Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed Attorney

55+ Condominium Communities in South Palm Beach County

A Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed avoids probate.
Your condo association still has a say in what comes next.

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Yanitza Schoonover, Florida probate and estate planning attorney
Written and reviewed by Yanitza Schoonover, Florida probate and estate planning attorney The Schoonover Law Firm, P.A. · Updated October 2026

Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed Attorney

A Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed, known formally as a Florida enhanced life estate deed, lets your condominium unit, villa or home pass directly to the beneficiaries you name at your death, with no Palm Beach County probate case for that property. Nothing changes while you are alive: you stay on title, you keep your homestead exemption, and you can live in the unit, rent it, refinance it, sell it, or revoke the deed entirely.

West of I-95, Delray Beach is home to some of the largest age-restricted condominium communities in South Florida. Kings Point alone has thousands of condominium units. High Point of Delray Beach is organized into numbered condominium sections, and Huntington Lakes adds many more condominium residences.

For an owner in one of these communities, the deed is only half of the conversation. The other half is the condominium association: whether it must approve a change in title, whether it holds a right of first refusal, and what your heirs will need to do to deal with it after you are gone. This page covers that second half.

Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed: the short version

  • What it does: names beneficiaries who receive your unit automatically at death, outside of probate.
  • Association approval: depends on your declaration. Read the transfer provisions before recording.
  • Right of first refusal: usually built around sales. Recording the deed is not a sale; your heirs’ later sale will be.
  • After a death: your beneficiaries own the unit at once and can deal with the association without waiting for a probate court.
  • Assessments: keep accruing, and the new owners are liable for any unpaid balance.
  • Where it records: the Palm Beach County Clerk, including at the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach.

What Is a Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed?

A Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed is the common name for a Florida enhanced life estate deed recorded on property in Palm Beach County. It names the beneficiaries, called remaindermen, who receive the property automatically at your death, while reserving to you an enhanced life estate that leaves you in complete control while you are alive.

Under a traditional life estate deed you could not sell or mortgage without every named beneficiary signing. An enhanced life estate deed reserves the power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and revoke without their consent. For a condo owner who may later move to assisted living or closer to family, that flexibility is the point.

The deed works the same on a condominium unit as on a single-family home. For a broader comparison, see our guide to Lady Bird Deeds versus wills, trusts and quitclaim deeds, and for condo-specific title issues, our guide to rental property, condos and LLCs.

Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed attorney helping Palm Beach County condominium owners avoid probate

Condominium Association Approval and the Deed

Florida’s Condominium Act lets a declaration regulate how units change hands. Many declarations in Delray Beach’s older communities require the association to approve a sale or lease, and some extend approval or notice requirements to any transfer of title, including gifts and transfers at death. In a large community, the governing document is the one for your section or building, not a community-wide summary.

A Lady Bird Deed is a present recorded conveyance: it is recorded today, even though your beneficiaries receive nothing until your death and nobody new moves in. Whether that triggers your declaration’s approval clause depends on its wording. Some clauses speak only of sales and leases. Others are written to reach “any transfer” of a unit or an interest in it.

What we look for in your documents

  • The transfer clause: does it cover only sales and leases, or any conveyance of an interest?
  • Exemptions: many declarations exempt transfers to a spouse or family members, or transfers by inheritance. Some do not.
  • Notice versus approval: a requirement to notify the association is very different from a requirement to obtain its consent.
  • Occupancy approval: some associations approve occupants rather than owners, which matters more after a death than at signing.
  • Age restrictions and leasing rules: these decide what your heirs can actually do with the unit.

None of this prevents a Lady Bird Deed. It determines whether the association should receive a copy, a notice or an application when the deed is recorded, so that the association’s owner records and the Official Records agree. A mismatch is the kind of small problem that becomes a large one when heirs try to sell.

Sources: Fla. Stat. ch. 718 (Condominium Act); your community’s recorded declaration of condominium governs. Confirm with the association before relying on any general rule.

The Right of First Refusal

A right of first refusal lets the association (or sometimes its members) step into a proposed transfer and take the unit on the same terms. It appears in many older Florida condominium declarations, and owners in 55+ communities often ask whether recording a Lady Bird Deed hands the association an opportunity to buy their unit.

In most declarations, it does not, for a practical reason: a right of first refusal is built around a sale, where there is a buyer and a price to match. A Lady Bird Deed has neither. Nothing is being sold, and the beneficiaries pay nothing.

The timing questions that do matter:

  • At death: declarations differ on whether a transfer by inheritance is exempt from the right. Read yours.
  • When heirs sell: the right of first refusal applies to their sale exactly as it would to yours, and the buyer must wait out the association’s response period.
  • At closing: the association’s estoppel certificate addresses approval and right of first refusal status, along with amounts owed.

If your heirs are likely to sell, they should expect the association’s approval and first refusal timelines to be part of that sale, regardless of how they received the unit.

Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed lawyer reviewing a condominium declaration for transfer approval and right of first refusal

How Your Heirs Deal With the Association After a Death

This is where families in Delray Beach’s condominium communities most often get stuck, and it is worth knowing before you sign anything.

1. Introduce the new owners

The association needs proof that ownership has changed: typically a certified death certificate and a copy of the recorded Lady Bird Deed. Until it has those, it will continue to send notices to the deceased owner, and the heirs have no standing to ask for records or approval.

2. Keep the assessments current

Under the Condominium Act, a unit owner, however title was acquired, is liable for assessments that come due while they own the unit, and is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that came due up to the transfer of title. Monthly maintenance keeps accruing while the family grieves, and any special assessment, including one for milestone inspections or structural integrity reserves in an older building, follows the unit.

3. Apply before anyone moves in or leases

Many associations require an application, and sometimes an interview, before anyone occupies or rents a unit. Inheriting ownership does not skip that step.

4. Check the age rules

In a 55+ community, an heir under 55 can inherit ownership and still be unable to live there. We cover the federal Housing for Older Persons Act and the misunderstood 80/20 rule in detail on our Pembroke Pines page, which applies equally to Delray Beach communities.

5. Decide: occupy, lease or sell

If occupancy is not available and leasing is restricted, a sale is the practical outcome, and the association’s approval and first refusal provisions will be part of it.

What a condominium association can and cannot do when a Lady Bird Deed beneficiary inherits. Your declaration controls.
Can the association…General answer
Prevent the beneficiary from inheriting ownership?No, title passes under the deed
Require proof of the change in ownership?Yes
Collect unpaid assessments from the new owner?Yes, jointly and severally with the prior owner
Require approval before someone occupies?Often, if the declaration provides for it
Enforce age restrictions on occupancy?Yes, in a qualifying 55+ community
Exercise a right of first refusal on the heirs’ sale?Yes, if the declaration contains one

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 718.116 (assessments; liability; estoppel certificates); Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995; 24 C.F.R. Part 100, Subpart E. Your community’s recorded declaration governs.

Why the Deed Makes the Association Easier, Not Harder

Owners sometimes worry that a Lady Bird Deed adds a layer of complication with the association. In practice it removes one.

Without the deed, a unit owned in your name alone goes through a Palm Beach County probate case. Until the court appoints a personal representative, nobody has authority to sign an association application, list the unit for sale, or answer the association’s right of first refusal. The assessments accrue all the same. Months can pass with a vacant unit, a growing balance, and a family with no one empowered to act.

With the deed, your beneficiaries are the record owners the moment you die. Once the death certificate is recorded, they can deal with the association directly, pay or settle the account, apply to lease, or sign a listing agreement. For a condo in a community with approval and first refusal provisions, that head start matters.

Homestead, Spousal Rights and the Stepped-Up Basis

A properly drafted Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed should not disturb your homestead exemption or your Save Our Homes assessment cap during your lifetime. You retain the enhanced life estate, you remain in possession, and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser continues to treat you as the owner. The cap resets on the change of ownership at death, the same as it would through probate or a trust.

Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution provides that a married owner cannot convey homestead without the spouse joining in the deed, and that homestead cannot be devised away from a surviving spouse or a minor child. A married Delray Beach couple normally signs the Lady Bird Deed together, naming the beneficiaries who take after the second death.

Because you keep the enhanced powers, the property remains in your gross estate at death, which normally produces a stepped-up cost basis for your beneficiaries. In a 55+ condominium, where heirs often must sell, the step-up can eliminate most of the capital gain. Deeding the unit to them during your lifetime typically forfeits it.

Medicaid and Estate Recovery

Florida’s Medicaid program is required by federal law to seek reimbursement from the estates of recipients aged 55 and over who received long-term care benefits. Everything turns on how estate is defined, and Florida defines it narrowly: recovery reaches assets passing through the probate estate. Florida has not adopted the expanded definition some states use.

Because a Lady Bird Deed moves the home outside probate, it is one of the standard tools for reducing estate recovery exposure on a Florida homestead, and Florida’s constitutional homestead protection points the same way when the homestead passes to heirs.

The limits

  • The deed does not qualify anyone for Medicaid. Eligibility is a separate analysis.
  • The five-year look-back still applies to other transfers, including an outright gift of the home.
  • Protection depends on the home keeping homestead status and passing to heirs; if the home falls back into the probate estate (for example, because no named beneficiary survives), recovery rules can reach it.

Our full write-up is on the Florida Lady Bird Deed and Medicaid page.

Sources: 42 U.S.C. § 1396p; Fla. Stat. §§ 409.910 and 409.9101; Art. X, § 4, Fla. Const.

Recording a Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed

Deeds in Palm Beach County are recorded by the Recording Department of the Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County, in the county’s Official Records.

For Delray Beach owners, the convenient counter is close to home: the South County Courthouse, 200 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. The Clerk also accepts recordings at the Main Courthouse, 205 N. Dixie Highway, Room 4.2500, West Palm Beach, and at branch locations, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except designated holidays. The Clerk notes that certain documents are accepted only at the Main Courthouse, so check before you go. Documents may also be submitted through e-recording.

Execution requirements

Florida requires a deed conveying an interest in real property to be signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary public (Fla. Stat. §§ 689.01 and 695.03). Both witnesses must be present and must sign. Deeds signed at a hospital or care facility without proper witnessing fail this test regularly, and the failure surfaces at death when it can no longer be corrected.

Recording fees and documentary stamp tax

Recording charges are $10.00 for the first page, $8.50 for each additional page, and $1.00 per name indexed beyond four names. Palm Beach County applies the standard statewide documentary stamp rate of $0.70 per $100 of consideration on taxable deeds.

Whether the tax applies to this deed at all was addressed in Technical Assistance Advisement 20B4-004 (October 16, 2020), in which the Florida Department of Revenue concluded that an enhanced life estate deed is not subject to documentary stamp tax, because no present beneficial interest transfers when the deed is signed. A Technical Assistance Advisement binds the Department only as to the taxpayer and facts presented. Our flat fee is on the pricing page.

Sources: Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County, Recording (Main Courthouse, 205 N. Dixie Highway, Room 4.2500, West Palm Beach; South County Courthouse, 200 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach; hours; eRecording); Florida Department of Revenue Technical Assistance Advisement 20B4-004 (Oct. 16, 2020); Fla. Stat. ch. 201; Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13) (statutory service charges); Fla. Stat. §§ 689.01, 695.03.

What a Lady Bird Deed Does Not Do

Common misconceptions among condominium owners.
People assume it…Reality
Overrides the condo declarationNo. Approval, leasing, age and first refusal provisions all still apply.
Clears unpaid assessmentsNo. The new owners are liable with the prior owner for amounts due at transfer.
Lets an under-55 heir move into a 55+ unitNo. It transfers ownership; occupancy is governed by the declaration.
Covers the whole estateOnly the real property described in the deed. Accounts, vehicles and belongings are untouched.
Replaces a willNo. You still want a will for everything the deed does not cover.
Qualifies you for MedicaidNo. It may reduce estate recovery exposure on a homestead, but it does not create eligibility.

A funded revocable trust is the main alternative, and is worth considering where you want a trustee to manage a sale and divide the proceeds. Our full breakdown is on the Florida Lady Bird Deed comparison page.

How to Get a Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed

  1. Get the condominium documents

    The declaration, bylaws and any rules on transfers, leasing and age restrictions for your specific section or building. In large communities each section can have its own documents.

  2. Read the transfer provisions

    We look at whether approval or notice is required when title changes, whether a right of first refusal exists, and whether either applies to transfers at death.

  3. Confirm the deed fits your goals

    How the unit is titled, who you want to receive it, whether you are married, and whether there is a minor child.

  4. Pull the vesting deed and parcel number

    The exact legal description from the last recorded deed in the Palm Beach County Official Records, including the unit and condominium name, plus the parcel number from the Property Appraiser.

  5. Draft the enhanced life estate reservation

    Reserving your power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and revoke without the beneficiaries’ consent.

  6. Sign with two witnesses and a notary

    Both witnesses present and signing. A married owner’s spouse joins the deed on homestead property.

  7. Record with the Palm Beach County Clerk

    At the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach, the Main Courthouse in West Palm Beach, or by e-recording, for $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 per additional page.

START WITH A CONSULTATION

Plain-English Glossary

Enhanced life estate deedThe formal name for a Lady Bird Deed. You keep a life estate plus the power to sell, mortgage or revoke without anyone’s consent.
Declaration of condominiumThe recorded document creating the condominium and governing transfers, leasing, age restrictions and assessments.
Right of first refusalA provision letting the association match a proposed transfer before it completes.
Estoppel certificateThe association’s statement of what is owed on a unit and its approval status, used at closing.
Joint and several liabilityThe association can collect the full unpaid balance from either the prior owner’s estate or the new owner.
RemaindermanA person named in the deed to receive the property at your death. No present interest while you are alive.
Stepped-up basisThe reset of cost basis to date-of-death value, which can eliminate accumulated capital gain on a later sale.

Delray Beach Communities We Serve

We prepare Lady Bird Deeds for property throughout Delray Beach and Palm Beach County, including:

  • Kings Point
  • High Point of Delray Beach
  • Huntington Lakes
  • Huntington Pointe
  • Villa Borghese
  • Valencia Falls
  • Valencia Palms
  • Vizcaya
  • Four Seasons
  • Floral Lakes
  • Villaggio Reserve
  • Boca Delray Golf & Country Club
  • Downtown Delray Beach
  • Lake Ida
  • Atlantic Avenue corridor

Nearby Areas We Serve

  • Boca Raton: domicile, and whether your Florida home is really your homestead.
  • Boynton Beach: checking whether an older life estate deed left you in control of your own home.
  • West Palm Beach: rental and investment property, and the probate threshold.
  • Palm Beach County: county-wide recording, homestead and probate guidance.
  • Pembroke Pines: 55+ communities, the HOPA 80/20 rule and heirs under 55.
  • Melbourne: VA loans, disabled veteran exemptions and surviving spouses.

Work With a Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed Attorney

Yanitza Schoonover focuses her practice on probate administration and estate planning for Florida families. She helps Delray Beach homeowners with:

  • Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed drafting, execution and recording
  • Reviewing condominium declarations for transfer provisions
  • Formal and summary probate administration
  • Estate planning coordination for Florida homesteads


Bring your condominium documents. We will read the transfer, first refusal and occupancy provisions, draft the deed around them, and tell your family plainly what the association will expect from them.

Schedule Your Consultation
Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed attorney Yanitza Schoonover

Yanitza Schoonover

Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed Frequently Asked Questions

Does my condo association have to approve a Lady Bird Deed?

It depends on your declaration. Many Florida condominium declarations require approval or notice when ownership changes, and some are written broadly enough to reach any transfer of title. A Lady Bird Deed is a present recorded conveyance even though your beneficiaries take nothing until your death and no one new moves in. We read the transfer provisions before drafting, and where notice or approval is required, we handle it so the association’s records match the Official Records.

Does the association’s right of first refusal apply to a Lady Bird Deed?

Usually the real question is when, not whether. A right of first refusal lets the association match a proposed transfer, and it is typically written around sales, where there is a price to match. Recording a Lady Bird Deed involves no sale and no price. At death, declarations differ on whether a transfer by inheritance is exempt. If your heirs later sell the unit, the right of first refusal will apply to that sale just as it would to yours.

What do my heirs need to give the association after I die?

Typically a certified death certificate, a copy of the recorded Lady Bird Deed, and contact information for the new owners. Many associations also require an application, and sometimes an interview, before anyone occupies or leases the unit. Because the deed makes your beneficiaries the owners at death, they can deal with the association right away instead of waiting for a probate court to appoint a personal representative.

Can the association stop my heirs from living in the unit?

It cannot stop them from inheriting ownership. It can enforce the declaration’s occupancy rules, including age restrictions in a 55+ community and any approval process for new occupants. An heir who does not meet those rules may own the unit and still be unable to move in, leaving the choice between leasing, if the documents allow it, and selling.

Who pays the condo assessments after I die?

The new owners. Under Florida’s Condominium Act, a unit owner is liable for assessments that come due while they own the unit, and is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that came due up to the time of the transfer of title. Assessments keep accruing while heirs decide what to do, so a quick decision saves money.

My children are under 55. Can they inherit my Delray Beach condo?

Yes, they can inherit ownership. Whether they can live there depends on the community’s age and occupancy rules. Our Pembroke Pines page explains the federal 80/20 rule and why it does not guarantee an under-55 heir a place to live.

Where is a Lady Bird Deed recorded for Delray Beach property?

With the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Palm Beach County, in the county’s Official Records. In-person recording is available at the South County Courthouse, 200 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, and at the Main Courthouse, 205 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Certain documents are accepted only at the Main Courthouse, so confirm before you go. E-recording is also available.

Will a Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed affect my homestead exemption?

A properly drafted deed should not affect your homestead exemption or your Save Our Homes assessment cap during your lifetime. You retain an enhanced life estate, you remain in possession, and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser continues to treat you as the owner. The cap generally resets at your death on the change of ownership.

Did Florida change the summary administration limit in 2026?

Yes. Effective July 1, 2026, CS/HB 1337 (ch. 2026-57, Laws of Fla.) raised the non-exempt asset ceiling from $75,000 to $150,000 under Fla. Stat. section 735.201. The new limit applies only to decedents who die on or after that date, and summary administration remains available at any value once more than two years have passed since the death. Even then, a homestead usually still requires a separate order determining homestead status before title is marketable.

Does a Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed protect the unit from Medicaid estate recovery?

Florida limits Medicaid estate recovery to assets that pass through the probate estate. Because a Lady Bird Deed moves the home outside probate, it is one of the standard tools for reducing exposure on a Florida homestead. It does not qualify anyone for Medicaid, the five-year look-back still applies to other transfers, and the protection depends on the home keeping homestead status and passing to heirs.

Can a Delray Beach Lady Bird Deed be changed or revoked later?

Yes. You can sell the unit, refinance it, lease it, add or remove beneficiaries, or revoke the deed entirely without the consent of the people named to receive it. A new deed is prepared and recorded to make the change effective.

More general questions are answered on our Florida Lady Bird Deed FAQ page.

We prepare Lady Bird Deeds for homeowners throughout Palm Beach County and across Florida. Browse every market on our areas we serve page.

Florida Lady Bird Deed Attorney Serves Homeowners Across Florida

We help homeowners throughout Florida with Lady Bird Deeds and probate avoidance planning. Below are many of the primary Florida markets we serve, but we're not limited to these locations. You can also browse the full Florida Lady Bird Deed city and county directory, or read our Lady Bird Deed guides.

• Boca Raton • Boynton Beach • Bradenton • Cape Coral • Clearwater • Coral Springs • Davie • Daytona Beach • Deerfield Beach • Delray Beach • Doral • Fort Lauderdale • Fort Myers • Hallandale Beach • Hialeah • Hollywood • Homestead • Jacksonville • Kendall • Lauderdale Lakes • Melbourne • Miami • Miami Beach • Miramar • Naples • Ocala • Orlando • Palm Coast • Parkland • Pembroke Pines • Pine Hills • Plantation • Pompano Beach • Port Charlotte • Port Saint Lucie • Saint Petersburg • Sarasota • Spring Hill • Sunrise • Tallahassee • Tampa • Venice • The Villages • West Palm Beach • Weston

Legal disclaimer. This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Condominium transfer, approval, right of first refusal and age restriction rules depend on each community’s recorded declaration; confirm with your association before relying on any general statement here. Recording locations, fees, tax rates and court procedures described were accurate as of October 2026 and should be confirmed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser and the Florida Department of Revenue.

The Schoonover Law Firm, P.A. · Yanitza Schoonover, Attorney at Law · Licensed in Florida. Attorney advertising.