Quitclaim Deed vs. Warranty Deed in Florida: What Each One Actually Does
Two deeds can transfer the same house on the same day and leave the new owner in completely different positions. One says the seller stands behind the title. The other says the seller is handing over whatever they happen to have, and wishes you luck. Both are one page. Both get recorded the same way. […]
Two deeds can transfer the same house on the same day and leave the new owner in completely different positions. One says the seller stands behind the title. The other says the seller is handing over whatever they happen to have, and wishes you luck. Both are one page. Both get recorded the same way.
Here is what each Florida deed actually does, when each one belongs, and the five mistakes that turn a routine transfer into a title problem years later.
What a Deed Is and Is Not
A deed transfers ownership. That is all it does. It does not remove anyone from a mortgage, and this is the single most common misunderstanding we see.
If two people are on a mortgage and one signs a deed transferring the house to the other, the person who signed away the house still owes the debt. The lender was not a party to the deed and is not bound by it. A divorce judgment saying one spouse “takes the house and the mortgage” does not change that either — it binds the spouses to each other, not the bank. Getting off a mortgage requires the lender: a refinance, or an assumption the lender approves.
Quitclaim Deed: No Promises
A quitclaim deed — one word, not “quit claim,” though you will see it both ways — transfers whatever interest the grantor owns at that moment and warrants nothing. Not that they own the property. Not that there are no liens. Not that the legal description is right.
If it turns out the grantor owned nothing, the grantee receives nothing, and has no claim against the grantor on the deed itself. A person with no interest in your house can sign a quitclaim deed to it. The deed is valid; it simply conveys nothing.
That sounds useless. It is not — it is the right instrument where the parties already know the title history and no warranty is expected:
Adding a spouse after marriage
Removing an ex-spouse under a divorce judgment
Moving property into your own LLC, land trust or revocable trust
Clearing a possible cloud — having someone with a doubtful claim release whatever they might have
Transfers among family members who know exactly what they are getting
Where it does not belong is an arm’s-length sale. A buyer paying market price should not accept a deed that promises nothing, and a title underwriter looking at a recent quitclaim in the chain will ask why it is there.
General Warranty Deed: The Full Promise
A general warranty deed carries covenants running back through the property’s entire history, not just the seller’s ownership. In substance the grantor promises they own it and can convey it, that there are no encumbrances except those disclosed, that the grantee’s possession will not be disturbed by a superior claim, that the grantor will defend the title against lawful claims, and that they will sign whatever is needed later to perfect it.
If a defect surfaces in 2031 that originated with an owner in 1987, the grantee can look to their grantor. This is the standard instrument in a normal Florida residential sale, and what a buyer should expect.
One caution: a warranty is only worth the grantor’s ability to pay on it. A warranty from a seller who has moved out of state and spent the proceeds is a legal right with no practical value. That is why buyers get an owner’s title insurance policy in addition to a warranty deed, not instead of one.
Special Warranty Deed: The Limited Promise
A special warranty deed — sometimes called a limited warranty deed — warrants only against defects created during the grantor’s own ownership. Anything from before is the grantee’s problem.
You see these from estates, trusts, banks selling foreclosed property, corporate relocation companies and institutional investors: sellers who never lived in the property, have no knowledge of its history, and are unwilling to warrant a past they know nothing about. That position is reasonable. It also means the buyer is carrying the pre-ownership risk, which makes the title search and the owner’s policy matter more, not less.
The Rest of the Family
Lady Bird deed (enhanced life estate deed). Passes property at death outside probate while the owner keeps full control during life — including the right to sell or mortgage without the remainder beneficiaries’ consent. Florida is one of a handful of states that recognize it. We go deeper in our article on Lady Bird deeds.
Traditional life estate deed. Same probate avoidance, far less flexibility. Once signed, the life tenant cannot sell or mortgage without every remainderman agreeing. Families who chose this instrument and then needed to sell are a recurring problem.
Personal representative’s deed and trustee’s deed. Conveyances out of an estate or trust. The signer’s authority has to be established in the public record, not merely asserted.
Corrective or scrivener’s deed. Fixes a recorded deed with a wrong legal description, misspelled name or defective execution.
1. The spouse who was never on title still had to sign
This is the one that voids deeds. Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution requires spousal joinder in any conveyance of homestead property. It applies even when the spouse’s name has never appeared on the title, because homestead rights attach to the marriage and the occupancy rather than to the deed.
A homestead deed signed by only one married owner is void from the start — not voidable, void. The non-signing spouse can attack it later, courts set these conveyances aside, and title insurers will not insure around it. The trap catches people who bought before marrying and reasonably assume it is still “their” house.
2. Documentary stamp tax on a transfer where no money moved
Florida charges documentary stamp tax on deeds at $0.70 per $100 of consideration outside Miami-Dade. The critical part: consideration includes the balance of any mortgage encumbering the property, whether or not the new owner assumes it.
So a parent deeding a mortgaged rental to an LLC for “love and affection” with $300,000 still owed is looking at tax computed on $300,000 — roughly $2,100 — on a transfer where nothing changed hands. On an unencumbered gift the tax is nominal, minimum $0.70.
There is an exemption for transfers of homestead property between spouses where the only consideration is the existing mortgage balance. Florida removed the old requirement that the deed be recorded within a year of the marriage, so it is now available to married couples generally. It does not cover transfers into an LLC or a trust, and it does not cover non-homestead property.
3. Missing witnesses
Section 689.01 of the Florida Statutes requires two subscribing witnesses to a conveyance of an interest in Florida real property. Florida eliminated that requirement for leases; it did not eliminate it for deeds. Notarization alone is not enough, and out-of-state forms routinely omit witness lines because most states do not require them.
4. A deed the clerk will not record
Section 695.26 sets the recording formalities: the preparer’s name and post office address, printed names and addresses under every signature including witnesses and the notary, the grantee’s mailing address, and a 3-inch by 3-inch blank space at the top right of the first page for the clerk.
A deed is valid between the parties once delivered, but recording is what protects the new owner against the grantor’s creditors and against a later buyer who records first. An unrecorded deed sitting in a drawer is a liability.
5. The consequences that arrive later
Property taxes. A change of ownership can reset the Save Our Homes assessment cap and disturb the homestead exemption. On a long-held Florida home where the capped assessed value sits far below market, that is frequently the largest hidden cost of a casual transfer.
Due-on-sale. Most mortgages let the lender call the loan on transfer. Federal law — the Garn-St Germain Act — protects a list of family transfers on residential property, including transfers to a spouse or children and transfers into a trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary. Not every transfer is on the list.
Medicaid. Gifting property to a child starts a five-year look-back that can create a penalty period for long-term care eligibility.
Capital gains. Property inherited at death generally receives a stepped-up basis. Property given away during life generally does not — the child takes the parent’s original basis. Deeding the house to the kids now, rather than letting them inherit it, can manufacture a tax bill that would not otherwise exist.
Creditor exposure. Adding a child to your deed exposes your house to that child’s creditors, judgments and divorce.
Which Deed Do You Need
The honest answer is that the instrument follows the goal, and most people arrive having already picked the instrument. “I need a quitclaim deed” is usually a conclusion someone reached from a search result, and often the right tool is a different one — or the transfer should not happen at all in the form being contemplated.
Rough guide: a sale to a stranger takes a general warranty deed. A sale from an estate, trust or institution takes a special warranty deed. A transfer among people who know the title takes a quitclaim. Avoiding probate on a Florida homestead usually points at a Lady Bird deed. Fixing an error takes a corrective deed.
And a deed has no undo. Once it is recorded and the grantee holds an interest, unwinding it requires their cooperation or a quiet title action — which costs many times what preparing the right deed would have.
This article is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deed consequences turn on facts specific to your property, your marital status, your mortgage and your goals.
