To remove someone from a deed in Florida, you prepare a new deed (usually a quitclaim deed) transferring that person’s interest to the remaining owner, have them sign it before two witnesses and a notary, and record it with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits. That works only if the co-owner agrees. If they refuse, the sole remaining option is a partition lawsuit asking a court to force a sale or division of the property.
Everything else, from taxes to insurance to what happens to your homestead cap, hangs on those two paths.
Check the Mortgage Before You Touch the Deed
The deed and the mortgage are separate documents. Removing someone’s name from the deed does not remove them from the loan. The departing co-owner stays personally liable for the mortgage unless the lender formally releases them or the remaining owner refinances alone. People miss this constantly.
Most mortgages also contain a due-on-sale clause that lets the lender demand full repayment when ownership changes. A transfer between co-owners can technically trigger it. Lenders rarely enforce due-on-sale on family transfers, but the risk is real.
Federal law blocks enforcement of due-on-sale in several situations on residential properties with fewer than five units, including a transfer to a spouse or child, a transfer resulting from a divorce decree or property settlement where the borrower’s spouse takes ownership, a transfer resulting from the death of a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, and a transfer into a living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary and keeps occupancy.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions If your situation isn’t on that list, call the lender and get written consent before recording anything.
Quitclaim Deed vs. Warranty Deed
For removing a known co-owner, the standard tool is a quitclaim deed. It transfers whatever interest the grantor holds without any guarantee about the quality of the title. The signer isn’t promising the title is clean; they’re only saying, “whatever I own, I give to you.”
That’s fine between family members, divorcing spouses, or co-owners already familiar with the title history. A warranty deed, by contrast, carries the grantor’s guarantee against title defects and is standard in arms-length sales to strangers. It’s overkill for taking a co-owner off an existing deed.
What the Deed Must Contain
You can draft the deed yourself using a form from an online provider or an office supply store, or have an attorney prepare it. Either way, it needs:
- Full legal name and mailing address of the grantor (leaving) and the grantee (staying).
- The property’s full legal description, copied exactly from the existing deed. Not the street address, the surveyor’s description of the parcel.
- The parcel ID number, available on the existing deed or the county property appraiser’s website.
- The consideration, meaning the value exchanged. When no money is changing hands, a nominal figure like $10 is commonly listed. This amount is also the base for the documentary stamp tax.
Check every character against the existing deed. A misspelled name or a mistyped legal description clouds the title, and fixing it later costs far more than proofreading now.
Signing, Witnessing, Notarizing, Recording
Florida requires the grantor to sign the deed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, who also sign and print their names and addresses.2The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 689.01 – How Real Estate Conveyed Use adult witnesses who are not parties to the deed.
The grantor’s signature also has to be notarized. A Florida notary may charge up to $10 per notarial act.3The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 117.05 – Use of Notary Commission Banks, shipping stores, and law offices commonly offer notary services. Florida also allows remote online notarization, where the grantor appears by two-way audio-video rather than in person, which is useful when the co-owner leaving the deed lives out of state.4The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 117.265 – Online Notarization
Once signed, witnessed, and notarized, take the deed to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is located. Recording puts the ownership change into the public record. Statutory recording fees are $5.00 for the first page and $4.00 for each additional page, plus surcharges that bring the first page to roughly $10.5Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 28.24 – Service Charges A typical quitclaim deed runs one or two pages.
Documentary Stamp Tax
Florida charges a documentary stamp tax on every deed transferring an interest in real property. The rate is $0.70 per $100 of consideration (or any fraction of $100) statewide, except in Miami-Dade County, where the rate is $0.60 per $100.6Cornell Law Institute. Florida Administrative Code Rule 12B-4.012 – Rate, Consideration The clerk collects it when you record.
If the co-owner is being removed for nominal consideration such as $10, the tax is trivial. If real money changes hands, it adds up. On a $200,000 buyout of a half-interest, the tax would be $1,400.
Married couples get a break. Florida imposes no documentary stamp tax on a deed transferring homestead property between spouses when the only consideration is a mortgage on the property.7Florida Department of Revenue. Documentary Stamp Tax This is the situation many divorcing couples end up in, and it means no doc stamp is owed when one spouse comes off the deed of the jointly-mortgaged homestead.
Homestead Exemption and Save Our Homes
Florida’s homestead exemption reduces the taxable value of a primary residence by up to $50,000, and the Save Our Homes cap holds any annual increase in assessed value to 3%. A deed change can affect both, so think this through before recording.
If the remaining owner holds the homestead exemption and the deed simply drops a co-owner who was a joint tenant with right of survivorship, Florida does not count this as a change of ownership. The Save Our Homes cap stays put, and the exemption continues.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 193.155 – Homestead Assessments; Limitations on Annual Increases
Tenants in common arrangements, or a transfer where the departing owner was the one holding the homestead, are riskier. The property can be reassessed at current market value, which may hit you with a significant tax bump. Call the county property appraiser before recording if you’re unsure. They’ll tell you what will happen based on the current ownership structure.
Federal Gift Tax and Cost Basis
When you remove a co-owner for little or no money, the IRS may treat the gap between what they got and the fair market value of their interest as a taxable gift. The person giving up the interest is the donor. For 2026, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.9Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Above that, the grantor has to file IRS Form 709, the federal gift tax return.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709
Filing Form 709 does not mean tax is owed. The lifetime gift and estate tax exemption is high enough that most donors never pay. The filing requirement itself is what catches people, and skipping it creates problems later. A half-interest gifted in a $300,000 property is a $150,000 gift and unquestionably requires a return.
There’s a longer-term consequence for the person keeping the property. A recipient of a lifetime gift inherits the giver’s original cost basis. If the property is sold later, capital gains are calculated against what the giver originally paid, not the value on the day of the transfer. Property received through inheritance instead gets a stepped-up basis equal to fair market value at death, which can wipe out most of the capital gain. That difference is worth raising with a tax professional before you choose a lifetime deed transfer over a will or trust.
Title Insurance
Owner’s title insurance protects the named insured as of the policy’s issue date. When ownership structure changes through a quitclaim deed, the existing policy may not follow the remaining owner because the insured interest has changed. If you have title insurance, ask the insurer before recording whether coverage carries over. A new policy is often available at a reduced rate because the title company can rely on its prior search.
Removing a Deceased Co-Owner
When a co-owner dies, the process depends on how the current deed is worded.
Joint Tenancy With Right of Survivorship or Tenancy by the Entirety
If the deed reads “joint tenants with right of survivorship” or “tenants by the entirety” (used only by married couples), the surviving owner takes the deceased’s share automatically at death. No probate. To clear the record, the survivor records a certified copy of the death certificate with the county clerk. Some title companies or lenders also want a recorded affidavit of survivorship for clarity.
Tenants in Common
If the deed says “tenants in common,” or is silent on the type of co-ownership, there is no automatic survivorship. The deceased’s share passes through their estate and goes through probate. A will controls if there is one; otherwise, Florida’s intestacy statute controls distribution.11Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 732 – Probate Code: Intestate Succession and Wills Only after probate concludes can the personal representative deed the share to the person entitled to it.
Probate takes time and costs money. If you currently hold property as tenants in common with someone you’d want to inherit automatically, consider changing the ownership form to joint tenancy with right of survivorship while everyone is alive and cooperative.
When the Co-Owner Refuses to Sign
You cannot force someone off a deed on your own. If they refuse to sign a quitclaim, your remaining route is a partition action, a lawsuit asking the court to divide or sell the co-owned property. Any joint tenant, tenant in common, or other co-owner is entitled to file one.12Justia Law. Florida Statutes 64.031 – Parties
Courts resolve partitions in two ways. A partition in kind physically splits the property, which rarely works for a house or condo but sometimes suits vacant land. A partition by sale, which is far more common, results in a court-ordered sale of the property with proceeds divided according to ownership percentages. Courts also consider each owner’s contributions to mortgage payments, taxes, and upkeep when deciding how to split the proceeds.
Fees in a partition case work differently from other lawsuits. Florida law requires every party to pay a proportionate share of the total litigation costs, including the other side’s attorney fees, based on their ownership interest. The court sets each attorney’s fees based on the value of the services and the benefit they provided to the partition.13The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 64.081 – Costs, Taxes, Attorneys Fees When the property sells, the court can order those costs paid straight out of the proceeds before anyone is paid. The co-owner who resisted the sale still ends up paying a portion of the legal bill, which is worth knowing before you file a partition or dig in against one.