Saint Johns County Warranty Deed Form

Florida warranty deeds carry a covenant of full warranty against the lawful claims of all persons, and they sit inside a body of statutes and constitutional rules that make Florida conveyancing meaningfully different from most other states. Two subscribing witnesses are required at signing — Florida is one of the few remaining states that still demands witness execution for a deed of real property. The legislature has supplied a statutory short form at section 689.02. The homestead protections in Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution can invalidate a deed signed by only one spouse, even when the other spouse's name is nowhere on the title. And section 695.26 imposes formatting and content requirements at recording that will reject an out-of-state form on sight. The Florida Warranty Deed sold here is built around these requirements.

When to use a Florida Warranty Deed

A Florida warranty deed is the conveyance instrument used in most arm's-length real estate sales in the state, and in any transfer where the grantor is willing to defend the title against all lawful claims — past and present, and whether or not those claims arose during the grantor's period of ownership. The covenant of full warranty in section 689.02 is the broadest of any deed form recognized under Florida law, which is why title insurers, lenders, and buyers in market-rate transactions typically expect to see one. The form is also used in some family transfers where the grantor wants to give a full warranty rather than convey only whatever interest the grantor happens to hold.

Statutory authority and the Florida statutory short form

Florida's deed statutes appear primarily in Chapter 689. Any conveyance of an estate or interest of freehold in real property must be in writing and signed by the grantor (or by the grantor's lawfully authorized agent) in the presence of two subscribing witnesses (689.01). Section 689.02 supplies a statutory short form for the warranty deed and provides that a deed in substantially the form set out there carries a covenant of full warranty to the title of the land conveyed — the grantor warrants that title is good, that the grantor has the right to convey, and that the grantor will defend against the lawful claims of all persons (689.02). The form in this package is drafted to track that statutory short form.

Execution: signing, witnesses, and notarization

Both witnesses must be present when the grantor signs, and both must subscribe their own names to the deed. The acknowledgment is then made before a notary public or other officer authorized under section 695.03. In Florida practice the notary may also serve as one of the two witnesses, but in that case the notary signs the document twice — once as a subscribing witness and again as the notarial officer — because the two roles are legally distinct and the witness signature does not satisfy the acknowledgment requirement. The notary affixes the official seal, and a certificate of acknowledgment under section 695.03 is attached to or incorporated in the deed before it is presented for recording. Acknowledgments may be taken inside Florida or in another state by any of the officers identified in section 695.03.

Florida-specific traps

Florida has several recording and validity traps that catch out-of-state preparers and DIY filers. The most consequential ones:

• Homestead and the spousal joinder requirement. Under Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution, a deed conveying or encumbering homestead property is not valid unless both spouses join, even when only one spouse holds title. A deed signed by only the title-holding spouse is void as to the homestead. For this reason most Florida deeds contain a marital status recital identifying the grantor as married, single, or widowed, and confirming whether or not the property is the grantor's homestead.
• Documentary stamp tax on deeds. Florida imposes a documentary stamp tax on the consideration paid for the transfer (201.02). The statewide rate is $0.70 per $100 of consideration, except in Miami-Dade County, where the rate is $0.60 per $100 with an additional surtax on transfers other than single-family residences. The tax is paid to the Clerk of the Circuit Court at recording, and the clerk will not record the deed without it.
• Preparer identification. Section 695.26 prohibits the clerk from recording an instrument affecting real property unless the name and post office address of the natural person who prepared the instrument appears on the face of the document, typically in a "Prepared by" block in the upper-left corner.
• Grantee post office address. Section 695.26 also requires the name and post office address of each grantee to appear on the face of the deed. A deed without the grantee's address will be rejected at recording.
• Witnesses' printed names. Section 695.26 requires the name of each witness to be legibly printed, typewritten, or stamped immediately beneath the witness's signature. A signature alone, without the printed name, is a recording defect.
• Recording margins. Section 695.26 reserves a three-inch by three-inch space at the top-right corner of the first page and a one-inch by three-inch space at the top-right corner of each subsequent page for use by the clerk. Forms without the reserved margin are routinely rejected.
• Parcel identification number. When a property identification (folio) number has been assigned by the county property appraiser, it should appear on the face of the deed (689.02(2)). Omission does not invalidate the deed, but including the parcel ID prevents indexing and chain-of-title problems.
• Plat references. When the property lies in a recorded subdivision, the legal description should reference the plat by name, plat book, and page as recorded in the official records of the county where the property is situated. Metes-and-bounds descriptions remain acceptable, but plat references are preferred where the plat exists.

Recording with the Clerk of the Circuit Court

Florida warranty deeds are recorded with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is located. Recording matters: under section 695.01, an unrecorded deed is not good and effectual in law or equity against creditors or subsequent purchasers for valuable consideration and without notice. Florida is a notice-recording jurisdiction, and priority among competing interests is determined by recording in the official records. Prompt recording protects the grantee against later claims by the grantor's creditors and against later purchasers who might record first.

Vesting options for co-grantees

When a Florida warranty deed names more than one grantee, the form of co-ownership should be stated expressly. Section 689.15 sets the default rule: a conveyance to two or more persons creates a tenancy in common unless the deed expressly provides for a right of survivorship. Two Florida-specific points govern the choice:

• Tenancy by the entirety is presumed for a conveyance to a married couple, and it carries an automatic right of survivorship along with the entireties' creditor protections. The presumption attaches without explicit entireties language, although best practice is still to recite the marital status of the grantees on the face of the deed.
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship for unmarried co-grantees must be created by express words. Naming two unmarried grantees without survivorship language produces a tenancy in common, with each grantee's interest passing through that grantee's estate at death rather than to the surviving co-owner.

What's included in the download package

The Florida Warranty Deed package contains the form drafted to meet the requirements of Chapter 689 and section 695.26, line-by-line completion guidelines explaining what to enter in each field and why, and a completed example showing how a finished deed should look before signing. All documents are delivered as instant downloads after purchase, and the package is good for one transfer of property in any Florida county.

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