Doral Lady Bird Deed Attorney

International Owners, LLC-Held Property and HOA Communities · Se Habla Español

A Doral Lady Bird Deed avoids Miami-Dade probate,
but first, how is your property actually titled?

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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 August 2026

Doral Lady Bird Deed Attorney

A Doral Lady Bird Deed, known formally as a Florida enhanced life estate deed, lets your Doral home or townhome pass directly to the beneficiaries you name at your death, with no Miami-Dade probate case. During your lifetime nothing changes: you stay on title and you can live in the property, rent it, refinance it, sell it, or revoke the deed entirely.

Doral is unlike every other city on this site, and its census figures say so immediately. Only 8.9% of residents are 65 or older (by far the youngest population we cover) while 70.3% are foreign-born and 93.3% speak a language other than English at home, the highest share anywhere in this practice. Owner-occupancy sits at 46.5% against a median value of $562,800.

Read together, that is not a retirement market. It is a young, international, investment-heavy market, and it produces two questions that barely arise elsewhere in Florida: is the property held in an LLC, and is the owner a non-resident alien for US tax purposes. Get either one wrong and a Lady Bird Deed either does nothing at all or solves the wrong problem.

Doral Lady Bird Deed: the short version

  • Titling first: if the property is in an LLC, a Lady Bird Deed will not work. The entity owns it, not you.
  • Residency second: a non-resident alien has a US estate tax exemption of only $60,000 on US-situs assets, against millions for a US person.
  • What the deed does well: removes the Florida property from probate, including the ancillary Florida case heirs abroad would otherwise face.
  • What it does not do: reduce US estate tax. That is a separate, and for some owners much larger, problem.
  • HOA: most Doral homes sit under both a neighborhood and a master association. Read the documents before drafting.
  • Homestead: if Florida is not your permanent residence, you likely have no homestead exemption and no spousal joinder requirement.

What Is a Doral Lady Bird Deed?

A Doral Lady Bird Deed is the common name for a Florida enhanced life estate deed recorded on property in Miami-Dade 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.

The enhancement is what makes it useful to an owner who may still be building a portfolio. Under a traditional life estate deed you could not sell or mortgage without every named beneficiary signing, which is intolerable for someone who might refinance, restructure, or move a property between holdings. An enhanced life estate deed reserves the power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and revoke without their consent.

It is a precise instrument for one job: taking a single parcel of individually owned Florida real property out of probate. Whether that is the right job for your situation is exactly what the next two sections are about.

For a broader comparison, see our guide to Lady Bird Deeds versus wills, trusts and quitclaim deeds.

Doral Lady Bird Deed attorney helping Miami-Dade owners avoid probate

If Your Doral Property Is Held in an LLC

This is the first question we ask about a Doral property, and for a meaningful share of owners it ends the Lady Bird Deed conversation before it starts.

A Lady Bird Deed conveys real property owned by an individual. If the property is titled to Doral Holdings LLC, then Doral Holdings LLC owns the house and you own Doral Holdings LLC. Those are two different assets. A deed you sign in your personal name conveys nothing, because you are not the owner of record. What you actually own is a membership interest in a company, and that is what has to be planned for.

What LLC ownership changes

  • The deed is the wrong tool. Planning runs through the operating agreement, membership interest transfer provisions, and often a trust holding the membership interest.
  • No Florida homestead. Property held by an LLC generally does not qualify for the homestead exemption or Florida’s constitutional homestead creditor protection the way individually owned property does.
  • Probate still possible. A membership interest is personal property that can require probate at the owner’s death unless the operating agreement or a trust handles the succession.
  • Basis and tax treatment differ from individually held real estate, in ways worth confirming with a tax advisor.

None of this means the LLC was a mistake. It may be exactly right for liability or privacy reasons. It means the estate plan has to match the structure you actually have, rather than the one a generic article assumed.

If you are not certain how your Doral property is titled, the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser record will tell you. It is worth checking before any other decision.

Doral Estate Planning Snapshot

Doral incorporated in 2003 and most of its housing stock is newer than that. The numbers describe a young international city rather than a retirement community, and the planning follows accordingly.

  • 8.9% of Doral residents are age 65+
  • 46.5% of housing units are owner-occupied
  • $562,800 median value of owner-occupied housing
  • $94,164 median household income
  • 70.3% of Doral residents are foreign-born
  • 93.3% speak a language other than English at home

At 8.9% over 65, Doral has less than half the senior share of Hollywood or Boca Raton. Most estate planning content assumes an aging owner thinking about long-term care. That is not the typical Doral client. The typical Doral client is in their thirties, forties or fifties, may hold more than one property, and is thinking about what happens to family in two countries.

Owner-occupancy at 46.5% against a median value of $562,800 tells the same story from the other direction: a substantial portion of Doral’s valuable housing stock is investment or second-home property rather than primary residences.

And 93.3% speaking another language at home (the highest figure on this site) reflects Doral’s deep Venezuelan, Colombian and broader Latin American community. Many of those families hold property here while living, or expecting to live, elsewhere.

Demographic figures: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Doral city, Florida (most recent American Community Survey five-year estimates available at publication).

Chart of the Doral median home price trend over the past decade, used for Miami-Dade estate planning and Doral Lady Bird Deed research
Doral median home price trend (past decade)
Values at this level put non-resident owners well past the $60,000 US estate tax exemption.
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Non-Resident Owners and the $60,000 Problem

If you are not a US citizen and not a US resident for estate tax purposes, this is the most consequential section on this page, more consequential than the deed itself.

The United States taxes the estates of non-resident aliens on their US-situs assets. US real estate is squarely a US-situs asset. And the exemption available to a non-resident alien is not the multi-million-dollar figure a US citizen enjoys. It is $60,000. Above that, federal estate tax rates climb to 40%.

  • $60,000US estate tax exemption for a non-resident alien on US-situs assets
  • 40%Top federal estate tax rate above the exemption
  • $562,800Median value of an owner-occupied Doral home
  • 70.3%Share of Doral residents who are foreign-born

Put the second and third figures next to each other. A median Doral home owned by a non-resident alien is roughly nine times the exemption. This is not a theoretical exposure, and it is routinely discovered by families only after a death, when the property cannot be transferred until the federal estate tax position is resolved.

A limited number of countries have estate tax treaties with the United States that can substantially improve this outcome, sometimes allowing a pro-rated version of the larger exemption. Most Latin American countries do not have one. For much of Doral’s community, there is no treaty to fall back on.

What a Lady Bird Deed does and does not do here

  • Does: remove the Florida property from probate, so no Florida ancillary administration is needed for that asset.
  • Does not: reduce or avoid US federal estate tax. The property stays in your gross estate, which is also precisely why the basis steps up.
  • Therefore: for a non-resident owner the deed is one piece of a plan, not the plan. The estate tax question needs a tax professional, and it needs them before a death rather than after.

The exemption and rate figures above reflect current federal law for non-resident aliens and are general information, not tax advice. Treaty positions and structuring options vary considerably by country and by family. Confirm your situation with a qualified US tax advisor.

Ancillary Probate When the Owner Lives Abroad

Real property is governed by the law of the state where it sits, and only a Florida court can clear title to Florida land. So when someone living in Caracas, Bogotá, Lima or Madrid dies owning a Doral townhome, the family does not get to resolve it in one place.

They open the estate at home, and then a second, separate ancillary administration in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court Probate Division at 73 West Flagler Street. That means retaining Florida counsel from abroad, obtaining authenticated and apostilled copies of the home-country proceedings, translating documents, satisfying a Florida creditor notice period, and waiting out a Florida court calendar, in a language most of the family does not use daily.

A Lady Bird Deed does not touch the home-country estate. What it does is remove the Florida property from the equation entirely, so there is nothing left in Florida to administer for that asset. For a family already managing a death across borders, deleting a whole jurisdiction from the process is worth a great deal.

This is the single clearest benefit of the deed for Doral’s international owners, and it is available regardless of the estate tax question above. The two are independent: solving probate does not solve tax, but failing to solve tax is not a reason to leave probate unsolved.

Doral Lady Bird Deed lawyer helping international owners avoid a Florida ancillary probate case

HOA and Master Association Communities

Almost all of Doral’s residential development is planned, and most homes sit under two layers of governance: a neighborhood or sub-association and a master association covering the wider community. Both have recorded documents, and both can affect what happens when title changes.

A Lady Bird Deed is a present recorded conveyance, even though the beneficiaries receive nothing until you die. Before drafting, the governing documents deserve a read for:

  • Transfer approval or notice requirements for a change in record title
  • Rights of first refusal, which appear in some communities
  • Leasing restrictions, which matter if a beneficiary intends to rent rather than occupy
  • Recorded liens or special assessments, which follow the property to whoever inherits it
  • Estoppel and transfer fees charged by the association on a change of ownership

None of these prevent a Lady Bird Deed. They are simply the difference between a deed prepared by someone who read the documents and one prepared by someone who did not.

Is Your Doral Property Actually Homestead?

With owner-occupancy under 47% and a heavily international ownership base, this question genuinely goes both ways in Doral.

If it is your homestead

You have the homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes assessment cap, and a properly drafted deed should not disturb either during your lifetime. You also have the restrictions of Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution: your spouse must join the deed, and homestead cannot be devised away from a surviving spouse or a minor child. Given Doral’s young demographic profile, the minor child restriction comes up here more often than in most of our markets, and a Lady Bird Deed naming anyone other than that child is a genuine problem requiring a different plan.

If it is a second home or investment property

You do not have the exemption, the cap, or the constitutional restrictions. Spousal joinder generally does not apply, which simplifies the deed. But you also lose Florida’s homestead creditor protection, and the property does not receive the homestead treatment that shelters a home from Medicaid estate recovery. For this owner the case for the deed rests on probate avoidance, which given the ancillary administration problem is usually sufficient on its own.

A caution worth stating

Homestead status is a question of fact (permanent residency, actual occupancy and intent), not of preference. If you have claimed the Florida homestead exemption on a Doral property while maintaining permanent residency in another country, that inconsistency is worth resolving before any deed is recorded. It can affect both the validity of the plan and your exposure to a claim for back taxes and penalties.

Recording a Doral Lady Bird Deed

Doral property records in the Miami-Dade County Official Records, maintained by the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller. The recording counter is at Courthouse East, 22 NW First Street, first floor, Miami, and deeds may also be submitted by mail or through an approved e-recording provider.

Execution, including signing from abroad

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). For owners who spend significant time outside the United States this needs planning rather than improvisation. A deed can be executed abroad, but the notarial formalities have to be handled properly, and it is usually far simpler to sign during a Florida visit than to untangle a defective foreign acknowledgment later.

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.

Miami-Dade is the only Florida county with its own documentary stamp rate: $0.60 per $100 of consideration rather than the $0.70 used statewide, plus a $0.45 per $100 surtax on transfers of property other than a single-family residence.

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.

Sources: Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, Official Records; 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.

After a Death: What Your Beneficiaries Actually Do

  1. Order certified death certificates

    If the death occurs abroad, the certificate will generally need to be translated and authenticated or apostilled for use in Florida. Build that into the expectation.

  2. Record one against the property

    Recorded in the Miami-Dade Official Records, this publicly establishes that the life estate has ended and the named beneficiaries hold title.

  3. Address the federal estate tax position

    For a non-resident owner this is the step that cannot be skipped. A federal estate tax return may be required, and a transfer certificate may be needed before assets move. Plan for it in advance.

  4. Notify the associations and the insurer

    Both the neighborhood and master associations need updated owner records, and the property insurer needs to know who owns and occupies the home.

  5. Apply for their own homestead exemption, if applicable

    Only if a beneficiary makes the property their permanent residence. Your exemption and Save Our Homes cap do not carry over.

What is absent from that list for the Florida property: a probate case, a personal representative, a creditor claim period, and an ancillary administration. What remains is the tax question, which is why the two need to be handled together.

What a Lady Bird Deed Does Not Do

Common misconceptions, several of which matter more in Doral than elsewhere.
People assume it…Reality
Works on property in an LLCNo. The entity owns the property. Planning runs through the operating agreement and membership interests.
Avoids US estate taxNo. The property stays in your gross estate, which for a non-resident alien means exposure above a $60,000 exemption.
Covers the whole estateOnly the real property described in the deed. Accounts, vehicles and other assets are untouched.
Replaces a will or a trustNo. For an international estate the trust is often the center of the plan and the deed a supporting piece.
Overrides HOA documentsNo. Approval requirements, leasing restrictions and recorded assessments follow the property.
Creates Florida homesteadNo. Homestead depends on permanent residency and use, not on how the deed is written.
Avoids FIRPTA on a later saleNo. A foreign beneficiary who later sells faces FIRPTA withholding.

How a Doral Lady Bird Deed Compares to the Alternatives

General comparison for Doral property. Results depend on titling, residency and tax status.
OptionAvoids Florida probate?Helps with US estate tax?Typical Doral drawback
Lady Bird DeedYes, for that propertyNoOnly works if you own the property individually, not through an entity.
Will onlyNoNoGuarantees an ancillary Florida case for an owner living abroad.
Revocable living trustYes, if fundedGenerally no by itselfHigher cost, but usually the right center of an international plan.
LLC ownershipDepends on succession planningNot by itselfLoses Florida homestead protection; the membership interest can still require probate.
Adding a child to the deedPartiallyNoCreates a present co-owner with veto power, gift tax reporting, creditor exposure, and loss of part of the step-up.

For a Doral owner with property in more than one country, the honest comparison is rarely deed versus will. It is how the deed, a trust, and any entity structure fit together, and whether the plan addresses tax as well as probate. Our breakdown is on the Florida Lady Bird Deed comparison page.

How to Get a Doral Lady Bird Deed

  1. Find out how the property is actually titled

    Individually, jointly, or through an LLC or other entity. If an entity holds it, the Lady Bird Deed is not the instrument and we will say so immediately.

  2. Establish your residency and tax status

    US citizen, green card holder, resident for tax purposes, or non-resident alien. This determines both the homestead analysis and the estate tax exposure.

  3. Pull the vesting deed and folio number

    The exact legal description from the last recorded deed in the Miami-Dade Official Records, plus the folio from the Property Appraiser.

  4. Review the HOA and master association documents

    Transfer approval, rights of first refusal, leasing restrictions, recorded assessments.

  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

    Planned properly if you spend part of the year abroad. Executing overseas is possible but adds formalities.

  7. Record in the Miami-Dade Official Records

    At Courthouse East, by mail, or by e-recording, for $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 per additional page.

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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.
Non-resident alienFor US estate tax purposes, someone who is neither a US citizen nor domiciled in the United States. Exposed to US estate tax on US-situs assets above a $60,000 exemption.
US-situs assetAn asset treated as located in the United States for estate tax purposes. US real estate always qualifies.
Ancillary administrationA second probate case opened in Florida because a non-resident died owning Florida real property.
FIRPTAThe federal regime requiring withholding on a sale of US real property by a foreign person.
Membership interestWhat you own when an LLC owns your property. Personal property, not real property, and not transferable by deed.
Master associationThe umbrella association governing a whole planned community, sitting above individual neighborhood associations.
Estoppel letterA statement from an association of what is owed on a unit, commonly required when title changes.
ApostilleAn international certification authenticating a public document for use in another country, frequently needed for foreign death certificates.
Stepped-up basisThe reset of an asset’s cost basis to date-of-death value. Available because the property stayed in the estate.

Doral Neighborhoods and Communities We Serve

We prepare Lady Bird Deeds for property throughout Doral and Miami-Dade County, including:

  • Downtown Doral
  • Doral Isles
  • Islands at Doral
  • Doral Park
  • Costa del Sol
  • Vintage Estates
  • Grand Bay
  • Doral Estates
  • Trump National Doral area
  • Fontainebleau
  • Sweetwater
  • Miami Springs
  • Virginia Gardens
  • Medley
  • Hialeah Gardens
  • NW 25th Street corridor
  • Doral Meadow
  • Doral Landings
  • Doral Terrace
  • Doral Court

Work With a Doral Lady Bird Deed Attorney

Yanitza Schoonover focuses her practice on probate administration and estate planning for Florida families. She helps Doral owners with:

  • Doral Lady Bird Deed drafting, execution and recording
  • Ancillary administration for owners living abroad
  • Formal and summary probate administration
  • Coordinating Florida property with an international estate plan


The first question is always the same: how is the property titled, and what is your tax residency? Answer those two and the right instrument becomes obvious. Schedule a consultation and we will tell you plainly whether a Doral Lady Bird Deed fits, or whether you need something else. Se habla español.

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Doral Lady Bird Deed attorney Yanitza Schoonover

Yanitza Schoonover

Doral Lady Bird Deed Frequently Asked Questions

My Doral property is in an LLC. Can I use a Lady Bird Deed?

No. A Lady Bird Deed transfers real property owned by an individual. If the property is titled to an LLC, the LLC owns it and you own the LLC, so a deed you sign personally conveys nothing. Planning for LLC-held property runs through the operating agreement and the transfer of membership interests, often combined with a trust. There is a second consequence people miss: property held in an LLC generally does not qualify for Florida homestead protection or the homestead exemption the way individually owned property does.

I am not a US citizen or resident. How much US estate tax could my family owe on a Doral property?

Potentially a great deal, and this is the most important thing on this page for many Doral owners. A US citizen or resident has a federal estate tax exemption in the millions. A non-resident alien has an exemption of only $60,000 on US-situs assets, and US real estate is squarely a US-situs asset. Rates run up to 40% above that threshold. A limited number of countries have estate tax treaties with the US that can improve the result, but most Latin American countries do not. A Lady Bird Deed solves the probate problem; it does not solve this one, and the two should be addressed together with a tax professional.

Does a Lady Bird Deed avoid probate if I live in Venezuela or Colombia?

Yes, and that is a substantial benefit. Florida real property owned at death by a non-resident normally requires an ancillary administration in Florida, a separate case heirs abroad must run remotely through Florida counsel with authenticated and apostilled documents. A Lady Bird Deed removes the Florida property from probate entirely, so no ancillary case is needed for that asset. It does not affect any estate tax that may be due.

Does my Doral HOA have to approve a Lady Bird Deed?

Most Doral communities have both a neighborhood association and a master association, and their documents vary. Many require notice or approval for a transfer of title, and some contain a right of first refusal. A Lady Bird Deed is a present recorded conveyance even though the beneficiaries take nothing until death, so the governing documents should be read before it is drafted. Assessments and any recorded lien follow the property to whoever inherits it.

Is Doral property my Florida homestead if I spend most of the year abroad?

Homestead depends on permanent residency and actual use, not on preference. If Florida is not your permanent residence you generally do not have the homestead exemption, the Save Our Homes cap, or the constitutional protections. That makes the deed simpler, because spousal joinder does not attach, but it also means you lose homestead creditor protection. If you have claimed the Florida homestead exemption while declaring permanent residency elsewhere, that is a separate problem worth resolving before anything is recorded.

Can I name beneficiaries who live outside the United States?

Yes, and for Doral families that is frequently the point. Two practical cautions. Beneficiaries who are not US persons face FIRPTA withholding on a later sale, which affects how much cash actually reaches them. And multiple beneficiaries receive the property as co-owners, so if they disagree about selling, any one of them can generally file a partition action, harder to manage across borders.

Should I use a trust instead of a Lady Bird Deed for a Doral property?

For many Doral owners, yes, or both. A Lady Bird Deed is excellent at one job: moving one parcel out of probate at low cost. A revocable trust can hold multiple properties, coordinate with assets in other countries, control the timing of distributions, and work alongside structures addressing non-resident estate tax exposure. Where the Doral property is one piece of an international estate, the trust is often the center of the plan and the deed a supporting tool.

Is the documentary stamp tax different in Miami-Dade County?

Yes. Miami-Dade is the only Florida county with its own rate: $0.60 per $100 of consideration rather than the $0.70 used in the other 66 counties, plus a $0.45 per $100 surtax on transfers of property other than a single-family residence. Separately, the Florida Department of Revenue concluded in Technical Assistance Advisement 20B4-004 that an enhanced life estate deed is not subject to documentary stamp tax at all.

I rent my Doral townhome out. Can I still use a Lady Bird Deed?

Yes, if you own it individually. A Lady Bird Deed is not limited to homestead property and will keep a rental out of probate the same way. Non-homestead property does not carry Florida homestead creditor protection and is not shielded from Medicaid estate recovery by homestead status, only by staying out of the probate estate. Check the association documents for leasing restrictions, and if the property is titled to an LLC the deed is not the right instrument.

Do my beneficiaries get a stepped-up basis?

Generally yes for US tax purposes, because the property remains in your gross estate at death. That inclusion is exactly why the basis steps up, and it is also why non-resident aliens face the estate tax exposure described above. The two facts are connected: you cannot get the step-up without the property being in the estate. For a non-resident owner this trade-off deserves real analysis with a tax advisor rather than an assumption.

Can a Doral Lady Bird Deed be changed or revoked later?

Yes. You can sell the property, 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. For owners whose family circumstances or country of residence may change, that flexibility is a significant advantage.

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

We also assist owners in nearby Miami-Dade markets including Miami, Hialeah, Miami Beach, Kendall, Homestead, and Miramar. 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.

• Boca Raton • Boynton Beach • Cape Coral • Clearwater • Coral Springs • Davie • Daytona Beach • Deerfield Beach • Doral • Fort Lauderdale • Hallandale Beach • Hialeah • Hollywood • Homestead • Jacksonville • Kendall • Lauderdale Lakes • Miami • Miami Beach • Miramar • Orlando • Parkland • Pembroke Pines • Pine Hills • Plantation • Pompano Beach • Port Saint Lucie • Saint Petersburg • Sunrise • Tallahassee • Tampa • 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. Nothing on this page is tax advice. Federal estate tax, treaty positions and FIRPTA outcomes for non-resident owners depend heavily on individual facts and should be confirmed with a qualified US tax advisor. Recording locations, fees, tax rates and court procedures described here were accurate as of August 2026 and should be confirmed with the Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Court and Comptroller and the Florida Department of Revenue before you rely on them.

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