The Short Answer
A lady bird (enhanced life estate) deed keeps your Florida home out of probate while you keep full control for life. Our flat fee is $399 for an individual owner, $449 for a joint deed. The only other costs are government pass-throughs everyone pays: the county recording fee and a documentary stamp. No surprise add-ons. See how a lady bird deed works →
What Drives the Price of a Lady Bird Deed
Four things make up the cost, but only the first two are the attorney’s fee:
- Legal drafting and advice: the part that decides whether the deed actually works.
- Execution: two witnesses plus a notary (Fla. Stat. §689.01).
- County recording fee (Fla. Stat. §28.24): a government charge.
- Documentary stamp tax (Fla. Stat. §201.02): a government charge, here just the $0.70 minimum.
The recording fee and doc stamp are the same whether a $349 form mill or an attorney prepares the deed. What you’re really choosing is whether the legal review happens.
The 2026 Price Comparison
| Option | Legal fee | Legal advice? | Homestead check? |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY blank form / template | $0 to $199 | None | No |
| Non-lawyer “deed service” | $349 to $449 | “Not a law firm” | Form only |
| StepUp Law (attorney flat fee) | $399 / $449 | Yes, a FL attorney | Yes |
| Other FL attorneys (where published) | $400 to $1,000 | Yes | Usually |
| Most FL elder-law firms | “Call for a quote” | Yes | Yes |
The Government Pass-Throughs (Everyone Pays These)
| Cost | Amount | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Recording (first page) | $10.00 | Fla. Stat. §28.24 |
| Recording (each added page) | $8.50 | Fla. Stat. §28.24 |
| Indexing (each name over four) | $1.00 | Fla. Stat. §28.24 |
| Documentary stamp (no-consideration transfer) | $0.70 min | §201.02; DOR TAA 20B4-004 |
| Typical all-in pass-through | ~$18 to $30 |
These §28.24 recording fees are uniform statewide: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Lee, Hillsborough, and Orange all charge the same. The doc-stamp surtax you may have read about applies to sales for consideration, not to a no-consideration estate-planning lady bird deed, which pays only the $0.70 minimum regardless of county.
Why the Cheapest Deed Is Often the Most Expensive
The danger with a bargain deed isn’t the document; it’s the missing advice. Consider Maria, 74, who bought her Miami home for $90,000; it’s worth $300,000 today.
- Done right (an enhanced life estate / lady bird deed, $399 + ~$25 recording): Maria keeps full control. At her death the home gets a stepped-up basis to $300,000 (IRC §1014); her children sell and owe little or no capital gains on the $210,000 of appreciation. No completed gift, no Medicaid transfer.
- Done cheap and wrong (a $50 “quitclaim to the kids” with no reserved powers): the children take Maria’s carryover basis of $90,000 (IRC §1012). A later sale is taxed on $210,000 of gain, often tens of thousands in capital-gains tax that cannot be undone. Worse, the outright gift is a transfer for Medicaid: divided by Florida’s transfer-penalty divisor (about $10,500/month in 2026, updated each January), a ~$300,000 home can trigger roughly two years of nursing-home Medicaid ineligibility if she needs care within five years.
Figures are illustrative: the capital-gains amount depends on bracket and the Medicaid divisor changes annually; we confirm the current numbers at your consult. The point holds: a “$50” deed can cost the family far more than the $349 it seemed to save.
What’s Included in Our $399 / $449
Included: attorney drafting; a marital-status and homestead review; the correct legal description pulled from your prior recorded deed (not the tax bill); coordinating signing with witnesses and a notary; e-recording with your county; one certified copy.
Passed through at cost (not marked up): the recording fee, the doc stamp, any extra certified copies, and a remote-notary surcharge if you use one. The legal fee is posted and honored for 90 days from June 2026.
Not sure a deed is even the right tool?
In a free 30-minute consult we’ll tell you straight, a lady bird deed, a trust, or neither, before you spend a dollar.
Book your free consultFrequently Asked Questions
How Much Does a Lady Bird Deed Cost in Florida?
At our firm, $399 for an individual owner and $449 for a joint deed, attorney-prepared. On top of the legal fee, the county charges a recording fee (about $10 to $30) and a $0.70 documentary stamp. That is the full cost: posted, not “call for a quote.”
Are Lady Bird Deeds Expensive?
No. A lady bird deed is one of the lowest-cost ways to avoid probate on a Florida home: a few hundred dollars, versus a revocable living trust ($3,200+) or letting the home go through probate later (often several thousand dollars in attorney fees). The risk isn’t paying too much; it’s paying too little for a form with no legal review.
What Is the Recording Fee for a Lady Bird Deed in Florida?
Florida law sets recording at $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page (Fla. Stat. §28.24), plus $1 for each name to be indexed over four. A typical lady bird deed records for about $18 to $30, the same in every county.
Do I Owe Documentary Stamp Tax on a Lady Bird Deed?
Usually just the $0.70 minimum. Because a lady bird deed makes no present transfer, the Florida Department of Revenue treats it as not subject to doc-stamp tax beyond the minimum (DOR TAA 20B4-004). Exception: if the home is mortgaged and your beneficiaries later take it subject to the loan, the tax is figured on the unpaid balance.
Why Do Some Lady Bird Deeds Cost $349 and Others $800?
Price tracks who stands behind it. A $349 service is usually a document preparer that states “we are not a law firm”; it can fill in a form but can’t tell you whether a lady bird deed is the right move. An attorney fee buys legal advice, a homestead and marital-status check, and someone licensed standing behind the work.
Is a Cheap Online Lady Bird Deed Worth It?
Sometimes the document is fine; the problem is the missing advice. The expensive failures (a plain gift deed that loses the step-up in basis, a missed spousal-joinder requirement on homestead, a legal description copied off the tax bill) happen because no one reviewed the situation. Those mistakes surface years later, at a closing or a Medicaid application, when they cost far more to fix.
Does a Lady Bird Deed Cost Less Than a Living Trust?
Yes. A single Florida home with adult beneficiaries and no complications usually only needs a lady bird deed ($399), not a full revocable trust ($3,200+). A trust earns its higher cost when you own property in more than one state, have minor or special-needs beneficiaries, or a blended family.
What’s Included in Your $399 Lady Bird Deed Fee?
Attorney drafting, a review of your marital status and homestead requirements, the correct legal description pulled from your prior recorded deed, coordinating signing with witnesses and a notary, e-recording with the county, and one certified copy. Government recording and doc-stamp costs are billed at cost on top.
Are There Hidden Fees With a Lady Bird Deed?
Not with us. The recording fee, doc stamp, and any certified-copy charges are government costs we pass through at cost, itemized, with no markup. We post the legal fee up front and honor it for 90 days.
How Much Does It Cost to Change or Revoke a Lady Bird Deed Later?
A deed revocation or amendment is $250 plus recording. Because a lady bird deed is fully revocable, you can change beneficiaries or cancel it during your lifetime by recording a new deed, with no one’s consent required.
Common Situations
The $50 quitclaim that cost $40,000. A widower deeds his paid-off home to his two kids with a blank quitclaim form to “keep it simple.” After he dies, they sell and learn they inherited his $90,000 basis instead of the date-of-death value, owing tens of thousands in capital-gains tax a lady bird deed would have erased. The document was cheap; the missing advice was expensive.
The snowbird comparison shopper. A retiree splitting time between Ohio and Naples finds three “$349 lady bird deed” sites and one firm that won’t print a price. The transparent flat fee plus a video consult wins her: the same price as the mills, with someone to confirm a deed (not a trust) fits her single Florida home.
Married homestead, deed to stepchildren. A couple tries a discount form to leave a Miami homestead to the husband’s children from a prior marriage. The form misses the spousal-joinder rule and the §732.7025 waiver, so the deed would be void as to the homestead. A short attorney review catches it before recording, for less than the probate it prevents.
Sources of Law
- Fla. Stat. §28.24: clerk recording fees ($10 first page / $8.50 each added / $1 per name over four). flsenate.gov (retrieved 2026-06-05)
- Fla. Stat. §201.02: documentary stamp tax on deeds. flsenate.gov
- Fla. Stat. §689.01: execution of deeds (witnesses + notary). Fla. DOR TAA 20B4-004: enhanced life estate deed not subject to doc stamp beyond the minimum.
- IRC §1014 (step-up in basis), §1012 (carryover basis), cited by section.
Updated on June 5, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created.