Highlands County Easement Deed Form

A Florida easement deed grants a non-possessory right to use another person's land for a specific purpose, and Florida's framework for these instruments is distinctive enough that forms drafted for other states routinely fail at the recorder's office. Florida is one of the few states that requires two subscribing witnesses to a grantor's signature on a deed conveying an interest in real property (Fla. Stat. § 689.01). Beyond the witness rule, Florida codifies several specific easement categories — statutory ways of necessity, conservation easements, and solar easements — each with its own mechanics under Chapter 704. Florida's constitutional homestead protections add a further layer when the burdened parcel is the grantor's primary residence. The Florida easement deed package on this page is drafted to satisfy these state-specific execution and recording requirements.

When a Florida easement deed is used

An easement deed is the instrument used to create or grant an express easement — a recorded right of use that runs with the land and binds future owners of the servient parcel. Common uses in Florida include driveway and access easements over a neighboring parcel, utility easements, drainage easements, ingress and egress easements for otherwise landlocked parcels, conservation easements protecting natural or scenic values, and solar easements preserving a property's exposure to sunlight for a solar energy device. Easements arising by implication, prescription, or statute (such as a statutory way of necessity under section 704.01) operate by separate legal mechanisms and are not created by this form.

Florida statutory framework: Chapter 704

Florida codifies easement law primarily in Chapter 704 of the Florida Statutes, and several provisions create easement categories that do not exist as statutory creatures in many other states.

Section 704.01(1) recognizes an implied grant of way of necessity where a grantor previously conveyed land that has no accessible right-of-way except over the grantor's remaining land. Section 704.01(2) creates a separate statutory way of necessity exclusive of common-law right when land used or intended for dwelling, agricultural, timber, or stock-raising purposes is shut off from the nearest practicable public road by surrounding lands, fences, or other improvements. The statutory remedy under 704.01(2) is distinct from the common-law implied easement and has its own procedural requirements.

Section 704.06 governs conservation easements held by a governmental body or a qualifying charitable organization whose purposes include retaining the natural, scenic, open-space, agricultural, or historic values of real property. A conservation easement runs with the land and binds successive owners of the servient estate. Recording a conservation easement also gives notice to the county property appraiser and tax collector of the conveyance.

Section 704.07 authorizes solar easements obtained for the purpose of maintaining the exposure of a solar energy device to sunlight. A solar easement must be in writing and is subject to the same recording and indexing rules as any other instrument affecting title to real property.

Execution requirements

Florida's execution rules are stricter than the national norm. Under section 689.01, a deed conveying an interest in real property must be signed by the grantor in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, each of whom signs the instrument. The grantor's signature must also be acknowledged before a notary public or other officer authorized to take acknowledgments under section 695.03. The notary may serve as one of the two witnesses, but if the notary signs in both capacities, the notary must sign the instrument twice — once on a witness line and once in the notarial block. The witness signatures and the acknowledgment certificate must both be present and properly completed for the clerk to record the instrument.

Section 695.26 separately requires that the name and post office address of the person who prepared the instrument appear on the face of the document. A clerk will refuse to record an easement deed that does not contain the preparer's name and address.

Florida-specific traps

Several Florida-specific issues cause easement deeds to be rejected at recording or to surface as defects in a later title examination.

• Homestead and spousal joinder. Article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution protects homestead property and restricts its alienation. If the servient parcel is the grantor's homestead and the grantor is married, the non-owner spouse must join in conveying any easement that effectively alienates or materially burdens the homestead. This is true even when the spouse holds no record title to the land.
• Marital status recital. Because homestead status turns on marriage and residence, Florida deeds customarily include a recital of the grantor's marital status. Title examiners rely on this recital, and its absence can raise objections during a later title search even where homestead is not in fact involved.
• Documentary stamp tax. Chapter 201 imposes a documentary stamp tax on instruments conveying an interest in Florida real property when consideration is paid. The standard rate is $0.70 per $100 of consideration outside Miami-Dade County and $0.60 per $100 inside Miami-Dade. Whether stamps are due on a particular easement depends on whether consideration changed hands; the clerk computes and collects the tax at recording.
• Legal description and plat references. The easement area must be described with sufficient precision to be located on the ground. For parcels within a recorded subdivision, the plat book and page reference is customary; for metes-and-bounds parcels, a surveyed description of the easement area is generally needed. A vague or floating description is a frequent source of later boundary disputes.
• Conservation easement holder qualification. Section 704.06 limits who may hold a conservation easement to governmental bodies and charitable corporations or trusts whose stated purposes meet the statutory criteria. A conservation easement granted to a holder that does not qualify under 704.06 is not enforceable as a Florida conservation easement.

Recording the easement deed

Florida easement deeds are recorded with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the affected real property is located. Recording places the instrument in the official records and provides constructive notice of its existence to subsequent purchasers, creditors, and other parties. Under section 695.01, an unrecorded conveyance is not effective in law or equity against creditors or subsequent purchasers for value without notice. Priority among recorded instruments is determined by the order and time of recording, so prompt recording protects the easement holder's position against later-recorded interests in the same land.

Included in the Florida easement deed package

• The Florida easement deed form, formatted to satisfy section 689.01 execution requirements and the section 695.26 preparer identification rule
• Line-by-line completion guidelines covering grantor and grantee identification, the legal description of the easement area, witness and notary blocks, and the marital status recital
• A completed example showing how a typical Florida easement deed reads when properly filled in