Saint Petersburg Lady Bird Deed Frequently Asked Questions
What is Save Our Homes portability?
Save Our Homes caps annual increases in the assessed value of your homestead at 3% or the change in the consumer price index, whichever is lower. Over many years that produces a gap between what your home is worth and what it is assessed at, and that gap is the benefit. Portability lets you carry that accumulated benefit to a new Florida homestead rather than starting over. The transferable amount is capped at $500,000 of value, meaning the difference between just or market value and assessed value, and you generally have three tax years from January 1 of the year of your last qualified homestead exemption to establish the new one. Applications are filed with the county property appraiser, with the usual deadline of March 1 of the year applied for.
Can my children inherit my Save Our Homes benefit?
No, and this is the point of this page. Portability is a benefit that belongs to you, and it moves with you to another Florida homestead while you are alive. It is not an asset you can leave to anyone. When you die, the property is reassessed at market value following the change of ownership, whether it passes by Lady Bird Deed, through probate, or out of a trust. A beneficiary who moves in applies for their own homestead exemption in their own name and starts their own cap from that point. On a home held since the 1990s, the difference between your assessed value and current market value can be very large.
Does a Lady Bird Deed affect my homestead exemption or my cap now?
A properly drafted deed should not affect either during your lifetime. You retain an enhanced life estate, you remain in possession, and the Pinellas County Property Appraiser continues to treat you as the owner of record, so the exemption and the accumulated benefit both continue as before. The deed is not a change of ownership for these purposes while you are alive, because nothing has actually left your control.
I might downsize. Should I do the deed first or move first?
In most cases the order does not matter much, because the enhanced reservation means the deed never gets in the way of a sale. You can record a deed today, sell next year, and simply record a new one on the next house. What does matter is the portability clock: to carry the benefit you generally need to establish the new homestead within three tax years of January 1 of the year of your last qualified exemption, and file by the March 1 deadline. That is a real timetable, and it is far more time-sensitive than the deed is.
What if my spouse and I both own homes, or we are separating households?
Portability rules address how a benefit is divided when owners who shared a homestead go separate ways, and how it is combined when two people with their own benefits marry and buy together. Those calculations are done by the property appraiser and the amounts depend on the specific figures. This is a good example of something worth asking the Pinellas County Property Appraiser about directly, because the answer turns on numbers rather than on principle.
Where is a Lady Bird Deed recorded in Pinellas County?
With the Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, in the county's Official Records. Recording counters operate at 14250 49th Street North, Clearwater and at 545 1st Avenue North, St. Petersburg, generally open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. The Clerk's main office is at 315 Court Street, Clearwater. Documents may also be submitted through e-recording.
Does a Saint Petersburg Lady Bird Deed protect the home from Medicaid estate recovery?
Florida limits Medicaid estate recovery to assets that pass through the probate estate, and 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. With 21.1% of St. Petersburg residents aged 65 or older, this is a live question for a large share of owners here. The deed does not qualify anyone for Medicaid, and the protection depends on the home keeping homestead status and passing to heirs. See our Medicaid guide.
Do my beneficiaries get a stepped-up basis?
Generally yes, and it is worth separating from the property tax question because people conflate the two. The Save Our Homes cap is a property tax mechanism and it resets at death. The stepped-up basis is a federal income tax mechanism and it works in your family's favor: because the property remains in your gross estate, your beneficiaries' cost basis becomes the date-of-death value rather than what you paid. On a long-held St. Petersburg home, one number goes up and the other goes in your family's favor. Confirm the tax treatment with a tax advisor.
Can I use a Lady Bird Deed on a condominium?
Yes. The deed works the same on a condominium unit as on a single-family home. What differs is the surrounding governance: the declaration controls transfer approval, leasing and assessments, and those obligations follow the unit to your beneficiaries. For units in older buildings of three habitable stories or more, milestone inspection and structural reserve obligations should also be on the radar, and our Hallandale Beach page covers what that means for an heir.
Can a Saint Petersburg 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. That flexibility is exactly what makes recording one now compatible with downsizing later.
More general questions are answered on our Florida Lady Bird Deed FAQ page.
