Highlands County Warranty Deed (Trustee Grantor) Form

When a Florida trust sells real property, the deed comes from the trustee, and the covenant that deed carries is a drafting decision with statutory weight. This warranty deed for a trustee grantor pairs the two: the trustee of an identified trust conveys with the full warranty of the Florida statutory form, using the operative words "has granted, bargained and sold" and the covenant to fully warrant the title and defend it against the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever. Under Section 689.03, Florida Statutes, a deed substantially in that form takes effect as a warranty deed with full common-law covenants.

A Statutory Warranty, Signed in Trust Capacity

The warranty here reaches the whole chain of title, not only the period the trustee or the trust has owned the property. That is the difference between this covenant and the narrower conveyances Florida law recognizes: a quitclaim deed passes only whatever interest the grantor holds, with no covenant at all, and a special warranty deed limits the covenant to claims arising by, through, or under the grantor. The trustee signs in a representative capacity, and the deed recites the trustee's power to sell and convey, keyed to Section 689.073, the statute that lets a buyer or title examiner rely on powers conferred in a recorded instrument without inquiring into unrecorded trust terms or the beneficiaries.

Naming the Trust Defeats the Section 689.07 Trap

Florida attaches unusual consequences to the bare word "trustee" on a deed. Under Section 689.07, a conveyance to a grantee described only as trustee, with no named beneficiaries, no statement of the trust's nature and purposes, and no trust title and date, can vest a fee simple with full power to sell and encumber, as if no trust existed. This form is built around that rule from the opposite direction: it identifies the trust by name and by the date of the trust instrument and carries a recording reference for the instrument that vested title in the trustee, so the capacity in which the grantor conveys is plain on the face of the record.

Two Witnesses and a Representative Acknowledgment

Section 689.01 places two subscribing witnesses on a Florida deed conveying a freehold estate, and since January 1, 2024, the recording statute also asks for each witness name printed beneath the witness signature and a post-office address for each witness. The form carries dedicated witness blocks with those lines built in, followed by the statutory short-form acknowledgment for a representative capacity, complete with the physical presence or online notarization indication Florida notarial certificates now carry.

Documentary Stamps and the Recording Package

The clerk of the circuit court records the deed in the county where the property sits, and documentary stamp tax is collected at recording: 70 cents per $100 of consideration statewide, with Miami-Dade County on its own rate structure. The first page reserves the blank space the clerk's recording stamp requires, and the parcel identification number blank called for by Section 689.02(2) sits beside the legal description. The download includes the fillable deed with a removable instructions page, a completed example worked through an Orange County fact pattern, and a guide that walks each numbered section in order; the materials describe the form and the statutes behind it and are not legal advice.