Lady Bird Deed in Davie, FL: Avoid Probate on Your Home

What is a lady bird deed in Davie, Florida?

A lady bird deed, also called an enhanced life estate deed, lets you keep full ownership and control of your Davie home during your life and pass it straight to the people you name at your death, outside probate. You can still sell, refinance, or change your mind without anyone’s permission. Your homestead exemption and Save Our Homes cap stay intact while you live there.

Here is what I tell every Davie homeowner who asks me how to keep the house out of probate without handing it to the kids today. A lady bird deed is one of the cleanest answers Florida offers, and most people have never heard of it.

The reason it matters is money and time. When a Florida home passes through probate, your heirs wait months, pay court and attorney costs, and watch a private family matter become a public court file. The Florida Bar describes probate as a court supervised process for gathering a decedent’s assets, paying debts, and distributing what is left. A lady bird deed skips that process for your home entirely. The property is not part of the probate estate at all.

How a lady bird deed actually works

Think of it as two gifts in one document. You keep an enhanced life estate, which means you own and control the home for as long as you live. You also name a remainder beneficiary, the person or people who receive the home the moment you pass.

The word enhanced is the whole point. In a plain old life estate, you would need your beneficiary’s signature to sell or refinance. With a lady bird deed you keep every right you have today:

1. You can sell the home at any time and keep all the proceeds.

2. You can refinance or take a new mortgage without asking the beneficiary.

3. You can change the beneficiary later, or cancel the arrangement completely.

4. If you sell before you pass, the beneficiary’s future interest just disappears.

Your beneficiary has no say and no claim while you are alive. That control is exactly why cautious homeowners like it. You are not giving the house away. You are only deciding where it lands if you still own it at the end.

A lady bird deed also does not trigger the due on sale clause on your current mortgage. Because no present ownership transfers while you live, a properly drafted deed gives your lender no basis to call the loan. The mortgage stays in place on the same terms, and it still has to be paid.

The Davie money angle: homestead, Save Our Homes, and taxes

This is where a lady bird deed earns its keep for Davie owners. Many of my neighbors bought years ago and are sitting on a large gap between their market value and their capped assessed value. The median single family sale price in Davie is now davie_stat segment=”sfh” field=”median_sales_price” label=”1″], and a homeowner in Long Lake Ranches (33330) who [bought a home on acreage a decade ago has protected a serious amount of value under the state cap.

A lady bird deed protects that position:

• Homestead stays intact. Because ownership does not transfer during your life, your homestead exemption and your Save Our Homes assessment cap are untouched while you live in the home. Confirm your own exemption status with the Broward County Property Appraiser.
• No documentary stamp tax at recording. Since the deed transfers no present interest, it records with only the nominal minimum documentary stamp tax, not the full rate on the home’s value. Verify the current rate with your title company or closing attorney.
• A stepped up basis for your heirs. Your beneficiaries inherit the home at its value on the date you pass, which can erase the capital gains on decades of appreciation if they sell. Confirm the tax result with your CPA for your situation.
• Protection from Medicaid estate recovery. Florida recovers Medicaid costs only from a person’s probate estate. A home that passes by lady bird deed never becomes a probate asset, so it stays out of reach of recovery. The deed does not change Medicaid eligibility and does not start the five year lookback.

None of this requires you to give up the house, move, or change how you pay your taxes next year. You live exactly as you do now.

Where lady bird deeds fail in Florida

I will not sell you a tool without showing you its edges. This is the honest part, and it is the reason you want a Florida attorney drafting the deed rather than a form off the internet.

Florida homestead law restricts who can inherit a homestead when you are survived by a spouse or a minor child. Under the state constitution and Florida Statute 732.401, a surviving spouse takes a life estate or may elect a one half interest, and a home cannot be freely devised around a minor child at all. If you are married, your spouse should join the deed or sign a waiver, even if the spouse is not on title. Skip that step and a title company may refuse to insure the transfer after you pass.

A few more limits worth knowing:

• A lady bird deed covers one property. It is not a full estate plan and does nothing for your other assets.
• It offers no protection if you become incapacitated. That is a job for a durable power of attorney or a trust.
• If your named beneficiary dies before you and the deed does not plan for it, what happens next can get murky.
• If the home passes to a minor, that minor cannot sell or mortgage it without a court appointed guardian.

These are solvable problems. They are just reasons to get the drafting right the first time.

Lady bird deed vs quitclaim deed vs living trust

Homeowners usually weigh three tools, and they are not interchangeable.

A quitclaim deed transfers ownership now and for good. Add your child to the deed today and you have given away control, exposed the home to that child’s creditors and divorce, and often lost part of your homestead protection. A lady bird deed keeps everything in your hands until death. For most owners who just want the home to pass cleanly, that difference is the whole decision.

A living trust does more. It can hold many assets, manage them if you lose capacity, and handle blended families, unequal shares, or young beneficiaries. It also costs more and takes more work to set up and fund. A lady bird deed is the lean choice when the plan is simple, one Florida home going to one or more adult children. A trust is the better fit when the picture is complicated.

How you decide to hold title and pass your home is personal, and it interacts with your mortgage, your marriage, your heirs, and your taxes. The deed is the easy part. Choosing the right instrument is the part worth a real conversation.

How to put a lady bird deed in place on your Davie home

1. Talk to a Florida estate planning attorney. This is a legal instrument tied to homestead and spousal rights, not a form to wing.

2. Decide who receives the home and name backups in case a beneficiary passes before you.

3. If you are married, plan for spousal joinder or a waiver so the deed survives homestead law.

4. Have the attorney draft the enhanced life estate deed with the correct enhanced retained powers.

5. Sign with the formalities Florida requires, then record the deed in Broward County’s official records.

6. Keep your homestead filing exactly as it is. Nothing about your day to day ownership changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a lady bird deed avoid probate in Florida?

Yes. A lady bird deed passes your home to the named beneficiary automatically at your death, so the home is not part of your probate estate. Your heirs avoid the months of delay and the court and attorney costs that probate on a Florida home usually brings.

Can I still sell or refinance my Davie home after a lady bird deed?

Yes. You keep full control for life. You can sell the home and keep every dollar, refinance or take a new mortgage, or change the beneficiary, all without the beneficiary’s permission. Their interest only exists if you still own the home when you pass.

Does a lady bird deed affect my homestead exemption or Save Our Homes cap?

No, not while you live there. Because no ownership transfers during your life, your homestead exemption and your Save Our Homes assessment cap stay in place. The home is not reassessed just because you signed the deed. You can confirm your status with the Broward County Property Appraiser.

What happens if I am married or have a minor child?

Florida homestead law protects a surviving spouse and minor children. If you are married, your spouse generally must join the deed or sign a waiver, even if the spouse is not on title, or the deed can fail after your death. A home cannot be freely passed around a minor child. This is why a Florida attorney should draft it.

Is a lady bird deed better than a quitclaim deed or a living trust?

It depends on your goal. A lady bird deed beats a quitclaim deed when you want to keep control instead of giving the home away today. A living trust is better when you have multiple assets, want incapacity protection, or have a complicated family picture. For one Davie home going to adult children, the deed is often the simplest fit.

Talk to a Davie Real Estate Expert

If you own a home in Davie and you are thinking about how it passes to your family, the smartest first move is a plain conversation before you sign anything. I can walk you through how a deed decision touches your homestead, your market value, and your next sale, and point you to the right Florida attorney to draft it. Schedule a strategy call and we will map it out together.

Anthony Spitaleri

Broker Associate, REALTOR® | Coldwell Banker Realty

Creator of Living in Davie, Florida

Davie, Florida | Serving Davie, Weston and surrounding Broward markets

954-235-5783

Florida License BK3281907

@livingindavieflorida

Written by Anthony Spitaleri, Broker Associate, REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker Realty and a Davie native. More about Anthony