Miramar Lady Bird Deed Attorney

Q: I have a will from Jamaica. Is it valid for my Florida house?

It depends on how it was made. Under Fla. Stat. section 732.502(2), a will executed by a nonresident of Florida is valid in Florida if it was valid under the law of the state or country where it was executed, with one critical exception: holographic and nuncupative wills are excluded. A holographic will is one written and signed in the testator's own handwriting without the witnesses Florida requires. Several countries recognize handwritten wills. Florida does not, even if the will is perfectly valid where it was made. So a formally executed, witnessed will from Jamaica may well be recognized here, while a handwritten one generally will not be.

Q: Does a Lady Bird Deed solve the foreign will problem?

For the house, largely yes, and that is why it is worth knowing about. A Lady Bird Deed passes the Florida real property to your named beneficiaries outside of probate, so the question of whether a will is admissible in Florida never arises for that asset. It does not fix the rest of your estate. Bank accounts, vehicles and personal property still depend on a valid will or on Florida intestacy rules, so the deed and a properly executed Florida will usually belong together.

Q: My family is overseas. Does that make probate harder?

Considerably. Over 42 percent of Miramar residents are foreign born, and many families have relatives in the Caribbean or elsewhere. Running a Florida probate case from abroad means retaining Florida counsel remotely, obtaining authenticated or apostilled documents, arranging translations, and waiting out a process no one can attend in person. Where the person who died lived outside Florida, an ancillary Florida administration may be required on top of the estate at home. A Lady Bird Deed removes the Florida property from all of that.

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

A Miramar Lady Bird Deed, known formally as a Florida enhanced life estate deed, lets your home pass directly to the family members you name at your death, with no Broward County probate case. Nothing changes while you are alive: you stay on title, you keep your homestead exemption, and you can live in the house, rent it, refinance it, sell it, or revoke the deed entirely.

Miramar has one of the highest owner-occupancy rates in Broward at 68.8%, a young population with only 13.0% aged 65 or older, and a strongly international community: 42.4% foreign-born with 51.0% speaking a language other than English at home. It is a city of first-generation and second-generation homeowners, many with family in the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond.

That produces a specific and consequential problem, and it is the reason this page exists. A great many Miramar families already have a will, made in Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad, Colombia, or somewhere else. Some of those wills work in Florida. Some of them do not, no matter how valid they are at home.

Miramar Lady Bird Deed: the short version

Foreign wills: a properly witnessed will from another country is often recognized in Florida. A handwritten one generally is not, ever.
What the deed does: passes the house outside probate, so the will question never arises for that asset.
What you keep: full control for life, with the freedom to sell, rent, refinance, or revoke without anyone's permission.
Minor children: Florida homestead cannot be devised when a minor child survives. In a city this young, it comes up often.
Where it records: Broward County Records, Taxes & Treasury, not the Clerk of Courts.
Mortgage: the deed works on a mortgaged home. Your beneficiaries inherit the house and the loan together.

What Is a Miramar Lady Bird Deed?

A Miramar Lady Bird Deed is the common name for a Florida enhanced life estate deed recorded on property in Broward 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 difference from adding your children to the deed is the whole point. Add a child as co-owner today and that child owns part of your house today. You cannot sell or refinance without their signature. If they are sued, divorce, or file bankruptcy, your home is exposed. And you cannot undo it without their cooperation.

A Lady Bird Deed reserves the power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and revoke without the beneficiaries’ consent. They receive nothing until you die. For a younger owner who may refinance, move, or see family circumstances change considerably, that flexibility is worth a great deal.

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

Miramar Lady Bird Deed attorney helping Broward County families avoid probate

The Will You Made in Another Country May Not Work Here

This is the most important thing on this page for a great many Miramar families, and it is almost never explained clearly.

Florida does recognize foreign wills, conditionally. Under Fla. Stat. § 732.502(2), a will executed by a nonresident of Florida is valid here if it was valid under the law of the state or country where it was executed. That is a sensible, generous rule, and it means a properly executed will from Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Colombia or Haiti can often be admitted in a Florida probate.

But the statute contains an exception that swallows a large number of real-world wills. The recognition rule applies to “any will, other than a holographic or nuncupative will…”

What that exception means in practice

A holographic will is one written and signed in the maker’s own handwriting, without the two attesting witnesses Florida requires.
A nuncupative will is an oral will, spoken rather than written.
Several countries and legal systems recognize handwritten wills as fully valid. Florida does not, and the exception in § 732.502(2) means Florida will not accept one even if it is completely valid where it was made.

So the outcome turns on a detail most families have never been asked about: was the will witnessed? A formal, witnessed will from abroad may well be recognized. A handwritten one, however careful and however clearly it expresses your wishes, generally will not be.

Why this matters so much for a house

If the will fails, the Florida property does not go where you intended. It passes under Florida’s intestacy statutes (the default rules that apply when there is no valid will), which may divide the home among relatives in shares you never chose, and may not reflect your family’s actual circumstances at all. Families discover this months after a death, in a Broward courtroom, with legal fees already running.

Where a Lady Bird Deed comes in

A Lady Bird Deed transfers the Florida real property outside of probate entirely. Because the house never enters the estate, the question of whether your will is admissible in Florida simply never arises for that asset. For a family whose principal Florida asset is the home, that removes the biggest single risk.

It does not fix everything. Bank accounts, vehicles and personal property still depend on a valid will or on intestacy. The sensible plan for most Miramar families is both: a Lady Bird Deed for the house, and a properly executed Florida will for the rest, signed at the end by you and witnessed by two people who sign in your presence and in each other’s presence, as Florida requires.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 732.502 (execution of wills), including subsection (2) on wills executed by nonresidents and the exclusion of holographic and nuncupative wills; Fla. Stat. ch. 732, Part I (intestate succession). Whether a particular foreign will qualifies depends on how it was executed and on the law of the place of execution.

Miramar Estate Planning Snapshot

High ownership, a young population and deep international ties, a combination that makes planning both more valuable and more easily overlooked.

13.0% of Miramar residents are age 65+
68.8% of housing units are owner-occupied
$462,700 median value of owner-occupied housing
$89,125 median household income
42.4% of Miramar residents are foreign-born
51.0% speak a language other than English at home

Owner-occupancy of 68.8% against a 13.0% senior share is an unusual pairing. It describes a city where most people own their home and most owners are still working, families in their thirties, forties and fifties who bought here and are raising children.

That is precisely the group least likely to have done any estate planning, and most likely to be affected by the minor child restriction on Florida homestead. It is also the group for whom a plan is cheapest to put in place and least likely to be contested later.

And 42.4% foreign-born means a large share of these households have a will from somewhere else, relatives overseas, or both. Each of those facts changes what the plan needs to do.

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

Chart of the Miramar median home price trend over the past decade, used for Broward County estate planning and Miramar Lady Bird Deed research — **Miramar median home price trend (past decade)**
Equity built this quickly is worth protecting with a plan, not a handwritten note.

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION

Minor Children and the Florida Homestead Restriction

With only 13% of residents aged 65 or older, Miramar is a city of working families, and that makes this restriction unusually relevant here.

Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution provides that homestead property cannot be devised when the owner is survived by a minor child. This is a constitutional limit, not a drafting problem that careful language works around. A Lady Bird Deed on homestead property naming someone other than that minor child can fail at your death, and it fails precisely when your family is depending on it.

What this does and does not mean

It applies to homestead. Non-homestead property is not subject to the same restriction.
It is tested at death, not at signing. A deed signed while your children are young may be perfectly fine if they are adults when you die.
It is not a dead end. The plan is built around the restriction, often with a trust, life insurance, or by directing non-homestead assets.
Spousal joinder applies separately. A married owner’s spouse must join the deed on homestead property regardless.

If you have children under 18, please raise it at the start. It is the first thing we need to know and it changes what we recommend.

Miramar Lady Bird Deed lawyer discussing Florida homestead rules with a young family

When Your Family Lives Overseas

More than four in ten Miramar residents were born outside the United States, and many households have parents, siblings or children still living in the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe or Africa. That reality changes what a probate case actually costs a family, in time, money and difficulty.

A Florida probate run from abroad means:

Retaining Florida counsel remotely, often without ever meeting
Obtaining authenticated or apostilled documents from another country
Arranging certified translations where documents are not in English
Waiting out a Florida court calendar and a three-month creditor claim period
Coordinating signatures across time zones, sometimes through a consulate

If the person who died was living outside Florida at the time, there is an additional layer: Florida real property owned by a non-resident generally requires an ancillary administration here, running alongside whatever estate proceeding happens at home.

A Lady Bird Deed removes the Florida property from all of it. The beneficiaries record a certified death certificate and the house is theirs. For a family already grieving across an ocean, that difference is not administrative. It is substantial.

HOA Communities and Transfer Approval

Most of Miramar’s housing was built as planned community development, particularly in the western half of the city, and the majority of homes sit under a recorded declaration with a homeowner association, frequently with a master association above it.

A Lady Bird Deed is a present recorded conveyance, even though your beneficiaries receive nothing until you die. Before drafting, the documents are worth reading for transfer approval or notice requirements, rights of first refusal, leasing restrictions, recorded assessments and liens, and estoppel or transfer fees charged on a change of ownership. All of those obligations follow the property to whoever inherits it.

Homestead Exemption, Save Our Homes and Spousal Rights

A properly drafted Miramar 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 Broward County Property Appraiser continues to treat you as the owner of record.

The cap does not pass to your beneficiaries. It resets on the change of ownership at death, the same as it would through probate or a trust.

On the constitutional side, a married owner cannot convey homestead without the spouse joining in the deed, and homestead cannot be devised away from a surviving spouse or a minor child. A married Miramar 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 also remains in your gross estate at death, which normally produces a stepped-up cost basis for your beneficiaries. Given how quickly Miramar values have risen, that is a meaningful benefit even for owners who bought relatively recently, and one that deeding the home to your children during your lifetime typically gives away.

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. Florida defines estate narrowly: recovery reaches assets passing through the probate estate, and 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 exposure on a Florida homestead. In a younger city like Miramar this often matters less for the current owner than for an aging parent living in the household, a conversation worth having while there is time to plan.

The limits

The deed does not qualify anyone for Medicaid.
The five-year look-back applies to transfers of non-homestead assets.
Protection depends on the home keeping homestead status and passing to heirs.

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 Miramar Lady Bird Deed

Broward does one thing differently from most of Florida: the Clerk of Courts does not record deeds here. That function belongs to the county’s Records, Taxes & Treasury Division. The recording counter is at the Broward County Governmental Center, 115 South Andrews Avenue, Room 114, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301, generally open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays. Deeds may also be mailed or submitted through an approved e-recording provider.

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. This is the same witnessing discipline Florida applies to wills, and it is exactly the formality that catches out documents prepared informally or abroad.

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. Broward applies the standard statewide documentary stamp rate of $0.70 per $100 of consideration on taxable deeds, unlike neighboring Miami-Dade.

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: Broward County Records, Taxes & Treasury Division, Recording; 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 Family Actually Does

Order certified death certificates
Several copies. If the death occurs abroad, expect to need translation and authentication for use in Florida.
Record one against the property
Recorded in the Broward County Official Records, this publicly establishes that the life estate has ended and the named beneficiaries hold title.
Provide an affidavit if a title company asks
On a later sale or refinance, a title underwriter commonly wants an affidavit confirming identity, continuous marital status, and that the deed was never revoked.
Notify the HOA, the insurer and any mortgage servicer
The association needs updated owner records; the insurer needs to know who owns and occupies the home; the servicer needs to know who is paying.
Apply for their own homestead exemption, if applicable
Only if a beneficiary makes the home their permanent residence. Your exemption and Save Our Homes cap do not carry over.

What is not on that list: a probate case, a personal representative, a creditor claim period, an ancillary administration, or any argument about whether a will made in another country is admissible in Florida.

What a Lady Bird Deed Does Not Do

Common misconceptions about what an enhanced life estate deed accomplishes.
People assume it…	Reality
Replaces a will entirely	No. It covers the real property described in the deed. Accounts, vehicles and personal property still need a valid Florida will.
Fixes an invalid foreign will	Only for the house. The rest of the estate still depends on a valid will or on Florida intestacy.
Works around the minor child restriction	No. Florida homestead cannot be devised when the owner is survived by a minor child.
Pays off the mortgage	No. Your beneficiaries inherit the house and the loan together.
Overrides HOA documents	No. Transfer approval, leasing limits and recorded assessments still apply.
Passes your Save Our Homes cap to the kids	No. It resets on the change of ownership at death.
Qualifies you for Medicaid	No. It may reduce estate recovery exposure on a homestead, but it does not create eligibility.

How a Miramar Lady Bird Deed Compares to the Alternatives

General comparison for a Florida homestead. Results depend on titling, family circumstances and any existing will.
Option	Avoids probate?	Depends on a valid will?	Typical Miramar drawback
Lady Bird Deed	Yes, for that property	No	Covers only the property described in the deed.
Foreign handwritten will	No	Yes, and generally not valid in Florida	The house may pass under Florida intestacy instead of as you intended.
Foreign witnessed will	No	Yes, often recognized under § 732.502(2)	Still means a Florida probate case, possibly an ancillary one.
Florida will only	No	Yes	A will is the instruction manual for probate, not an escape from it.
Revocable living trust	Yes, if funded	No	Higher cost, but often the right answer where there are minor children.

The second row is the one worth pausing on. A great many families believe they have handled this because a will exists. Whether that will works in Florida is a different question entirely. Our breakdown is on the Florida Lady Bird Deed comparison page.

How to Get a Miramar Lady Bird Deed

Bring any will you already have
Including one made in another country. Whether it was witnessed is the question that decides whether it works here, and it changes what the rest of the plan needs to do.
Tell us about minor children
Florida homestead cannot be devised when the owner is survived by a minor child. This determines what we can recommend.
Pull the vesting deed and folio number
The exact legal description from the last recorded deed in the Broward County Official Records, plus the folio from the Property Appraiser.
Check the HOA documents
Transfer approval, leasing restrictions, recorded assessments.
Draft the enhanced life estate reservation
Reserving your power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and revoke without the beneficiaries’ consent.
Sign with two witnesses and a notary
Both witnesses present and signing. A married owner’s spouse joins the deed on homestead property.
Record with Broward Records, Taxes & Treasury
Not the Clerk of Courts. At 115 South Andrews Avenue, Room 114, 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 deed	The formal name for a Lady Bird Deed. You keep a life estate plus the power to sell, mortgage or revoke without anyone’s consent.
Holographic will	A handwritten will signed by the maker without the witnesses Florida requires. Not valid in Florida, even if valid where it was made.
Nuncupative will	An oral will. Not valid in Florida.
Attesting witness	A person who signs a will in the presence of the maker and of the other witness. Florida requires two.
Intestacy	The default statutory rules deciding who inherits when there is no valid will. Rarely matches what a family expected.
Ancillary administration	A second probate case opened in Florida because a non-resident died owning Florida real property.
Apostille	An international certification authenticating a public document for use in another country.
Remainderman	A person named in the deed to receive the property at your death. No present interest while you are alive.
Stepped-up basis	The reset of cost basis to date-of-death value, which can eliminate accumulated capital gain on a later sale.
Due-on-sale clause	A mortgage provision letting the lender demand full payment on transfer. A Lady Bird Deed generally does not trigger it.

Miramar Communities We Serve

We prepare Lady Bird Deeds for property throughout Miramar and Broward County, including:

Miramar Park of Commerce area
Silver Lakes
Sunset Lakes
Riviera Isles
Vizcaya
Huntington
Monarch Lakes
Bass Creek
Historic Miramar
East Miramar
West Miramar
Country Club Ranches
Sunset Falls
Lakeshore
Miramar Isles
Palm Lakes
Miramar Lakes
Pembroke Pines border
Miami Gardens border
Red Road corridor

Work With a Miramar Lady Bird Deed Attorney

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

Miramar Lady Bird Deed drafting, execution and recording
Reviewing wills executed in other countries
Formal, summary and ancillary probate administration
Estate planning where there are minor children

If you already have a will from home, bring it. Ten minutes will tell you whether it works for your Florida house, and if it does not, a Miramar Lady Bird Deed is usually the shortest way to fix the part that matters most.

Schedule Your Consultation

Yanitza Schoonover

Miramar Lady Bird Deed Frequently Asked Questions

I have a will from Jamaica. Is it valid for my Florida house?

It depends on how it was made. Under Fla. Stat. § 732.502(2), a will executed by a nonresident of Florida is valid here if it was valid under the law of the state or country where it was executed, with one critical exception: holographic and nuncupative wills are excluded. A holographic will is one written and signed in the maker’s own handwriting without the witnesses Florida requires. Several countries recognize handwritten wills. Florida does not, even if the will is perfectly valid where it was made. So a formally executed, witnessed will from Jamaica may well be recognized here, while a handwritten one generally will not be.

What is a holographic will and why does Florida reject it?

A holographic will is handwritten and signed by the person making it, typically without the two attesting witnesses Florida requires. Florida law requires a will to be signed at the end by the testator and signed by two attesting witnesses in the presence of the testator and of each other. The nonresident recognition rule in § 732.502(2) expressly excludes holographic and nuncupative wills, meaning Florida will not accept them regardless of their validity elsewhere. For a family whose only Florida asset is the house, this can turn an intended plan into an intestate estate.

Does a Lady Bird Deed solve the foreign will problem?

For the house, largely yes. A Lady Bird Deed passes the Florida real property to your named beneficiaries outside of probate, so the question of whether a will is admissible in Florida never arises for that asset. It does not fix the rest of your estate, bank accounts, vehicles and personal property still depend on a valid will or on Florida intestacy rules, so the deed and a properly executed Florida will usually belong together.

I have minor children. Can I still use a Lady Bird Deed?

This needs care. Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution provides that homestead cannot be devised when the owner is survived by a minor child. A Lady Bird Deed on homestead property naming someone other than that child can fail at death. With only 13% of Miramar residents aged 65 or older, this is a young city and the restriction comes up frequently. It does not mean nothing can be done. It means the plan is built around the restriction, often using a trust, life insurance, or non-homestead assets.

Where is a Lady Bird Deed recorded for Miramar property?

In the Broward County Official Records. Broward is unusual in that deeds are recorded by the county Records, Taxes & Treasury Division rather than the Clerk of Courts. The counter is at the Broward County Governmental Center, 115 South Andrews Avenue, Room 114, Fort Lauderdale, generally open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays. Deeds may also be mailed or submitted through an approved e-recording provider.

My family is overseas. Does that make probate harder?

Considerably. Over 42% of Miramar residents are foreign born, and many families have relatives in the Caribbean or elsewhere. Running a Florida probate from abroad means retaining Florida counsel remotely, obtaining authenticated or apostilled documents, arranging translations, and waiting out a process no one can attend in person. Where the person who died lived outside Florida, an ancillary Florida administration may be required on top of the estate at home. A Lady Bird Deed removes the Florida property from all of that.

Will a Miramar 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 Broward County Property Appraiser continues to treat you as the owner of record. The cap generally resets at your death on the change of ownership.

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

Most Miramar housing sits in planned communities with recorded declarations, and many require notice or approval when record title changes. 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 deserve a read before drafting. Assessments and any recorded lien follow the property to whoever inherits it.

Did Florida change the summary administration limit in 2026?

Yes. Effective July 1, 2026, CS/SB 1500 raised the non-exempt asset ceiling from $75,000 to $150,000 under Fla. Stat. § 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.

Can I use a Lady Bird Deed if I still owe a mortgage?

Yes. A Lady Bird Deed does not pay off or accelerate a mortgage, and because you keep full control and possession during your lifetime it generally does not trigger a due-on-sale clause. Your beneficiaries take the property subject to the mortgage, meaning they inherit the house and the loan together. In a city where many owners are still relatively early in a mortgage, that is worth discussing with the people you name.

Can a Miramar 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 a younger owner whose family will change over the coming decades, that flexibility matters a great deal.

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

We also assist families in nearby Broward and Miami-Dade markets including Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Davie, Hialeah, Sunrise, and Fort Lauderdale. 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

Miramar Lady Bird Deed Attorney

A Miramar Lady Bird Deed passes the house to your family without a Broward probate case, and without relying on a will.