A Lady Bird deed in Florida is an enhanced life estate deed that lets you name someone to inherit your real estate automatically at your death while you keep complete control during your lifetime. You can still sell the property, mortgage it, rent it out, or tear up the deed entirely without asking the beneficiary’s permission. When you die, the property passes to the person you named without going through probate.
Florida is one of only a handful of states that recognize this kind of deed, and it has become one of the most used estate planning tools in the state because it combines a simple one-page transfer with meaningful tax and Medicaid advantages.
How It Works While You’re Alive
Signing a Lady Bird deed does not change your day-to-day relationship with your home. You remain the owner for every practical purpose. You can live there, collect rent, refinance, sell to a stranger, or revoke the deed and name someone else. The person you name as the remainder beneficiary has no present rights in the property and cannot stop you from doing any of those things.
That is what the word “enhanced” means. An ordinary life estate deed locks the owner in: once signed, you cannot sell or mortgage without the remainder beneficiary’s consent. A Lady Bird deed removes that restriction entirely, which is why it works for people who want a probate-avoidance tool without giving up flexibility.
What Happens When You Die
At the grantor’s death, ownership transfers to the remainder beneficiary automatically by operation of law. No probate case. No court order. No new deed to sign.
To clear the public record, the beneficiary records the grantor’s death certificate with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits, and the official records reflect the change in ownership.1Clerk of the Court and Comptroller of Miami-Dade County. Official Records – Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Court and Comptroller That’s the whole process.
Why People Use Them in Florida
Keeping the House Out of Probate
Property held in your name alone normally has to go through probate before it can reach your heirs. Probate takes months, costs money in legal fees and court costs, and puts your assets on the public record. Because a Lady Bird deed transfers ownership outside of probate, the home never becomes part of your probate estate at all.
Medicaid Planning
Lady Bird deeds are a workhorse of Florida Medicaid planning. When you apply for Medicaid long-term care benefits, the state looks back five years at gifts and transfers. A Lady Bird deed doesn’t count as a transfer during that lookback because you haven’t actually given anything away. You kept full control and can revoke the deed at any time, so Medicaid treats the home as still yours.
The bigger payoff comes after death. Florida’s Medicaid estate recovery program can seek repayment from a deceased recipient’s estate for benefits paid after age 55, but the statute limits the state’s claim to the probate estate.2Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 409.9101 – Medicaid Estate Recovery Property that passes through a Lady Bird deed never enters probate, so the state generally cannot reach it. That is a real advantage over leaving the home through a will.
A Capital Gains Break for Your Heirs
When your beneficiary inherits through a Lady Bird deed, the property’s tax basis resets to its fair market value on the date of your death under federal law.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent This is called a stepped-up basis, and it matters if the beneficiary plans to sell.
Say you bought the house for $150,000 and it’s worth $400,000 when you die. Without the step-up, a sale at $400,000 would create $250,000 of taxable capital gain. With the step-up, the beneficiary’s basis is $400,000, and selling at that price generates no taxable gain.
No Gift Tax, No Documentary Stamp Tax
Creating the deed is not a taxable gift, because you haven’t given up control. The beneficiary’s future interest can be wiped out at any moment, so it has no present value.
Florida normally charges documentary stamp tax of $0.70 per $100 of consideration when real property changes hands.4Florida Department of Revenue. Documentary Stamp Tax A Lady Bird deed does not trigger that tax. The Florida Department of Revenue has ruled that because the deed transfers no present beneficial interest, it is not subject to documentary stamp tax regardless of any consideration recited.5Florida Department of Revenue. Documentary Stamp Tax TAA 20B4-004
The Homestead Trap
This is the single most common pitfall, and it catches people who use online forms without reading the Florida rules. Florida’s constitution restricts what you can do with homestead property at death. If you are survived by a spouse or a minor child, the homestead cannot be freely devised to anyone other than your spouse, and even a devise to your spouse is only valid when there are no minor children.6Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 732.4015 – Devise of Homestead
A married grantor who names someone other than their spouse as remainder beneficiary can end up with a deed that fails at death. The safest fix is for both spouses to join in the deed. If you have minor children, the restrictions are tighter still, and a Lady Bird deed naming a non-spouse beneficiary may be unenforceable.
Other Risks to Plan Around
If the beneficiary dies before you. A well-drafted Lady Bird deed says what happens next: the share passes to the remaining beneficiaries, goes to the deceased beneficiary’s heirs, or falls back into your estate. Without that language, the outcome is uncertain and may need litigation to sort out. This is where do-it-yourself forms most often fall short.
If you lose capacity. Once you can no longer handle your own affairs, you cannot revoke or change the deed yourself. Whether an agent under your durable power of attorney can revoke it depends on the specific language in both documents. Address this possibility explicitly in the power of attorney when the deed is created.
Only the property described. A Lady Bird deed covers one piece of real estate. It does not replace a will or trust and does nothing for your bank accounts, vehicles, or personal belongings. Most people who use one still need a broader estate plan.
No simpler alternative in Florida. Some states offer a transfer-on-death deed under the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. Florida has not adopted that statute, so the Lady Bird deed remains the available tool for transferring real estate outside probate while keeping full lifetime control.
What Goes Into the Deed
The deed needs the full legal names and addresses of the grantor and every remainder beneficiary. If you are naming more than one beneficiary, spell out how they take title (joint tenants with rights of survivorship, tenants in common, and so on) and what happens if one of them dies before you.
It must contain the full legal description of the property, not just the street address. You can pull the legal description from your current deed or your county property appraiser’s website. A street address alone will not do.
Florida law also requires the deed to list the name and address of the person who prepared it, and the clerk will check for this before recording.7Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 695.26 – Requirements for Recording Instruments Affecting Real Property
Signing and Recording
You must sign the deed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, who also sign.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 689.01 – How Real Estate Conveyed Each witness’s name and address must be legibly printed or typed below their signature.7Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 695.26 – Requirements for Recording Instruments Affecting Real Property A notary public then acknowledges your signature.
Take the signed, witnessed, and notarized deed to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is located and record it. Recording puts the world on notice of the beneficiary’s future interest and protects against competing claims. Recording fees in Florida are set by statute and run around $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, with small variations by county.9Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 28.24 – Service Charges by Clerk of the Circuit Court Because no documentary stamp tax is owed, those recording fees are usually the only cost at the clerk’s office.