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At Heekin Law we pride ourselves on providing legal representation and guidance on a complete line of real estate law services including: residential, commercial, mortgage, reverse mortgage, equity line and refinance closings, foreclosure defense, real property title search, title problems/defect resolution, builder and developer representation and handle landlord/tenant disputes.
Additionally, there are cross-over legal services that involve estate planning and real estate transactions which concerns the transfer of real property and associated tax implications. One such legal document, that has become popular in recent years, is called an Enhanced Life Estate Deed Ladybird Deed or what is commonly referred to a Lady Bird Deed.
Advantages
One of the best-kept secrets used for estate planning purposes and the transfer of real property to beneficiaries in the event of someone’s death is an estate planning product commonly called a Lady Bird Deed. Under Florida law, real property transfers designated in a Lady Bird Deed have certain advantages over willed property. This type of deed is in most cases best suited for a single-status property owner without minor dependents or a living spouse.
First, when someone passes away, the beneficiaries designated in a ladybird deed avoid probate court upon the receivership of the property the death of the life tenant(s).
Secondly, the Lady Bird Deed allows someone to preserve the Florida Homestead Exemption benefits. This is important because the beneficiary can assume the inherited property, maintain a homestead exemption taking advantage of the property tax reduction even though the ownership in the deed changes. If the property owner executing the Lady Bird Deed has a spouse or minor children, transfer of a homestead exemption is not an available option. Additionally, since the homesteaded property has not changed hands, the property owner can still be protected against a forced sale by creditors. There is however a disadvantage to the beneficiary if a lien is placed upon the property.
Another great advantage to a Lady Bird Deed is it allows you to preserve Medicaid eligibility if your domicile is homesteaded and the property deeded to the recipient is then not counted as a gift but as an asset. Additionally, because the ownership of the property passes at the time of your death, Florida Medicaid Estate Recovery is avoided, meaning that the state will not recover its costs against a property owned by a Medicaid recipient.
Documentary Stamp Tax charges are not due because there is no immediate transfer of ownership of the property. Once the beneficiary receives the inherited property, documentary stamp taxes may become due.
From a tax perspective, Lady Bird Deeds are not viewed as a completed gift and as such the property owner has the right to change, modify, nullify or revert the property at any time. According to the Federal IRS Tax Code, Section 1014 there is a “step-up in basis” at the time of your death and the transfer of property. The benefit to your beneficiaries is that they can sell the property and possibly not incur any federal tax liability.
And finally, the cost for creating a Lady Bird Deed might be more than an ordinary deed but less than the traditional cost of creating a trust.
Disadvantages
Lady Bird Deeds should be implemented with caution if you are considering having multiple beneficiaries. Complications can arise if one of the beneficiaries dies during the property owner’s lifetime and the Lady Bird Deed is not updated to reflect the change.
There is a statutory and case law issue regarding the rights of creditors to proceed against the interests of the beneficiaries, while you are alive, who might be involved in a bankruptcy or have unpaid financial debt. Even though the beneficiary has not inherited the property yet, it might be considered an asset even before your death and a judgement creditor might be able to attack their interest in the homestead.
Title Companies and Lending Institutions might require a beneficiary on the Lady Bird Deed to join in a mortgage or the conveyance of the property. Additionally, the beneficiary might not have the benefit of the existing title insurance policy at the time of possession. Title insurance policies usually do not cover a beneficiary receiving real property as a gift, which in essence is exactly what a Lady Bird Deed does.
If the property owner decides to change the Lady Bird Deed, a title insurance underwriter may require the beneficiary to quitclaim their interest.
At Heekin Law we are extremely knowledgeable and experienced in all types of business and commercial law services including real estate law, estate services, representation in the construction industry, retail, HOA & COA associations, appellate law, probate, and guardianship services. We have a great deal of experience in all aspects of estate law and can advise clients on wills, trust, estate planning, and Lady Bird Deed preparation.
In resolving disputes between parties, we understand there is a delicate balance in maintaining ongoing business relationships and believe settlement through negotiation is the best possible path to success. Courtroom intervention can be costly both in terms of financial risk and determinant rewards. If you are facing an issue in your business that requires a legal perspective, give us a call for a free, no-obligation consultation. We will match you up with an attorney whose expertise is specific to your industry and legal needs. Call us today at 904-355-7000
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to