A Lady Bird deed is the most useful estate planning tool most people have never heard of. It lets you pass your home to your children automatically when you die — no probate, no court, no lawyer’s fee for your family — while you keep complete control of the property for the rest of your life.
You can still sell it. Still mortgage it. Still change your mind and name someone else. Your children have no legal interest in the property until the day you’re gone, and then it’s simply theirs.
Florida is one of only a handful of states that allows these. If you own a home, land, or a place on the water in Franklin County, this is worth twenty minutes of your time.
The formal name is an enhanced life estate deed. You transfer the property to yourself for life, with the remainder going to whoever you name — usually your children. The word “enhanced” is what makes it different from an ordinary life estate: it means you keep every right you had before, including the right to sell the property or revoke the deed entirely without anyone’s permission.
The deed gets recorded with the Franklin County Clerk of Court. Nothing else changes. You still own the house, you still pay the taxes, you still keep your homestead exemption. When you die, your beneficiary records a death certificate and the property is theirs — usually within a week, and without ever setting foot in a courtroom.
Most of my Franklin County clients come in thinking they need a trust. Sometimes they do. But if the house is the main asset and the plan is simply to leave it to the kids, a Lady Bird deed does the same job for a fraction of the cost, with no ongoing administration and nothing to fund.
I’ve prepared more than fifty of these across the Forgotten Coast and Wakulla County. It’s a short document, but the details matter — how title is currently held, whether the property is homestead, who’s named as remainder beneficiary and what happens if one of them dies first. Those are the things that turn a simple deed into a problem later.
Best for: a single home going to adult children.
Cheap, common, and usually a mistake.
I talk more people out of this than into anything else.
Best for: larger or more complicated estates.
That’s what the free consultation is for. Bring your deed or your property appraiser printout and we’ll figure out in twenty minutes whether a Lady Bird deed fits.
An enhanced life estate deed. You keep the property for life with full rights to sell, mortgage, or revoke, and whoever you name receives it automatically at your death without probate.
The name is attributed to a Florida attorney who used Lady Bird Johnson as an example when teaching the concept. It stuck. The legal term is enhanced life estate deed, and either name refers to the same document.
Yes. Florida is one of a small number of states that recognize enhanced life estate deeds. They're well established here and widely used.
Anyone who owns real property in Florida and wants it to pass to specific people without probate. It's especially useful when the home is the primary asset and the beneficiaries are adult children who get along.
No. That's the whole point of the "enhanced" part. You can sell, mortgage, rent, or give the property away, and you can revoke the deed entirely — all without asking your beneficiaries or notifying them.
Yes, anytime, for any reason. You record a new deed. Your beneficiaries have no vested interest and no standing to object.
None. They can't sell it, borrow against it, live in it, or stop you from doing anything with it. Their interest doesn't exist until you die.
No. The deed is a public record, so it's discoverable, but you have no obligation to notify anyone. That said, telling them tends to prevent surprises and arguments later.
No. A properly drafted Lady Bird deed preserves your homestead exemption and your Save Our Homes cap. You remain the owner for tax purposes.
No. Because the transfer isn't complete until your death, it isn't a taxable gift and doesn't require a gift tax return. This is one of the main advantages over adding a child to your deed.
A Lady Bird deed is generally not treated as a transfer for Medicaid eligibility purposes, so it doesn't trigger the five-year lookback penalty. Medicaid estate recovery is a more complicated question and depends on your circumstances — worth discussing specifically if long-term care is on your mind.
Your beneficiaries receive a stepped-up basis at your death, meaning the property's value resets to what it's worth when you pass. If they sell shortly after, capital gains are usually minimal or zero. Adding a child to your deed during life forfeits this — which can cost them tens of thousands of dollars.
Yes. Lady Bird deeds work for any Florida real property, not just your homestead. Non-homestead property doesn't get the exemption benefits, but the probate avoidance works the same way.
Considerably. Without it, your Florida property may require an ancillary probate — a separate court proceeding in Florida, in addition to whatever happens in your home state. A Lady Bird deed usually eliminates that entirely.
Married couples can execute a Lady Bird deed together, passing the property to the survivor and then to your chosen beneficiaries. How your title is currently held matters here, which is why I review it before drafting.
A Lady Bird deed doesn't trigger a due-on-sale clause because no present transfer occurs. Your mortgage is unaffected, and your beneficiaries take the property subject to it.
This comes up regularly here. You can't execute a Lady Bird deed on property you don't have clear title to. We'd need to fix the title first, usually through a probate proceeding, and then the deed is straightforward. Worth addressing sooner rather than later.
Flat fee, quoted at your consultation. Most Lady Bird deeds go from first conversation to recorded document in about a week.
A Lady Bird deed handles your real estate. It doesn’t handle your bank accounts, your vehicles, or what happens if you become incapacitated while you’re still here.
Wills — everything the deed doesn’t cover
Powers of Attorney — who manages your affairs if you can’t
Healthcare Directives — who makes medical decisions, and what you want
Free consultation, no obligation. I’d rather you understand your options than sign something you’re unsure about.
