Orange County Lady Bird Deed Attorney

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

Orange County Lady Bird Deed Attorney

An Orange County Lady Bird Deed, known formally as a Florida enhanced life estate deed, lets your property pass directly to the beneficiaries you name at your death, with no probate case in the Ninth Judicial Circuit for that property. While you are alive nothing changes: you stay on title, keep any homestead exemption, and can live in the property, rent it, refinance it, sell it, or revoke the deed without asking anyone.

Orange County’s ownership is unusually varied. Alongside owner-occupied homes in Winter Park, College Park and Pine Hills, a large share of property here is held by people who do not live in it: families who kept a parent’s house as a rental, owners with a duplex or a handful of single-family rentals, investors from other states and other countries drawn by the region’s tourism and job growth. Most Lady Bird Deed articles assume the property is the owner’s homestead. Many Orange County deeds are not.

This page is the county hub for Orange: where deeds record (here, the Comptroller, not the Clerk), how probate works in the Ninth Circuit, and what to file with the Property Appraiser. Then it takes on the questions owners of rentals and other non-homestead property actually ask.

Cities We Serve in Orange County

Our Orange County city guides take on questions specific to those markets. Owners in Winter Park, Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Windermere, Maitland and every other part of the county record with the same Comptroller and probate in the same circuit described here.

Elsewhere in Central Florida

Many Orange County owners also hold property in a neighboring county. Each records in its own county office.

What Is an Orange County Lady Bird Deed?

An Orange County Lady Bird Deed is the common name for a Florida enhanced life estate deed recorded in the Orange County Official Records. It names the beneficiaries, called remaindermen, who receive the property automatically at your death, while reserving to you an enhanced life estate: the power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and revoke without their consent.

For a landlord or investor, those reserved powers are the point. You can sign a new lease, refinance, sell one rental to buy another, or change beneficiaries, all without asking the people named in the deed. The deed is not limited to homestead property; it works on a rental house, a duplex or a vacant lot just as it does on your residence.

The recording formalities come from Fla. Stat. §§ 689.01 and 695.03. Florida has not enacted a transfer on death deed statute for real property, which is why the enhanced life estate deed fills that role here. Compare the options on our Lady Bird Deed comparison page.

The Orange County Comptroller Records Deeds, Not the Clerk

In most Florida counties the Clerk of the Circuit Court records deeds. Orange County is different. Deeds and other Official Records are recorded by the Orange County Comptroller, through its Official Records department. The Orange County Clerk of Courts is a separate office that handles court filings, including probate. Families who expect one office to do both are regularly sent from one building to the other.

According to the Comptroller, the fastest way to record a document in person is at 109 East Church Street, Orlando, FL 32801. Documents may also be mailed, or submitted by e-recording, which the Comptroller aims to process within 24 hours and often records the same day. We e-record most deeds.

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. Out-of-state investors can sign where they live, before a notary of that state, but Florida’s two-witness requirement still applies and is the step most often missed.

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. Orange County applies the standard statewide documentary stamp rate of $0.70 per $100 of consideration on taxable deeds, and the Comptroller collects any tax due at recording.

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. The Department stated that conclusion applies regardless of any consideration, though a deed on mortgaged rental property is still worth having reviewed.

Sources: Orange County Comptroller, Official Records FAQs (109 East Church Street, Orlando; e-recording processing; recording fees; documentary stamp tax collected at recording); Florida Department of Revenue Technical Assistance Advisement 20B4-004 (Oct. 16, 2020); Fla. Stat. ch. 201; Fla. Stat. § 28.24; Fla. Stat. §§ 689.01, 695.03.

Homestead vs. Non-Homestead Property: What Changes

The Lady Bird Deed is the same instrument on a rental as on your home. What changes are the rules around it. Several protections and restrictions that dominate homestead planning simply do not apply to a rental, and others take their place.

The spouse question on a rental

On a homestead, a married owner’s spouse must join the deed. On a rental titled to one spouse, that constitutional requirement does not apply, and a married owner can sign alone. That does not mean a spouse is out of the picture. Florida’s elective share lets a surviving spouse of a Florida domiciliary claim a share of an “elective estate” that includes many transfers the decedent could revoke, which can include property passing under a Lady Bird Deed. If you are leaving rental property to children rather than a spouse, the marriage still needs to be part of the conversation.

The stepped-up basis matters more on a rental

Rental property has been depreciated, which lowers your tax basis below what you paid. Because you keep the enhanced powers, the property stays in your gross estate at death, and your beneficiaries’ basis is normally stepped up to date-of-death value, which can wipe out both the appreciation and the depreciation that would otherwise be recaptured on a sale. Giving a rental to your children during your life generally passes your low basis to them instead. See our capital gains guide, and confirm with your tax advisor.

Sources: Art. VII, § 4 and Art. X, § 4, Fla. Const.; Fla. Stat. §§ 193.155 and 193.1554; Fla. Stat. §§ 732.201 and 732.2035 (elective share and elective estate); 26 U.S.C. § 1014.

Rentals and Tenants at Your Death

A family-owned rental is a business in miniature, and a death interrupts it. With a Lady Bird Deed, the interruption is short: title passes to the beneficiaries at death, and they can step into your role as landlord once the death certificate is recorded. Without one, the rental is run by a personal representative under court supervision until the estate closes.

• Existing leases generally continue. A tenant’s lease is not cancelled by the landlord’s death, and the new owners take the property subject to it.

• Security deposits remain owed to the tenant. Your records should show where the deposit is held so your beneficiaries can account for it under Fla. Stat. § 83.49.

• Rent due after your death generally belongs to the new owners; rent that was already owed to you is part of your estate.

• Property managers act as your agent, and agency generally ends at death. Your beneficiaries will need their own agreement with the manager.

• Flood disclosure is now required at or before signing a lease of one year or longer under Fla. Stat. § 83.512, so your flood history should be in the file.

• Insurance is in your name. A landlord policy needs to be updated to the new owners promptly.

The one-page document that helps most is a simple property sheet for each rental: tenant, lease end date, deposit amount and where it is held, manager, insurer, lender and HOA. Your beneficiaries will thank you for it.

Investors, Co-Owners and LLCs

Co-owners who are not married

Two siblings who bought a rental together, or business partners who own a duplex, are generally tenants in common in Florida unless the deed expressly creates a right of survivorship. When one dies, that share does not pass to the other. It goes to the deceased owner’s heirs, usually through probate. Each co-owner can sign a Lady Bird Deed on their own undivided share, naming their own beneficiaries. Our Orlando page covers co-ownership in depth.

Property owned by an LLC

A Lady Bird Deed can only be signed by the owner of record. If your rental is titled to an LLC, the LLC owns it, not you, and what you own is a membership interest, which is personal property. That interest is planned through the operating agreement, a will or a trust. Deeding the property out of the LLC to yourself just to sign a Lady Bird Deed can give up the liability protection the LLC was formed for, and may raise lender and documentary stamp issues. Our guide to rentals, condos and LLC-owned property walks through the choices.

The mortgage on an investment property

The federal protections commonly cited for family transfers, in the Garn-St Germain Act, are limited by regulation to loans on homes the borrower occupies. An investment loan, especially a commercial or portfolio loan, may have a transfer clause that reads differently. Before recording on a financed rental, read the mortgage, or send it to us. Our Tampa page covers due-on-sale clauses in detail.

Owners who live outside the United States

Orange County draws international buyers, and a Lady Bird Deed works for them too: it avoids a Florida probate case that heirs abroad would otherwise have to run through a Florida personal representative. It does not change federal tax rules. A nonresident who is not a U.S. citizen faces U.S. estate tax on U.S. real property with a far smaller exemption than citizens have, and a later sale by foreign heirs can involve withholding. Coordinate with a cross-border tax advisor.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 689.15 (no survivorship unless expressly provided); Fla. Stat. ch. 605 (limited liability companies); 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3(d) and 12 C.F.R. § 191.5(b); 26 U.S.C. §§ 2101 to 2106 and § 1445.

Orange County Probate: What the Deed Avoids

Probate in Orange County is handled in the probate division of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which serves Orange and Osceola counties. Probate filings are made with the Orange County Clerk of Courts, at the Orange County Courthouse at 425 North Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando, not with the Comptroller who recorded your deed.

Without a deed or other non-probate arrangement, property in the decedent’s sole name generally goes through formal administration. The original will must be deposited with the Clerk within 10 days after the holder learns of the death. A personal representative is appointed, generally represented by a Florida attorney. Notice to creditors is published, with a claims period of at least three months after first publication. For a rental, the personal representative collects rent, pays the mortgage and repairs, and accounts for all of it until the estate closes.

Summary administration is the shorter route. Effective July 1, 2026, CS/HB 1337 (ch. 2026-57, Laws of Fla.) raised its non-exempt asset ceiling from $75,000 to $150,000 under Fla. Stat. § 735.201, for decedents who die on or after that date, and it remains available at any value once more than two years have passed since the death. Note the word non-exempt: a rental is not exempt property, so an Orange County rental worth more than $150,000 by itself generally pushes the estate into formal administration. That is exactly the case a Lady Bird Deed is designed for.

Owners with several rentals sometimes ask whether one deed can cover them all. A deed covers only the property legally described in it. Separate deeds for separate properties usually keep later sales and changes simpler, and we will recommend an approach and quote it before anything is drafted. Our guide to what happens after the owner dies covers the family’s side.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 732.901; Fla. Stat. § 733.702; Fla. Stat. § 735.201 as amended by ch. 2026-57, Laws of Fla. (CS/HB 1337); Fla. Prob. R. 5.030.

The Orange County Property Appraiser and Your Filings

The Orange County Property Appraiser administers exemptions and assessment caps in the county and assigns the parcel ID we use with your legal description.

On your homestead, a properly drafted Lady Bird Deed should not disturb your homestead exemption or your Save Our Homes cap during your lifetime. You retain the enhanced life estate, you remain in possession, and the Property Appraiser continues to treat you as the owner of record. The homestead application deadline is March 1, and up to $500,000 of Save Our Homes benefit is portable to a new Florida homestead, generally within three tax years.

On a rental or second property, there is no homestead exemption to protect. Non-homestead residential property has its own 10% annual cap on non-school assessments, which resets on a change of ownership. At your death, the property is reassessed at market value either way.

Sources: Art. VII, §§ 4 and 6, Fla. Const.; Fla. Stat. §§ 193.155, 193.1554, 196.011 and 196.061; Orange County Property Appraiser exemption guidance.

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 that estate narrowly: recovery reaches assets passing through the probate estate, and Florida has not adopted the expanded definition some states use. A Lady Bird Deed moves the property outside probate.

The difference for rental owners lies on the eligibility side. A homestead is generally excluded from countable assets within limits; a rental or second property is analyzed separately and is often countable. A Lady Bird Deed does not change that, because you still own and control the property.

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.

What a Lady Bird Deed Does Not Do

Changing a deed later is simple; see our guide to revoking or changing a Lady Bird Deed.

How to Get an Orange County Lady Bird Deed

1. List each property and how it is titled

   Your name alone, with a spouse, with a co-owner, or in an LLC. Only property titled to you individually, alone or with others, can be covered by your Lady Bird Deed.

2. Confirm the deed fits your goals

   Who you want to receive each property, whether you are married, whether there is a minor child, and whether a spouse should be involved even where homestead rules do not require it.

3. Pull the vesting deed and parcel ID

   The exact legal description from the Orange County Official Records, plus the parcel ID from the Orange County Property Appraiser, for each property.

4. Check the mortgage and the leases

   Read the transfer clause on any investment loan, and gather the lease, deposit and management details your beneficiaries will need.

5. Draft the enhanced life estate reservation

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

6. Sign with two witnesses and a notary

   Both witnesses present and signing, even if you sign outside Florida. A married owner’s spouse joins the deed on homestead property.

7. Record with the Orange County Comptroller

   In person at 109 East Church Street in Orlando, by mail, or by e-recording, for $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 per additional page.

Communities Across Orange County

We prepare Lady Bird Deeds for property throughout Orange County, including:

• Orlando
• Pine Hills
• Winter Park
• Apopka
• Ocoee
• Winter Garden
• Windermere
• Maitland
• Eatonville
• Belle Isle
• Edgewood
• Oakland
• College Park
• Dr. Phillips
• Hunters Creek
• Lake Nona
• Conway
• Azalea Park
• Union Park
• Horizon West

Nearby Areas We Serve

We also serve owners elsewhere in Central Florida and around the state. Each county records in its own office:

• The Villages: retirement homes northwest of Orlando.

• Daytona Beach: Volusia County homes and condominiums on the coast.

• Melbourne: Brevard County on the Space Coast.

• Ocala: Marion County homes and acreage to the north.

• Hillsborough County: Tampa, and planning for children who live out of state.

See every market on our areas we serve page, or browse the Lady Bird Deed guides. Ready to start? See the flat fee or contact us.