Does my divorce automatically remove my ex-spouse from my Lady Bird Deed?
Generally no, and this is the single most dangerous assumption in Florida estate planning. Fla. Stat. § 732.703 does void a designation to a former spouse on dissolution of marriage, but only for the assets that statute defines: life insurance policies and annuities, employee benefit plans, individual retirement accounts, payable-on-death accounts, and securities registered in transfer-on-death form. Real property conveyed by deed is not on that list. A separate statute, § 732.507(2), handles wills. Neither reaches a recorded deed. If your ex-spouse is named as a remainder beneficiary, the ordinary consequence is that they remain named until you record a new deed removing them.
What happens if I die with my ex-spouse still named on the deed?
The property is likely to pass to them at your death exactly as the deed says. Your children may have something to argue about (the divorce judgment, a marital settlement agreement, a theory of construction), but argue is the operative word. They would be filing a lawsuit against your former spouse to undo a recorded instrument, which costs money, takes time, and produces exactly the courtroom outcome the deed was recorded to avoid. Fixing it while you are alive costs a fraction of what contesting it will.
I remarried. Does my old Lady Bird Deed still work?
Not necessarily, and this is the mirror image of the divorce problem. When you remarry, your new spouse acquires constitutional homestead rights under Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution. If you are survived by a spouse and no minor child, the homestead may be devised only to that spouse, and a conveyance of homestead generally requires the spouse to join in the deed. A Lady Bird Deed recorded before the marriage leaving the house to your children can run straight into those rights. The deed does not become void automatically, but it may not accomplish what it says, and the disagreement surfaces at the worst possible moment.
Can my surviving spouse claim the house even though the deed gave it to my children?
Possibly, through two separate routes. The first is the constitutional homestead devise restriction. The second is Florida's elective share. Under Fla. Stat. § 732.2035, the elective estate includes both the decedent's interest in protected homestead and property transferred by the decedent where, at the time of death, the transfer was revocable by the decedent alone or together with another person. A Lady Bird Deed is revocable by definition; that is the whole point of it. So the home's value can be counted in calculating what a surviving spouse may elect, even though the property itself passed outside probate. Avoiding probate and avoiding the elective share are two different things.
My spouse and I own the house together. When does the Lady Bird Deed actually operate?
Most married Florida couples hold their homestead as tenants by the entireties, which carries an automatic right of survivorship. At the first spouse's death the property passes to the survivor by operation of law, without probate and regardless of what any deed or will says. A Lady Bird Deed signed by both spouses therefore does its real work at the second death. It has to be drafted with that sequence in mind; a deed that assumes it operates at the first death simply sits there doing nothing for years.
Do I need my spouse to sign the deed?
If the property is your homestead and you are married, yes. Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution requires a spouse to join in a conveyance of homestead, and that applies whether or not the spouse is on the title. This catches people who bought a house before marrying and assume it is theirs alone to deal with. It is theirs to own, but not theirs alone to convey.
What about the children from my first marriage?
This is where blended families need real planning rather than a form. The instinct is to let the surviving spouse live in the home and then have it pass to the children of the first marriage. A Lady Bird Deed alone is a blunt instrument for that: it transfers ownership at your death, full stop, which either cuts out the spouse or cuts out the children depending on who you name. Structures that actually accomplish the goal usually involve a trust, or a life estate paired with clear agreements, built with the constitutional homestead rules in view from the start.
Where do I record a Lady Bird Deed for Sunrise property?
With the Broward County Records, Taxes & Treasury Division, at 115 South Andrews Avenue, Room 114, Fort Lauderdale. This surprises people because in most Florida counties the Clerk of the Circuit Court handles recording; in Broward it is a county division. Recording fees are $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, plus $1.00 for each name over four that has to be indexed.
Will a Sunrise Lady Bird Deed affect my homestead exemption?
No. You remain the owner for every practical and legal purpose during your lifetime, so your homestead exemption and your accumulated Save Our Homes cap both continue undisturbed. Neither transfers to your beneficiaries at your death; a beneficiary who moves in must apply in their own name with the Broward County Property Appraiser, and the assessment resets to market value.
Does a Sunrise Lady Bird Deed protect the home from Medicaid estate recovery?
In practice it usually does, because Florida limits estate recovery to the probate estate. Property passing by a properly drafted enhanced life estate deed is not part of the probate estate, so there is nothing for the state to recover against. Florida also does not treat the deed as a disqualifying transfer for eligibility, since you keep full control during your life. Note the connection to the rest of this page: a deed ambiguous enough to require a court proceeding has not avoided probate, and therefore fails at both jobs at once.
Can a Sunrise Lady Bird Deed be revoked?
Yes, and after a divorce or a remarriage that is exactly what should happen. Because you reserve the power to sell, convey, mortgage, lease and revoke without anyone's consent, you can record a new deed that revokes or replaces the old one at any time while you are competent. Your named beneficiaries, including a former spouse, have no vote and no veto. What you cannot do is fix it after you die, which is why this belongs on the same post-divorce list as the retirement account and the life insurance.
Do my beneficiaries get a stepped-up basis?
Yes. Because the transfer takes effect at your death rather than during your life, your beneficiaries take the property with a basis equal to its fair market value on the date of death. On a Sunrise home held since the 1980s or 1990s, that step-up can erase a very large capital gain that an outright lifetime gift would have handed straight to your children.
