Quitclaim Deed in Florida

A Florida quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest the grantor has in real property to the grantee, with no warranty about title quality. It works for transfers between people who already know each other’s title: adding a spouse, funding a trust, moving property to an LLC, settling a divorce, or correcting a name on a prior deed. It is the wrong tool for an arm’s-length sale.

A Florida quitclaim deed is valid only if the grantor signs before two witnesses and a notary, the deed contains the full legal description, and someone records it in the county where the property sits. If the property is homestead and the grantor is married, the non-owner spouse must also sign. A homestead deed missing the spousal signature is void.

Florida Quitclaim Deed Requirements

Florida law sets the format and execution requirements for a quitclaim deed in two separate statutes that work together. Section 689.025 prescribes the statutory form of the deed itself, including the granting language, the identification of the parties, and the description of the property. Section 689.01 sets the execution rules that apply to every deed conveying an interest in real property, including the requirement of two subscribing witnesses.

Every Florida quitclaim deed must contain the following elements:

• Grantor. The full legal name of the person transferring the interest, written exactly as it appears on the current recorded deed.
• Grantee. The grantee’s full legal name and the chosen ownership form (sole, joint tenancy, tenants by the entireties, or tenants in common).
• Consideration. The amount paid for the transfer, even if nominal. Many family transfers state $10 and “other valuable consideration.”
• Legal description. The metes-and-bounds, lot-and-block, or condominium description from the current recorded deed. A street address is not a legal description.
• Parcel identification number. The number assigned by the county property appraiser. The statute requires a space for the parcel ID on the deed; an incorrect number does not invalidate the deed, but it slows recording.
• Grantor’s signature. The grantee does not sign.
• Two witnesses’ signatures. Both witnesses must be present when the grantor signs and must sign in the grantor’s presence. Florida now permits remote online witnessing through audio-video communication if all participants are on the same video link.
• Notary acknowledgment. A Florida notary public, or another notary authorized to act in Florida, must take the grantor’s acknowledgment.

The deed need not recite consideration accurately for the transfer to be valid between the parties, but the consideration figure controls the documentary stamp tax owed at recording.

Common Uses of a Florida Quitclaim Deed

A Florida quitclaim deed is the standard instrument for non-sale transfers between parties who already know each other’s title. The most common reasons people use one:

• Adding a spouse to the title after marriage. Transferring from one spouse into both spouses’ names creates tenancy by the entireties, the joint-ownership form Florida law reserves for married couples. Each spouse owns the whole property, and the survivor takes full title automatically when the first spouse dies.
• Removing a former spouse after divorce. Marital settlement agreements and final judgments of dissolution routinely require one spouse to deed their interest to the other. A quitclaim deed completes that obligation.
• Moving property into a revocable living trust. Funding a Florida revocable living trust with real estate requires a deed transferring title from the individual to the trust as trustee.
• Transferring property to a Florida LLC. A property owner who moves real estate into an LLC uses a quitclaim deed to convey the existing interest without warranting clean title.
• Adding or removing a family member. Parents who want to put an adult child on title, siblings consolidating an inherited property, or anyone correcting a misnamed prior deed uses a quitclaim deed to make the change.
• Clearing a cloud on title. When someone has a stale interest in a property (a former co-owner, an old judgment debtor, an heir with an arguable claim), a quitclaim deed from that person releases whatever interest they may have without anyone admitting that the interest existed.

How to Prepare, Sign, and Record a Florida Quitclaim Deed

Preparing a Florida quitclaim deed has three working steps: fill in the form, execute it before witnesses and a notary, and record it with the county clerk.

Step 1: Prepare the deed. Pull the legal description from the current recorded deed or from the county property appraiser’s records. Do not retype it. Copy, paste, and proofread. Errors in legal descriptions are the most expensive mistake on this form and frequently require a corrective deed or a quiet title action to fix.

Use a Florida-specific quitclaim form that follows the § 689.025 format and includes a blank for the parcel ID. The free statutory form is workable for a transfer with no tax complications; an attorney-drafted form costs $400 to $1,000 and reduces the risk of preventable errors.

Step 2: Execute the deed. The grantor signs in the presence of two witnesses and a notary, all physically present together, or all present on the same audio-video link under Florida’s remote online notarization rules. The witnesses must be competent adults who are not named in the deed as parties. The notary completes the acknowledgment in the form prescribed by Florida law, identifying the grantor by personal knowledge or by valid government-issued photo identification.

Step 3: Record the deed. File the executed original with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property is located. Recording fees are approximately $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, set by section 28.24 of the Florida Statutes and uniform across counties. The clerk also collects documentary stamp tax (covered below) at the time of recording. After recording, the clerk returns the original deed to the address listed in the upper left corner. Keep the recorded original; future title work depends on it.

Recording is not technically required for the transfer to be valid between the grantor and the grantee, but an unrecorded deed does not put third parties on notice. An unrecorded deed leaves the grantee exposed to any subsequent purchaser, lender, or lienholder who records first.

Homestead Property and the Spousal Joinder Rule

If the property is the grantor’s homestead and the grantor is married, the non-owner spouse must sign the deed even if the spouse has no record interest in the property. Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution requires spousal joinder on any conveyance of homestead realty.

A homestead deed signed only by the titled grantor is void as to the homestead interest. Not voidable, but void. The transfer has no legal effect, and no curative document recorded later can fix it. The only repair is a new deed signed by both spouses. If the original grantor refuses or has died, the cure requires litigation.

The spousal joinder rule applies whenever the property is the grantor’s primary residence at the time of the transfer, regardless of how the deed is titled. A married grantor cannot avoid the requirement by holding title in their sole name; the constitution looks at the property’s use, not the form of ownership. The rule applies even when the grantee is the spouse being added to title. Both spouses must still sign as grantors of the homestead interest.

The most common deed defect we see in cleanup work is a homestead transfer from a married grantor whose spouse never signed. The defect usually surfaces years later when the property is sold or refinanced and a title examiner pulls the prior deed. By that point, the grantor and the spouse may have divorced, remarried, or died, and the curative process is expensive in proportion to how complicated the family situation has become.

Documentary Stamp Tax and Total Cost

Florida imposes a documentary stamp tax on most deeds. Chapter 201 of the Florida Statutes sets the rate at $0.70 per $100 of consideration. The tax is calculated on the consideration paid, which the statute defines to include the amount of any mortgage balance the grantee assumes or takes the property subject to. Miami-Dade County uses a different rate structure. Single-family residences face $0.60 per $100, and all other property types add a $0.45-per-$100 surtax.

Several common quitclaim transfers are exempt from documentary stamp tax:

• Spousal transfers where no mortgage is assumed. Adding or removing a spouse on a free-and-clear home triggers no tax.
• Transfers incident to divorce. Deeds executed within a year of a divorce judgment are exempt under section 201.02(7) of the Florida Statutes, provided the deed carries out what the judgment requires.
• Transfers into a revocable trust where the grantor is also the beneficiary of the trust. The grantor has not divested beneficial ownership, so no consideration moves.
• Transfers between commonly owned entities in some structuring scenarios, including transfers from an individual to a wholly owned LLC where no mortgage exists.

A transfer of mortgaged property to a non-spouse is rarely exempt, even when no cash changes hands, because the assumed mortgage balance counts as consideration. A $300,000 mortgage transferred via quitclaim deed to an adult child generates $2,100 in documentary stamp tax.

Total typical costs for a Florida quitclaim deed:

• Recording fee: $10 first page, $8.50 each additional page (most deeds are 1-2 pages)
• Notary fee: $10 per signature, sometimes waived for bank or title-company notaries
• Documentary stamp tax: $0.70 per $100 of consideration, or exempt if a listed exemption applies
• Attorney fee (optional): $400 to $1,000 for a single-property transfer with no tax complications

A simple spousal transfer of a free-and-clear homestead costs about $30 if the grantor uses the statutory form and finds a free notary. A transfer of mortgaged property to a non-spouse adult child can easily run several thousand dollars in documentary stamp tax alone.

Quitclaim Deeds and Existing Mortgages

A Florida quitclaim deed transfers title to the property but does not transfer the mortgage. The original borrower remains personally liable for the loan after the deed is recorded. The grantee owns the property subject to the mortgage but has no contractual obligation to pay it, and the lender has no obligation to release the original borrower.

Most mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause, also called an acceleration clause, that lets the lender call the entire balance due on any transfer of ownership. Federal law limits when the clause can be enforced. Under the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982, a lender may not call a loan due on a transfer:

• To a surviving joint tenant
• To a relative on the borrower’s death
• Resulting from a divorce, legal separation, or marital settlement
• Into a revocable trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary
• To a borrower’s spouse or children

Quitclaim transfers between family members for estate or marital planning are almost always protected by these exceptions. Transfers to non-relatives, including transfers to most LLCs, are not.

Even when the due-on-sale clause cannot be enforced, lenders rarely accelerate a loan that is current and paid on time. In the deed transfers we have handled over the past three decades, we have not seen a lender call a performing loan after a quitclaim transfer between family members, even when the transfer technically falls outside the Garn-St. Germain exceptions. Lenders care about being paid; the property securing a paying loan does not need to be foreclosed. The legal risk is real but the practical risk is small for borrowers who keep payments current.

The transfer does not relieve the original borrower of personal liability. A grantor who deeds away mortgaged property and stops paying is still on the hook for the deficiency if the lender forecloses and the sale price is less than the loan balance.

Quitclaim Deed vs. Warranty Deed

A warranty deed guarantees clear title; a quitclaim deed does not. That is the entire difference, and it is the difference that determines which form to use.

A general warranty deed includes five covenants of title:

• Seisin. The grantor owns the property.
• Right to convey. The grantor has the legal authority to transfer it.
• Against encumbrances. No undisclosed liens, mortgages, or restrictions exist.
• Quiet enjoyment. The grantee’s possession will not be disturbed by anyone with a better claim.
• Warranty. The grantor will defend the title against all claims.

These warranties run back through every prior owner. If a defect from 40 years ago surfaces, the warranty deed grantor is responsible for fixing it.

A special warranty deed, which Florida law calls a limited warranty deed, narrows the warranties to defects created during the grantor’s own period of ownership. It is common in estate and trust transfers, where the personal representative or trustee can only warrant against their own actions.

A quitclaim deed includes no warranties at all. The grantor transfers whatever interest they have. If they own the property free and clear, the grantee gets clean title. If the grantor owns nothing, because they sold the property years ago, because they were never on title to begin with, or because there is a forged deed in the chain, the grantee gets nothing.

Use a warranty deed for an arm’s-length purchase, a transaction backed by a mortgage, a transfer where the grantee plans to insure title, or a transfer where the parties cannot verify each other’s title. Use a quitclaim deed for transfers within a family, transfers into a trust or LLC the grantor controls, and transfers correcting prior deeds.

Title insurance companies will not insure a buyer who took title by quitclaim deed from an unrelated grantor. A quitclaim transfer between strangers leaves the buyer unable to sell or refinance until the title problem is cured.

Quitclaim Deed vs. Lady Bird Deed for Estate Planning

A Florida lady bird deed, formally called an enhanced life estate deed, transfers property at death without going through probate. A quitclaim deed transfers property immediately. For estate planning purposes, the two instruments do different jobs, and choosing the wrong one is a common mistake.

A lady bird deed lets the grantor reserve the right to sell, mortgage, or revoke the deed during the grantor’s lifetime. The named remainder beneficiaries take title automatically at the grantor’s death. The grantor keeps full control, the property avoids probate, and Medicaid’s five-year lookback is not triggered because no transfer is treated as having occurred during the grantor’s lifetime. The grantor’s homestead protection survives. The property receives a stepped-up basis at death for federal income tax purposes.

A quitclaim deed transfers ownership immediately and permanently. The grantor loses the right to sell, refinance, or revoke. The grantee owns the property and can transfer it, place it as security for a loan, or lose it to their own creditors. The transfer starts Medicaid’s lookback clock. The grantor’s homestead exemption ends. The grantee takes the grantor’s basis rather than a stepped-up basis, exposing the grantee to capital gains tax on the entire appreciation from the grantor’s original purchase price.

Parents who want to keep their home for life and pass it to children at death almost always need a lady bird deed. A quitclaim deed gift of a home to an adult child during the parents’ lifetime gives up control, exposes the property to the child’s creditors and divorce, and creates a tax bill that a lady bird deed would have avoided.

The Quitclaim Deed Mistakes That Send People Back to Court

Most Florida quitclaim deed defects are not discovered when the deed is signed. They surface years later, when the property is being sold or refinanced and a title examiner pulls the chain of title. The errors we see most often in those situations:

Wrong legal description. Someone retyped the description from the prior deed and dropped a line. Or they used the street address. Or they copied the description for the neighboring parcel. The deed does not convey what the parties thought it conveyed. The fix is a corrective deed if everyone is still alive and cooperative, or a quiet title action if they are not.

Missing spousal signature on homestead. Covered above. A void deed cannot be fixed by recording a new one signed only by the original grantor’s heirs. If the original deed was void, the chain of title still runs through the original grantor. The non-owner spouse who should have signed must sign now, or their estate must, or the cure requires litigation.

One witness instead of two. Florida requires two subscribing witnesses, not one. A deed with one witness is not recordable, and if the clerk accidentally accepted it, the deed is voidable. A corrective deed is the standard fix, but it requires the grantor’s cooperation, which is not always available.

Online forms not drafted for Florida. National form services sell “Florida quitclaim deeds” that follow the format of a state without Florida’s two-witness rule, or omit the parcel ID field, or use granting language that does not match § 689.025. Most of these forms are usable, but a fraction are not, and the user cannot tell the difference from inspection.

Recording delayed indefinitely. A signed deed left in a desk drawer is valid between the grantor and the grantee but does not protect the grantee against later transfers, mortgages, or judgments by the grantor. Properties sometimes get transferred twice: once unrecorded to a family member, and a second time years later by a recorded deed to a third party. The recorded deed wins.

Each of these errors is preventable at the drafting stage and expensive to fix afterward. The cost of an attorney review on the front end is almost always less than the cost of corrective work, particularly when the original grantor or the original spouse is no longer available to sign.

How Long Is a Florida Quitclaim Deed Valid?

A properly executed Florida quitclaim deed has no expiration date. Once delivered to the grantee, the transfer is complete and the deed remains effective forever. Recording does not have a deadline either; an unrecorded deed is valid between the grantor and the grantee for as long as both are alive and recognize it.

What people sometimes mean by “how long is a quitclaim deed good for” is whether an unrecorded deed loses its effect over time. The answer is no, but the longer a deed sits unrecorded, the more likely something else will happen first. A second transfer, a recorded judgment lien, or a mortgage given by the grantor against the property can each defeat the grantee’s interest if recorded before the deed. The Florida recording statute protects subsequent purchasers and creditors who take in good faith without notice of the earlier transfer.

We recommend recording the deed the same day it is signed, or at the latest within the week. Delays in recording create exposure that does not exist if recording happens at the closing.

Do You Need a Lawyer for a Florida Quitclaim Deed?

Florida does not require an attorney to prepare a quitclaim deed. Any person may complete a § 689.025 statutory form, sign it before witnesses and a notary, and record it with the clerk. The deed will be legally effective if the formalities are followed.

The question is whether the formalities will be followed and whether the underlying transaction is being structured correctly. The categories where attorney involvement is worth the cost:

• Homestead transfers. The void-deed risk if the spouse does not sign is too large to absorb on a free form.
• Mortgaged property. The interaction with the due-on-sale clause, Garn-St. Germain exceptions, and documentary stamp tax on assumed mortgage balances changes the right structure.
• Estate planning transfers. Whether a quitclaim deed is the right instrument at all, as compared to a lady bird deed, a transfer-on-death deed, or a trust funding, is the question that matters most. The deed itself is the easy part.
• Property held by a deceased owner. A deed signed by a personal representative, a trustee, or an heir without probate authority can be defective even when the form is correct. The right cure depends on how title is currently held.
• Multiple-owner transfers. Coordinating signatures from siblings, divorcing spouses, or business partners, particularly when one party is reluctant, is rarely as simple as filling out a form.

The cost of an attorney-prepared deed is small compared to the cost of the litigation that follows a defective deed. For straightforward family transfers with no mortgage and no homestead issue, the statutory form is workable. For everything else, getting the deed done right the first time costs less than fixing a defective one later.