delivering the notice, or 10 days if the notice was handed to your child in person. For property worth $500 or less, the holding period is shorter but still required. If the deadline passes with no claim, you can sell or dispose of the property. Skipping the notice can expose you to a claim for the value of whatever you discarded.
What It Costs
The court filing fee for a removal-of-tenant action in Florida is $180.9The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 34.041 – Filing Fees for Trial and Appellate Proceedings On top of that comes service of process. A sheriff’s office typically charges less than a private server, but private servers are often faster. Expect roughly $40 to $150 for service depending on the method and how many attempts it takes.
An attorney for a straightforward eviction usually runs $500 to $2,000, with contested cases costing more. You can file on your own, but small procedural errors, like serving notice a day too early or filing under the wrong chapter, will send you back to the start. When your child is likely to fight, an attorney usually pays for itself in time saved.
The sheriff also charges a fee to execute the writ of possession once you win, generally $50 to $100 depending on the county. A parent handling a clean case without an attorney should budget roughly $300 to $500. A contested case with legal representation can reach $2,000 or more.