A Florida quitclaim deed must be signed by the grantor in front of two witnesses, notarized, and recorded with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the land sits. Recording costs $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page after that, plus documentary stamp tax of 70 cents per $100 of consideration. It transfers whatever interest the signer has and promises nothing about whether that interest is any good.
Florida is stricter about how a deed is signed than most states. The two-witness rule and a 2024 change about witness addresses are where most home-made deeds get rejected at the counter.
If you want the general background first, start with what a quitclaim deed is and what it does not do. This page covers only what is specific to Florida.
What Florida requires on the deed
Two separate statutes matter. One says what makes a deed valid. The other says what the clerk needs before it will record.
To be a valid conveyance, Florida Statutes section 689.01 requires a written instrument signed by the person giving up the interest, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. One witness is not enough. This is unusual. Most states dropped witness requirements long ago, so out-of-state owners using a generic form miss it all the time.
To be recorded, section 695.26 adds a list of formatting rules:
- The printed name of each person signing, directly under the signature, plus their post-office address.
- The printed name of each witness under their signature, plus each witness's post-office address.
- The name and address of the person who prepared the deed.
- The printed name of the notary under the notary's signature.
- The name and post-office address of each grantee (the person receiving the land).
- A blank 3-inch by 3-inch space in the top right corner of the first page, and a 1-inch by 3-inch space on later pages, for the clerk's stamp.
The grantor's signature also has to be acknowledged before a notary for the deed to be recorded. So plan on three people at the signing besides yourself, or ask the notary's office ahead of time whether they can supply witnesses.
The 2024 witness address rule
Before 2024, witnesses only had to print their names. A fraud-prevention bill passed in 2023 changed section 695.26, and since January 1, 2024 every witness to a deed must also have a post-office address printed on the instrument.
Clerks around the state published warnings about it, because deeds on older forms now get sent back. Two practical points:
- A street address or a PO box works. An email address does not.
- Many forms printed before 2024 have no line for it. If the form in front of you lacks a witness address line, it is out of date.
Documentary stamp tax
Florida charges documentary stamp tax when a deed is recorded. A quitclaim deed is taxed the same as any other deed. The Florida Department of Revenue lists quitclaim deeds by name.
The rate is 70 cents per $100 of consideration, or any portion of $100, in every county but one.
Miami-Dade is different. The rate there is 60 cents per $100, plus a 45-cent surtax per $100 on anything that is not a single-family residence. Vacant land is not a single-family residence, so a land transfer in Miami-Dade pays both, for a combined $1.05 per $100.
The part that surprises people is what counts as consideration. It is not just cash. It includes a debt being discharged, property traded in exchange, and any mortgage or lien on the property at the time of transfer. Give your brother a lot with a $50,000 mortgage still on it and the state treats that $50,000 as the price.
| Transfer | Consideration | Doc stamps (most counties) | Miami-Dade, vacant land |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sale of a lot for $20,000 | $20,000 | $140.00 | $210.00 |
| Gift, no mortgage, deed recites love and affection and $1 | Nominal | $0.70 minimum | Minimum |
| Gift, $50,000 mortgage stays on the land | $50,000 | $350.00 | $525.00 |
Two exceptions come up often between spouses. The Department of Revenue says no tax is due when a marital home is transferred between spouses as part of a divorce, and no tax is due on a transfer of homestead property between spouses when the only consideration is the existing mortgage. Neither exception is written for vacant land, so do not assume it covers a lot you never lived on. The clerk will not give tax advice. Call the Department of Revenue or ask an attorney if the amount is large.
Recording with the Clerk
Florida has no separate county recorder. Deeds are recorded by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller in the county where the land is located, not the county where you live.
Fees are set by state statute, so they are the same in all 67 counties:
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| First page | $10.00 |
| Each additional page | $8.50 |
| Indexing each name beyond four | $1.00 |
| Documentary stamp tax | 70 cents per $100 of consideration |
A normal two-page quitclaim costs $18.50 to record plus doc stamps. Most clerks accept deeds by mail, in person, or through an e-recording vendor. Send the original with wet signatures unless you are e-recording.
Record promptly. An unrecorded deed can still be valid between the two people who signed it, but it leaves the public record showing the old owner. That is a common reason a later sale stalls. Missing or unrecorded deeds are one of the items on the list of paperwork you need to sell land.
Homestead and the spouse's signature
The Florida Constitution says the owner of homestead real estate may convey it only if joined by the spouse, if married. A married owner who quitclaims the family home to a third party without the spouse signing has a defective deed, even if the spouse was never on title.
One spouse can deed homestead directly to the other, and the receiving spouse does not have to sign.
For vacant land this usually does not apply, because nobody lives on a bare lot and it is not homestead. But a title company cannot see that from the deed alone. When a married person deeds Florida land alone, closers commonly want either the spouse's signature or a statement in the deed that the property is not the grantor's homestead. If you are married and deeding land by yourself, expect the question.
Lady Bird deeds: the Florida alternative for heirs
Many Florida quitclaims are written by parents trying to get land to their children without probate. A quitclaim does that, but it is immediate and permanent. The child owns it today, the parent has lost control, and the child takes the parent's old tax basis.
Florida is one of a handful of states where attorneys use an enhanced life estate deed, usually called a Lady Bird deed. The owner keeps full control for life, including the right to sell or mortgage, and the land passes to the named person at death without probate. It is not created by a specific Florida statute and the wording matters, so this is attorney work and not a fill-in form.
If the parent has already died and no deed was ever done, see how to sell inherited land. In that situation a quitclaim from one heir is rarely enough by itself.
Quitclaims on Florida vacant land
A few things are specific to lots and acreage:
- Legal description. Use the full legal description from the prior recorded deed, not the street address or the parcel ID alone. Much Florida land sits in old platted subdivisions where one wrong lot or block number conveys the neighbor's parcel.
- Tax deed and inherited lots. Florida has a lot of land that changed hands through tax deed sales or passed informally through families. Quitclaims are often used to collect signatures from every possible claimant. That can help, but it does not replace a probate or a quiet title action when one is needed.
- Selling to a stranger. A buyer paying real money will usually want a warranty deed and title insurance. Here is how a quitclaim deed compares to a warranty deed.
- Back taxes and liens stay with the land. A quitclaim does not wipe them out.
When you do not need a quitclaim at all
If your goal is to sell the land, you probably do not need to prepare any deed yourself. In a sale through a title company or closing attorney, they draft the deed, check the witness and notary blocks, calculate the doc stamps and record it. That is true whether you list the property or sell land in Florida directly to a buyer like us.
A quitclaim makes sense when no money is changing hands and everyone trusts each other: adding or removing a spouse, moving land into your own trust or LLC, or cleaning up a name on title.
The bottom line
A Florida quitclaim deed needs two witnesses, a notary, printed names and post-office addresses for the grantor, grantee and both witnesses, and the preparer's name and address. Recording runs $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, plus doc stamps at 70 cents per $100 of consideration, where consideration includes any mortgage on the land.
The form is short. The mistakes are in the witness block, the legal description and the tax. Confirm the details with the county clerk or a Florida attorney before you sign, because a rejected or defective deed is harder to fix than to get right.
If the real goal is to be done with the land, skip the deed drafting. Request a cash offer and the title company handles the paperwork at closing, with closing costs paid by us.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Deed, tax and recording rules change and differ by county, so confirm the details with your county recorder or an attorney before you sign or file anything.