Sarasota 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

Sarasota County Lady Bird Deed Attorney

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

Sarasota County is one of Florida’s great retirement destinations, and a large share of its owners fall into two groups. Some have made Sarasota, Venice or North Port their permanent home. Others keep their permanent home in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Ontario or elsewhere, and spend the winter on Siesta Key, Longboat Key or in a Venice golf community. The planning questions are different for each, and the second group faces a problem most people have never heard of until it happens to their family: ancillary probate.

When someone who lives in another state dies owning Florida real estate in their own name, the family generally needs a probate case where the owner lived and a second, ancillary case in Florida for the Florida property. A Lady Bird Deed takes the Sarasota property out of that second case entirely. This page covers how, along with recording, probate and Property Appraiser filings in Sarasota County.

Cities We Serve in Sarasota County

Our Sarasota County city guides look closely at each market. Owners in North Port, Osprey, Nokomis, Englewood, Siesta Key, Longboat Key and the rest of the county record with the same Clerk and probate in the same circuit described here.

Just north and south

Many Sarasota families also own in Manatee or Charlotte County. Each records in its own county office, and Charlotte County probates in a different circuit.

What Is a Sarasota County Lady Bird Deed?

A Sarasota County Lady Bird Deed is the common name for a Florida enhanced life estate deed recorded in the Sarasota 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.

The deed works whether the property is your Florida homestead or a second home you use part of the year. It is a Florida instrument for Florida land, so it follows Florida’s execution rules even if you sign it in another state. Florida has not enacted a transfer on death deed statute for real property, so if your home state has a transfer on death deed, that form does not work here. Our guide to transfer on death deeds in Florida explains the difference, and our comparison page covers wills and trusts.

Ancillary Probate: The Second Case Out-of-State Owners Do Not Expect

Real estate is governed by the law of the place where it sits. A probate court in Ohio or New York can administer your bank accounts and your house there, but it cannot transfer title to a condominium on Siesta Key. When a person domiciled outside Florida dies owning Florida real estate in their own name, Florida law provides for ancillary administration in the county where the property is located (Fla. Stat. § 734.102). For Sarasota County property, that means a second case in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit.

How ancillary administration works

The personal representative appointed at home, or another qualified person, petitions the Sarasota County court and files authenticated copies of the home-state proceedings. Florida’s limits on nonresident personal representatives apply: under Fla. Stat. § 733.304, a person not domiciled in Florida may serve only if they are within certain family relationships to the decedent, such as a child, parent, spouse, sibling, niece or nephew. A bank or trust company named at home, or a friend or in-law, may not be able to serve without meeting Florida’s requirements. Notice to creditors is published in Florida, and the Florida estate generally stays open through the claims period.

Florida does have a shortcut. Under Fla. Stat. § 734.1025, when a nonresident dies with a will and Florida property with a gross value not exceeding $50,000, a simplified procedure is available. Very little Sarasota County real estate is worth $50,000 or less, so in practice the shortcut rarely helps with a house or condominium.

If you already have a revocable trust at home, check whether the Florida property was ever deeded into it. A trust that holds everything except the Sarasota condo still leaves the condo to ancillary probate. Where the trust does not hold it, a Lady Bird Deed naming the trust, or naming your beneficiaries directly, closes the gap.

Sources: Fla. Stat. §§ 734.102 and 734.1025 (ancillary administration); Fla. Stat. § 733.304 (nonresident personal representatives); Fla. Stat. § 733.702.

Second Home or Florida Domicile? It Changes the Deed

Many Sarasota owners start as seasonal residents and later make Florida their permanent home. That decision changes the legal character of the property, and the deed should keep up.

While it is a second home

A second home is not your Florida homestead. You do not receive the homestead exemption or Save Our Homes cap, and Florida’s constitutional restrictions on transferring homestead do not apply to it. A married owner whose name alone is on title is not required by Florida’s homestead rule to have a spouse join. The law of your home state may still matter: if you live in a community property state, your spouse may have an interest in property bought with community funds, and Florida recognizes those rights at death under its Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act.

When you change domicile to Florida

Once Sarasota becomes your permanent home, the property can become your homestead. You can apply for the homestead exemption with the Property Appraiser, and many people also file a sworn Declaration of Domicile with the Clerk under Fla. Stat. § 222.17. With homestead status come the constitutional rules: a married owner’s spouse must join a conveyance of homestead, and homestead cannot be devised away from a surviving spouse or minor child. Spousal joinder applies to conveyances made while the property is homestead, and the devise restriction is applied based on the family at death.

The practical consequence: a Lady Bird Deed signed by one spouse alone on a second home, naming children, can fail as to the homestead if the property later becomes the couple’s Florida homestead and the other spouse survives. When you change domicile, have the deed reviewed. Often the fix is a new deed signed by both spouses.

Planning for Later Life in Sarasota County

For full-time retirees, the Lady Bird Deed’s real strength is that it does not lock anything up. A move from a single-family home in Venice to a condominium, to independent living, or closer to family remains entirely your decision. You can sell without asking your beneficiaries, and record a new deed on the next property.

• Sign while you are well. A deed requires the capacity to make it. Waiting until a health crisis invites both delay and later challenges.

• Coordinate your power of attorney. Florida requires certain powers in a durable power of attorney, including changes to survivorship and beneficiary designations, to be separately initialed (Fla. Stat. § 709.2202). If you want an agent able to deal with the property, the document must say so.

• Age-restricted communities. A deed transfers ownership to a beneficiary of any age, but the community’s rules may limit who can live there. Our Pembroke Pines page explains the 55+ distinction.

• Condominium buildings. Milestone inspections and structural reserve funding obligations follow the unit to your beneficiaries, so tell them about any assessment.

• Keep it simple for the family. A copy of the recorded deed with your papers, and a conversation, prevent most of the confusion we see after a death.

The stepped-up basis also matters here. Because you keep the enhanced powers, the property remains in your gross estate at death, which normally steps up your beneficiaries’ basis to date-of-death value. On a home bought decades ago, that can eliminate most of the capital gain if they sell. Giving the home away during your life usually passes your old basis instead. Our capital gains guide has the details; confirm with a tax advisor.

Recording a Lady Bird Deed in Sarasota County

Deeds in Sarasota County are recorded by the Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller, in the county’s Official Records. Recording is available at two locations, both generally open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays:

• Main office, Historic Courthouse: 2000 Main Street, Sarasota, FL 34237

• Venice branch, South County Courthouse: 4004 South Tamiami Trail, Venice, FL 34293

Documents may also be mailed to the Clerk at P.O. Box 3079, Sarasota, FL 34230-3079, or submitted by e-recording through a registered provider; the Clerk lists CSC, eRecording Partners Network, Indecomm Global Services and Simplifile, and calls e-recording the fastest option. A few document types must be submitted on paper. We e-record most deeds, which suits seasonal owners who may be back up north when the deed is ready.

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 catches out-of-state owners whose home states require only a notary; a deed signed there without two witnesses is defective for Florida land.

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. Sarasota 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. The Department stated that conclusion applies regardless of any consideration, including a mortgage.

Sources: Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller, Recording Services, eRecording and Office Locations and Hours; 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.

Sarasota County Probate: What the Deed Avoids

Probate in Sarasota County is handled in the probate division of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, which serves Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Probate filings are made with the Sarasota County Clerk, which lists probate services at both the Historic Courthouse in Sarasota and the South County Courthouse in Venice.

For a Florida resident, probate of a house titled in the decedent’s name generally means formal administration: deposit of the original will with the Clerk within 10 days after the holder learns of the death, appointment of a personal representative who is generally represented by a Florida attorney, published notice to creditors with a claims period of at least three months after first publication, and for a homestead, a separate order determining homestead status before a title company will insure a sale. For a nonresident, it means the ancillary proceeding described above.

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. A second home is not exempt property, so a Sarasota condominium worth more than $150,000 by itself generally rules summary administration out. 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 and 5.405.

The Sarasota County Property Appraiser and Your Filings

The Sarasota County Property Appraiser administers the homestead exemption, the Save Our Homes cap and portability for property in the county, and assigns the parcel ID we use with your legal description.

Portability is often misunderstood by people relocating from another state. The accumulated benefit can move only from one Florida homestead to another. Years of ownership in another state do not create a Florida benefit. Our Saint Petersburg page covers portability in depth.

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

For seasonal owners, remember that Medicaid is administered by the state where you live. If you are domiciled elsewhere, your home state’s eligibility and estate recovery rules, which may be broader than Florida’s, are the ones that matter.

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

To change beneficiaries or undo the deed later, see our guide to revoking or changing a Lady Bird Deed.

How to Get a Sarasota County Lady Bird Deed

1. Confirm where you are domiciled

   Whether Sarasota County is your permanent home or a second home determines whether homestead rules apply and whether ancillary probate is the risk you are solving.

2. Check for an existing trust

   If you have a revocable trust at home, find out whether the Florida property is titled in it. If not, decide whether the deed should name the trust or your beneficiaries directly.

3. Pull the vesting deed and parcel ID

   The exact legal description from the Sarasota County Official Records, plus the parcel ID from the Sarasota County Property Appraiser.

4. Draft the enhanced life estate reservation

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

5. Sign with two witnesses and a notary

   In Florida or in your home state. Both witnesses present and signing. A married owner’s spouse joins the deed on homestead property.

6. Record with the Sarasota County Clerk

   At the Historic Courthouse in Sarasota, the South County Courthouse in Venice, by mail, or by e-recording, for $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 per additional page.

7. Review it if your domicile changes

   If the second home becomes your Florida homestead, have the deed reviewed so it still works under homestead rules.

Communities Across Sarasota County

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

• Sarasota
• Venice
• North Port
• Siesta Key
• Longboat Key
• Lido Key
• Bird Key
• Osprey
• Nokomis
• Casey Key
• Englewood
• South Venice
• Laurel
• Palmer Ranch
• Gulf Gate Estates
• Southgate
• Fruitville
• Bee Ridge
• Lakewood Ranch (Sarasota County side)
• Venice Gardens

Nearby Areas We Serve

We also serve owners along the rest of the Gulf Coast. Each county records in its own office:

• Bradenton: Manatee County, just north, in the same Twelfth Judicial Circuit.

• Port Charlotte: Charlotte County retirees and canal homes to the south.

• Lee County: Fort Myers, Cape Coral and the islands.

• Naples: Collier County seasonal residents and second homes.

• Pinellas County: older homes, flood zones and beach condominiums up the coast.

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.