Sarasota County Enhanced Life Estate Quitclaim Deed (Two Married Co-Owners Holding by the Entirety) Form

A Florida enhanced life estate quitclaim deed signed by both spouses lets a married couple who hold their property as tenants by the entirety name who takes it after the second of them dies, while each of them, and then the survivor alone, keeps every power of ownership for life. This form prepares that deed, commonly called a lady bird deed, for exactly two grantors who are married to each other and hold title by the entirety, conveying to one or two grantees.

A remainder that waits for the second death

The deed reserves a life estate to the spouses for their joint lives and then to the survivor for the survivor's life. When the first spouse dies, nothing passes to the grantees and nothing passes by will or intestacy: the deed states that the first death does not divest or affect the life estate or the reserved powers, which continue in the surviving spouse. The remainder takes effect only when the surviving spouse dies, and only in whatever part of the property the reserved powers have not disposed of by then.

Powers held jointly, then by the survivor alone

The reservation paragraph names the powers expressly, in the shape Florida Uniform Title Standard 6.10 describes: to sell, convey, mortgage, encumber, lease, gift, or otherwise dispose of the property in fee simple, with or without consideration, without the joinder, consent, or notice of any grantee; to keep all proceeds; to revoke or amend the deed by a later recorded instrument; and to divest, change, or eliminate any grantee's remainder. While both spouses live, the powers are exercisable by the two of them jointly; after the first death they belong to the survivor alone.

Tenancy by the entirety on the grantor side

The deed recites, as fixed text in its first section, that the two grantors are married to each other and hold title to the property as tenants by the entirety, and that both execute the deed. Both grantors sign, each in the presence of two subscribing witnesses with their own witness blocks, and the form carries a separate acknowledgment certificate for each grantor. The grantee block is free-form for one or two grantees and, for two, the words stating how they hold the remainder. Spouses who bought the home together during the marriage and name their adult children to take it at the second death, and spouses whose vesting deed describes them as husband and wife and who name a single grantee, present the pattern this deed recites. A sole owner, two co-owners who are not married to each other, a couple where only one spouse holds record title, and a trustee, entity, or attorney-in-fact grantor are configurations this form is not set up as.

Homestead joinder on the face of the deed

Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution has the owner of homestead, joined by the spouse if married, alienate it by sale, mortgage, or gift. Because both spouses execute this deed, the joinder appears on its face. The same section restricts devise of the homestead where the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child, and Uniform Title Standard 6.12 applies that restriction to the remainder when the life tenant dies; on this deed the life tenant whose death matters is the surviving spouse, so the question is whether a minor child, or a new spouse after a remarriage, survives that spouse. The guide walks through that analysis and through Section 732.4017.

Witnesses, certificates, and the stamp the clerk looks for

Section 689.01 requires two subscribing witnesses to a Florida conveyance, and since January 1, 2024, Section 695.26 requires each witness's printed name and post office address on the instrument. Each acknowledgment certificate prints the Section 695.25(1) short form with its physical presence or online notarization boxes and reserves an area for the notary's rubber-stamp seal. On the documentary stamp tax, the Department of Revenue's Technical Assistance Advisement 20B4-004 treated an enhanced life estate deed of unencumbered property as transferring no present beneficial interest; the guide explains the ruling's limits.

The package includes the fillable enhanced life estate quitclaim deed, a completed example for a Hillsborough County, Florida fact pattern in which Daniel and Marisol Okafor name their two children as tenants in common, and the guide that walks through every section, the entireties and homestead rules, and recording. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing law in general terms; they are not legal advice.