A valid Florida quitclaim deed must follow the statutory form under Section 689.025, be signed by the grantor in front of two witnesses and a notary, satisfy Florida’s homestead rules if the property is a residence, have documentary stamp tax paid, and be recorded with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits. Miss any of these Florida quitclaim deed requirements and the transfer may be unrecordable, void as to homestead, or vulnerable to later challenge.
What the Deed Itself Must Contain
Florida Section 689.025 prescribes the form. The deed must name the grantor and grantee, give a post-office address for each, and show the date of execution. The statute provides template language transferring all right, title, and interest the grantor holds in the described property, and your deed should substantially follow it.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 689.025 – Form of Quitclaim Deed Prescribed
The legal description of the property has to appear on the deed. That is the metes-and-bounds description or the plat reference (lot, block, and subdivision name) carried forward from the prior deed. The statute requires the legal description to be legibly printed, typewritten, or stamped; that legibility rule applies to the description, not to the parties’ names and addresses.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 689.025 – Form of Quitclaim Deed Prescribed
The deed also needs a blank space for the property appraiser’s parcel identification number. If the number is available, enter it before submitting the deed for recording. Leaving it off does not void the transfer or block recording, and the parcel number never substitutes for the full legal description.2The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 689.025 – Form of Quitclaim Deed Prescribed
Signing, Witnesses, and Notary
Every deed conveying Florida real property must be signed by the grantor in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, and both witnesses must sign as well.3Florida Senate. Florida Code 689.01 – How Real Estate Conveyed This applies whether the grantor is an individual, a corporation, or any other entity. A deed signed without two witnesses fails the conveyancing statute and can be challenged.
Witnesses can be present through audio-video communication technology instead of in the same room, provided the witness can see and hear the grantor acknowledge the signature in real time.3Florida Senate. Florida Code 689.01 – How Real Estate Conveyed
For the clerk to accept the deed for recording, the grantor’s signature also has to be acknowledged before a notary public. The notary verifies identity through personal knowledge or acceptable identification and completes a notarial certificate. Florida law supplies standard short-form acknowledgment templates for individuals, corporations, partnerships, and attorneys-in-fact.4Florida Senate. Florida Code 695.25 – Short Form of Acknowledgment Notary fees in Florida are capped at $10 per notarial act.5The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 117.05 – Use of Notary Commission; Sincerity of Notary; Fees
Homestead Property and the Spouse-Signature Rule
The Florida Constitution restricts how homestead property can be transferred, and these rules override the ordinary deed requirements. If the owner is married, both spouses must join in any deed conveying the homestead, even if only one spouse holds title.6FindLaw. Florida Constitution Article X Section 4 – Homestead, Exemptions A quitclaim deed signed by only one spouse is void as to the homestead, regardless of whose name is on the title.
When a married owner transfers homestead to anyone other than the spouse, the non-signing spouse is effectively giving up constitutional protections. Florida’s safe harbor statute at Section 732.7025 supplies specific waiver language that can be included in the deed to make the spouse’s intent clear. If the deed transfers homestead from one spouse to both spouses as tenants by the entirety, the constitutional provision expressly permits that without additional waiver language. Ignoring the homestead rules is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes in Florida quitclaim transfers.
Documentary Stamp Tax
Every deed transferring an interest in Florida real property triggers documentary stamp tax under Chapter 201. The rate is $0.70 per $100 of total consideration, rounded up to the next whole $100. Consideration includes the purchase price, the discharge of any debt, and the outstanding balance of any mortgage on the property, even if the grantee never formally assumes the loan.7Florida Senate. Florida Code 201.02 – Tax on Deeds and Other Instruments Relating to Real Property or Interests in Real Property
Where the deed reflects only nominal consideration (say, “love and affection and $10”), the minimum documentary stamp tax is $0.70.8Florida Department of Revenue. Documentary Stamp Tax Miami-Dade County adds a surtax of $0.45 per $100 of consideration on top of the $0.70 base rate, bringing the combined rate to $1.05 per $100 for most deed transfers there.9Florida Department of Revenue. Documentary Stamp Tax Return for Nonregistered Taxpayers Unrecorded Documents The tax must be paid to the Clerk of the Circuit Court before the deed will be recorded.
Common Exemptions
Two exemptions cover the situations most family transfers fall into:
- A deed between spouses or former spouses transferring the marital home as part of a dissolution of marriage is exempt, regardless of the consideration.
- A deed conveying homestead property from one spouse to the other (or from one spouse to both, or both to one) is exempt when the only consideration is an existing mortgage.
Both are established in Section 201.02(7).10The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 201.02 – Tax on Deeds and Other Instruments Relating to Real Property or Interests in Real Property Transfers from nonprofits to state agencies or water management districts are also exempt.
Recording With the Clerk
Once the deed is executed and the stamp tax paid, the last step is recording the original with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is located. The clerk is the official county recorder for all instruments affecting title to real property.11Florida Senate. Florida Code 28.222 – Clerk to Be County Recorder
Recording fees are set by statute:12The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 28.24 – Service Charges by Clerk of the Circuit Court
- First page: $10.00 ($5.00 base fee, $1.00 modernization surcharge, and $4.00 per-page surcharge)
- Each additional page: $8.50 ($4.00 base fee, $0.50 modernization surcharge, and $4.00 per-page surcharge)
- Extra names: $1.00 per name indexed beyond four
A typical two-page quitclaim deed costs $18.50 to record, on top of any documentary stamp tax owed. Recording fees are separate from the stamp tax and are paid at the time of filing.
Recording is not what makes the deed effective between grantor and grantee. An unrecorded deed still passes ownership between the parties. The risk falls on the grantee: without recording, the deed has no legal effect against later buyers, creditors, or anyone else who deals with the property without notice of the transfer.13Justia Law. Florida Code 695.01 – Conveyances and Liens to Be Recorded If the grantor turns around and sells the same property to someone who records first, the unrecorded grantee can lose the property.
Tax Consequences to Expect After Transfer
A quitclaim deed can reset the property’s assessed value and wipe out existing tax benefits. Florida’s homestead exemption provides up to $50,000 in assessed value reduction for an owner’s primary residence, but that exemption belongs to the owner who applied for it, not to the property.14Florida Senate. Florida Code 196.031 – Exemption of Homesteads When ownership changes, the exemption drops off and the new owner must file a fresh application with the county property appraiser.
A change in ownership can also remove the Save Our Homes assessment cap, which limits annual increases in assessed value to 3% on homestead property. For owners who have held property for years in a rising market, the gap between the capped value and the actual market value can be very large. A quitclaim deed to a new owner (including an adult child) resets the assessment to current market value, and the annual tax bill can double or triple. Transfers between spouses generally do not trigger reassessment; adding or removing a non-spouse owner typically does.
On the federal side, transferring property for less than fair market value is a gift. If the value exceeds the annual gift tax exclusion, the donor must file Form 709, though no tax is owed until the donor exhausts the lifetime exemption. For 2026, the federal lifetime gift and estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per individual, so a married couple can collectively shield $30,000,000.15Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
The bigger federal issue for most families is cost basis. Property received as a gift carries the donor’s original cost basis, not the current market value.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts and Transfers in Trust If a parent bought a home for $80,000 and quitclaims it to a child when it’s worth $400,000, the child’s basis is $80,000. Selling for $400,000 produces a $320,000 taxable gain. The same property inherited at the parent’s death would have received a stepped-up basis equal to fair market value, eliminating most of that gain. This is the detail most families overlook when they use a quitclaim deed to move appreciated property to the next generation during life.