How to Hold Title to a Space Coast Home in Brevard County, FL

How should you hold title to a Space Coast home in Florida?

Florida recognizes tenancy in common, joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and tenancy by the entirety for married couples. In Brevard County, the vesting language on your deed affects survivorship, creditor exposure, and your homestead exemption.

The vesting line on a deed gets about four seconds of attention at a Space Coast closing. It is usually the last thing anyone reads and the first thing that matters when something goes wrong. Two people can buy the same Melbourne house for the same price on the same day and end up with completely different outcomes on death, divorce, or a creditor judgment, purely because of how the deed was worded.

This is general information, not legal advice. Vesting is a legal and estate planning decision, and the Brevard County Clerk of Courts says plainly on its own site that Clerk employees cannot give legal advice and that you should seek an attorney licensed in Florida. That is the right instinct. But you should walk into that conversation knowing the vocabulary.

What Are the Three Ways to Hold Title in Florida?

Florida Statute 689.15 is the controlling rule, and it is blunt. The statute says the doctrine of right of survivorship shall not prevail in this state, and that except for estates by entirety, a conveyance to two or more people creates a tenancy in common unless the instrument expressly provides for the right of survivorship.

Form	Who can use it	What happens at death
Tenancy in common	Anyone, and it is the Florida default	No survivorship. The share passes under the will or by intestacy
Joint tenancy with right of survivorship	Anyone, but the deed must say so expressly	The surviving co-owner takes the whole
Tenancy by the entirety	Married couples only	The surviving spouse takes the whole

The practical takeaway for unmarried co-buyers on the Space Coast, whether that is a couple, two siblings, or a parent and adult child buying together in Viera or Rockledge: survivorship is not automatic in Florida. If the deed does not say it, you do not have it.

Tenancy by the Entirety: The Florida Married Couple Advantage

Tenancy by the entirety is a Florida form available only to married couples. Under it, both spouses are considered to hold the property as a whole rather than as fractional parts. It requires six unities: possession, interest, title, time, survivorship, and marriage. Miss any one and it is not created.

Two consequences matter to Brevard County buyers.

First, creditor protection. Property held as tenancy by the entirety is exempt from the individual creditors of either spouse, which is protection the other two forms do not carry. That protection is not absolute. A joint judgment against both spouses can reach it, the exemption disappears the moment the tenancy is severed by death or divorce, and it does not extend to the IRS.

Second, the presumption. Florida case law establishes that real property acquired in the names of both spouses creates a presumption of tenancy by the entirety unless expressly stated otherwise, and absent fraud that presumption is not rebuttable. Even so, deeds should say "husband and wife" or "tenants by the entirety" outright, and that is especially worth checking when spouses have different last names.

Note the flip side. Florida Statute 689.15 also provides that on dissolution of marriage, tenants by the entirety become tenants in common.

How Vesting Affects Your Brevard County Homestead Exemption

This is where the deed reaches into your tax bill, and most buyers have never heard it.

Florida Statute 196.031 states that homestead title may be held by the entireties, jointly, or in common with others, and that the exemption may be apportioned among the owners who reside there. Then it draws a line. If only one owner of an estate held by the entireties, or held jointly with right of survivorship, resides on the property, that owner is allowed the exemption up to the assessed value. Except for those two forms, the exemption may not exceed the proportionate assessed value of the owners who reside there.

Translated: with tenancy by the entirety or joint tenancy with right of survivorship, one resident owner can claim the full exemption. With tenancy in common, the exemption gets prorated to the residing owners' shares. On a Space Coast property where one co-owner lives elsewhere, that is real money every single year.

The same statute requires the deed to be recorded in the county's official records before the exemption may be granted. In Brevard County, you must qualify as of January 1 and apply by March 1.

Does Changing the Deed Reset Your Save Our Homes Cap?

The Brevard County Property Appraiser describes the Save Our Homes cap as limiting annual increases in the assessed value of homesteaded property to 3 percent or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. On January 1 following a sale, the exemption and the cap come off and assessed value rises to market value.

Florida Statute 193.155 lists exceptions where a title change is not treated as a change of ownership. Several are directly relevant to Space Coast homeowners:

• Transfers between spouses, including to a surviving spouse or on dissolution of marriage
• An instrument where the owner is both grantor and grantee and additional individuals are named as grantee, though if one of those added individuals applies for homestead exemption, that does count as a change of ownership
• Removing joint tenants with right of survivorship where the owner is both grantor and grantee
• Transfers between legal and equitable title, such as into your own revocable trust, where no additional person applies for homestead

Also worth knowing: BCPAO explains the caps and the partial homestead rule, including that where a property receives only a partial exemption because of the ownership structure, the cap applies only to the exempt portion and the remainder is assessed at full market value. If you have married, divorced, put the property into a trust, or added someone to title in the past year, reapply for homestead.

What Does It Cost to Change a Deed in Brevard County?

Two separate costs, and buyers routinely confuse them.

Documentary stamp tax. Florida Department of Revenue sets the rate on deeds outside Miami-Dade at $0.70 per $100 of consideration. Where a deed with no mortgage recites nominal consideration such as love and affection and ten dollars, Florida DOR's own examples show $0.70 tax is due. Where the property is encumbered, the mortgage is treated as consideration on the share transferred, which can be a real number. One important exemption: DOR states that a transfer between spouses of homestead property, where the only consideration is a mortgage, is not taxed under section 201.02(7)(b).

Recording fees. Florida Statute 28.24 caps recording, indexing, and filing at $5 for the first page and $4 for each additional page, plus statutory surcharges and $1 per additional name beyond four. Use the Brevard County Clerk's official records page and its recording fee calculator for the exact figure.

Florida Deed Formalities You Cannot Skip

Florida Statute 689.01 requires that a conveyance of a freehold interest be in writing and signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. Not one. Two. Deeds also need a notarial acknowledgment to be recorded.

Effective January 1, 2024, Florida Statute 695.26 also requires the address of each witness to appear on the instrument, in addition to each witness's printed name beneath the signature. The Brevard County Clerk has stated that documents will not be recorded unless they meet all statutory requirements. A deed missing a witness address gets kicked back.

One more thing. There is no Florida statute requiring an attorney to prepare a deed, but a nonlawyer preparing a deed for someone else is treated as the unlicensed practice of law in Florida. This is not the place to save two hundred dollars.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Lady Bird deed in Florida?

An enhanced life estate deed, commonly called a Lady Bird deed, lets the grantor keep a life estate while retaining the power to sell, convey, or mortgage the property without the remainder beneficiaries' consent, and it passes possession at death without probate. A Florida Bar Journal column notes that no statutory language creating an enhanced life estate has been established and that such a deed may not be insurable, so this is firmly attorney territory rather than a form to download.

Can I add my adult child to the deed on my Space Coast home?

You can, and Florida Statute 193.155 provides that adding a grantee while remaining a grantor is generally not a change of ownership for assessment purposes, unless that added person applies for homestead exemption on the property. The tradeoffs are real: their creditors, their divorce, and their consent to any future sale all come along with the deed. Talk to a Florida estate planning attorney before you do it.

Where are deeds recorded in Brevard County, Florida?

With the Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court, which records and indexes deeds, mortgages, liens, and easements in the Official Records. The Clerk's official records index runs back to January 1, 1981, with images available for the same period, and eRecording is available.

Get the Vesting Right the First Time

Fixing a deed after closing costs more than getting it right before. If you are buying on the Space Coast with a partner, a sibling, a parent, or an out-of-state co-owner, bring the question up early so your closing agent and your attorney can build the deed correctly the first time. I am happy to flag the issue and make sure it does not get glossed over at the table. My partner Nichole and I got your back. Reach out anytime at (321) 212-7676 or www.livingspacecoast.com.