Highlands County Quitclaim Deed (Individual) Form

Florida wrote the quitclaim deed into statute in 2023. Chapter 2023-238, Laws of Florida, the legislature's real property fraud package, created Section 689.025, Florida Statutes, which prescribes the form a Florida quitclaim deed must substantially follow. This product prepares that statutory deed for one individual grantor conveying to one individual grantee: a fillable PDF form, a line by line guide, and a completed example showing a realistic Orange County transfer.

What Remise, Release, and Quitclaim Conveys

The statutory operative words carry whatever right, title, interest, claim, and demand the grantor holds in the described parcel, together with improvements and appurtenances, and nothing more. The deed makes no promise that the grantor owns the property, gives no covenant against liens, and creates no duty to defend the title. That bare conveyance puts the quitclaim at the center of family transfers, trust funding, and title cleanup between parties who already know the state of the title. Florida adds one distinctive protection: under Section 695.01(2), grantees by quitclaim deed are deemed bona fide purchasers without notice within the meaning of the recording acts.

Two Witnesses, Printed Names, and Post Office Addresses

Execution is where Florida deeds differ most from other states. Section 689.01 requires the grantor to sign in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, and since January 1, 2024, Section 695.26 requires each witness name to be printed immediately beneath the witness signature with the witness post office address on the instrument; a deed missing that data comes back unrecorded. The form carries full witness blocks, the statutory acknowledgment certificate of Section 695.25 with its physical presence or online notarization wording, the preparer statement, and the blank 3 inch by 3 inch space at the top right of the first page that Section 695.26 reserves for the clerk of the circuit court.

The Homestead Joinder Block

Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution requires the spouse of a married owner to join in any alienation of homestead real estate by mortgage, sale, or gift. The form carries a conditional joining spouse block, with its own witnesses and acknowledgment certificate, for exactly that situation; when the property is not homestead, or the grantor is unmarried, the block stays blank, and the deed states that an unsigned block has no effect. The guide walks through the homestead analysis with citations, alongside the documentary stamp tax rules of Section 201.02, including the 70 cents per 100 dollars rate, Miami-Dade's separate rate structure, and the mortgage balance rule that catches many gift transfers of encumbered property.

A Statutory Blank the Recording Counter Checks

Section 689.025 also requires the deed to include a blank space for the parcel identification number, entered before recording when available. The form places that blank with the legal description, and the guide shows where the number appears in the county property appraiser's records, along with the recording charges the clerk collects under Section 28.24.

The package includes the blank deed as a fillable PDF, completed on screen or in ink, the plain language guide to every numbered section of the form, and a completed example documenting the Orange County fact pattern from start to finish. The materials describe Florida law in general terms and are not legal advice; a Florida attorney can apply these rules to a specific title or transaction.