Highlands County Mortgage Instrument and Promissory Note Form

The Florida Mortgage Instrument and Promissory Note packages two financing documents into a single, integrated set tailored to Florida's recording statutes and tax structure. Florida treats mortgage transactions differently from most states: the promissory note triggers documentary stamp tax under section 201.08 of the Florida Statutes, the recorded mortgage triggers the nonrecurring intangible tax under section 199.133, and any balloon term must carry a specific statutory legend on the face of the instrument under section 697.05. A homestead mortgage executed by a married borrower also requires the joinder of the non-titled spouse under Article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution. Generic mortgage forms drafted for other states routinely fail one or more of these Florida-specific requirements, and a defective mortgage can be rejected at recording or rendered unenforceable as to the homestead.

What This Florida Mortgage Instrument and Promissory Note Does

This is a Florida mortgage paired with a promissory note for use in financing residential real property, condominiums, planned unit developments, and vacant land. The promissory note is the borrower's written promise to repay a defined sum on defined terms; the mortgage is the security instrument that pledges Florida real property as collateral and creates the lender's recorded lien. The package supports conventional amortizing loans and balloon-payment structures, and includes default and acceleration terms commonly used by private lenders, sellers offering owner financing, and family lenders documenting an arms-length transaction.

Florida Statutory Requirements

Florida is a lien-theory state and a judicial foreclosure jurisdiction — the borrower retains title, and a lender enforcing the security must file a foreclosure action in the circuit court for the county where the property lies (702.01). Mortgages are governed primarily by Chapter 697 of the Florida Statutes. Default, acceleration, and remedies provisions in the instrument should be drafted with that procedure in mind, because Florida does not permit nonjudicial power-of-sale foreclosure on residential mortgages. Loan structures with a balloon payment trigger separate disclosure obligations addressed below.

Execution, Acknowledgment, and Preparer Identification

The mortgage must be signed by the borrower (mortgagor) and acknowledged before a notary public or other officer authorized to take acknowledgments for the instrument to be eligible for recording (695.03). Section 695.26 requires that any instrument presented for recording include the post office address of each natural person who is a party, the name of the person who prepared the instrument, and printed or typed names beneath each signature. Missing preparer identification or missing addresses are common reasons recordings are rejected at the clerk's counter.

Florida-Specific Traps

• Homestead spousal joinder. Article X, section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution prohibits the encumbrance of homestead property owned by a married person without the joinder of the spouse. This applies even when title is held in only one spouse's name. A homestead mortgage signed by only one spouse is unenforceable as to the homestead, regardless of what the deed shows.
• Documentary stamp tax on the note. Section 201.08 imposes documentary stamp tax on promissory notes secured by Florida real property at the rate of 35 cents per $100 of indebtedness. The tax is collected by the clerk at the time the mortgage is recorded.
• Nonrecurring intangible tax on the mortgage. Section 199.133 imposes a nonrecurring intangible tax of 2 mills per dollar on the indebtedness secured by a Florida real property mortgage. This tax is in addition to the documentary stamp tax and is collected by the clerk at recording.
• Balloon legend. If the loan is structured so that the final payment is more than twice any regular periodic payment, section 697.05(2)(a) requires a conspicuous legend on the face of the instrument disclosing the balloon nature of the loan and the dollar amount of the final payment. A balloon mortgage that lacks the legend gives the borrower a statutory right to refinance on the original terms. The forms include the legend with a fillable balloon amount.
• Future advances. A mortgage that secures future advances must say so on its face and state the maximum principal amount to obtain priority for those advances under section 697.04. Silence on this point limits the lien to the amount stated.
• Witness signatures. Florida treats mortgages as liens rather than conveyances, so the two-witness rule that section 689.01 applies to deeds is not generally applied to mortgages. Witness lines are commonly included as a matter of practice and the forms accommodate them.

Recording and Priority

The mortgage is recorded in the official records of the county where the property lies. Florida is a notice-recording state under section 695.01: an unrecorded mortgage is void as against subsequent purchasers and creditors who take without notice. Priority among competing liens is generally determined by the order of recording, so a mortgage that sits unrecorded between closing and the next business day can be subordinated by an intervening judgment lien or competing conveyance. The clerk collects documentary stamp tax, intangible tax, and recording fees at the time of presentation and returns the recorded instrument with the official record book and page or instrument number.

What Is Included in the Download Package

Files are delivered as instant downloads after purchase and are formatted for use anywhere in Florida.

• Florida Mortgage Instrument
• Florida Promissory Note
• Completed example showing how the forms are filled in
• Line-by-line guidelines explaining each section