Highlands County Enhanced Life Estate Deed Ladybird Warranty Deed Form

The Florida Enhanced Life Estate Deed Ladybird Warranty Deed combines two features that rarely appear together: enhanced life estate provisions that move property to remainder beneficiaries outside probate, and full warranty covenants that guarantee marketable title. Florida does not offer a statutory Transfer-on-Death deed, so the Lady Bird Deed remains the principal non-probate conveyance tool for Florida real estate that does not involve a trust or joint titling. Most off-the-shelf Lady Bird forms use quitclaim language and pass only the interest the grantor happens to hold; this form covenants against undisclosed encumbrances, which matters when the property is moving to a child, a trust, or another family member who expects the same title protections a buyer would receive in an arm's-length sale.

What This Form Does and When It Is Used

An enhanced life estate deed conveys a remainder interest while reserving to the grantor a life estate with full powers to sell, mortgage, lease, convey, or revoke during life — without the consent or signature of the remainder beneficiary. At the grantor's death, title vests in the named remainderman by operation of law, bypassing probate. Common Florida uses include passing a homestead to adult children, layering non-probate transfer onto a refinance or title cleanup, integrating real estate into elder-law and Medicaid planning, and combining a family transfer with full warranty title protection for the grantee. Because the grantor retains complete control, the transfer is revocable up to the moment of death.

Florida Statutory Framework

The Lady Bird Deed itself is not codified in Florida statute. It is a creature of common law and conveyancing practice, recognized by Florida title insurers and addressed in agency guidance from the Florida Department of Revenue and the Department of Children and Families rather than in the Florida Statutes. The form's components, however, are governed by these statutes:

• Execution of conveyances of real property — two subscribing witnesses required (Fla. Stat. § 689.01)
• Acknowledgment for recording (Fla. Stat. § 695.03)
• Recording requirements, including preparer name and address on the face of the instrument (Fla. Stat. § 695.26)
• Documentary stamp tax on conveyances of real property (Fla. Stat. § 201.02)
• Estates by survivorship — Florida's presumption against right of survivorship (Fla. Stat. § 689.15)
• Florida's recording-priority statute (Fla. Stat. § 695.01)
• Constitutional homestead protections (Fla. Const. art. X, § 4)

Execution Requirements

Florida is one of the few states that requires two subscribing witnesses on a deed conveying real property (Fla. Stat. § 689.01). The grantor signs in the presence of both witnesses, who then sign as witnesses on the same instrument. The deed must also be acknowledged before a notary public or other authorized officer (Fla. Stat. § 695.03) before it can be recorded. The notary may serve as one of the two required witnesses, but a second separate witness is still needed. A Florida deed missing the second witness is voidable as to creditors and subsequent purchasers and is routinely rejected at recording or refused by title underwriters.

Florida-Specific Traps

Homestead and Spousal Joinder

Florida's constitutional homestead protections (Fla. Const. art. X, § 4) restrict how homestead property can be conveyed and devised. If the grantor is married, the spouse must join in any conveyance of homestead — even if the spouse is not on title. If the grantor has a minor child, the homestead cannot be devised at all. A Lady Bird Deed does not avoid these constitutional limits: a remainder interest in homestead created by a married grantor without the spouse's joinder is defective. The form therefore requires a recital of the grantor's marital status and the property's homestead status.

Marital Status Recital

Florida deeds customarily recite the grantor's marital status — single, married, widowed, or divorced — on the face of the instrument. Title underwriters expect this recital, and its absence is a frequent source of title objections and post-closing curative work, even when the property is not homestead.

Preparer Identification

Fla. Stat. § 695.26 requires the name and post office address of the natural person who prepared the deed to appear on the face of the instrument. A Florida deed missing the preparer's name and address will be rejected by the clerk at recording.

Top-Margin Space for the Recording Stamp

The first page of a recorded instrument must include a 3-inch by 3-inch space at the top right for the clerk's recording stamp (Fla. Stat. § 695.26). All other margins must be at least one inch. Documents that do not comply may be charged additional recording fees or refused.

Documentary Stamp Tax

Florida imposes a documentary stamp tax on deeds at $0.70 per $100 of consideration ($0.60 per $100 in Miami-Dade County, with an additional surtax on certain non-single-family transfers) under Fla. Stat. § 201.02. A Lady Bird Deed transferring real estate to family members for no monetary consideration generally triggers only the minimum $0.70 doc stamp when the property is unencumbered. If the property is subject to a mortgage and the transfer is to anyone other than a spouse, doc stamp tax is calculated on the outstanding mortgage balance — a frequent and expensive surprise on family transfers.

Survivorship Must Be Expressly Stated

Florida does not presume right of survivorship between co-owners (Fla. Stat. § 689.15). If the grantor wants two or more remainder beneficiaries to take with right of survivorship, the deed must say so in express language. Tenancy by the entireties is presumed only between spouses; everyone else defaults to tenancy in common.

No Statutory TOD Alternative

Unlike most states, Florida has not enacted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. Property owners who want a non-probate transfer of Florida real estate generally rely on a Lady Bird Deed, a revocable trust, or joint titling — there is no statutory TOD deed to fall back on if the Lady Bird Deed is improperly drafted.

Recording the Deed

The deed should be recorded in the official records of the county where the property is located, at the county Clerk of the Circuit Court (the office that maintains land records in Florida). Florida is a notice jurisdiction (Fla. Stat. § 695.01) — an unrecorded conveyance is not effective against subsequent purchasers or creditors who take without notice. Prompt recording protects priority and creates a public record of the future interest. Recording does not, by itself, divest the grantor of any present interest because the grantor retains the enhanced life estate; it simply puts the world on notice of the remainder.

Choosing Vesting for the Remainder Beneficiaries

The form accommodates a single remainderman, multiple remaindermen as tenants in common, multiple remaindermen with right of survivorship, or a trust as remainder beneficiary. When a survivorship vesting is selected, the form inserts the express survivorship language Florida law requires under Fla. Stat. § 689.15.

What Is Included in the Download Package

• The Florida Enhanced Life Estate (Lady Bird) Warranty Deed form, fillable in PDF
• A completed example showing each section properly filled in
• A line-by-line guide explaining each provision and the choices the grantor needs to make
• Pre-positioned recording, witness, notary, marital status, and homestead recital language for Florida compliance