What Is a Ladybird Deed?

Nicknamed after President Lyndon B. Johnson’s wife, Claudia Alta, “Ladybird“, the Florida Ladybird Deed can be valuable to estate planning practices. This legal document allows a homeowner to pass their home on to a beneficiary while retaining their ownership rights until their passing.

Using a Florida ladybird deed, a homeowner can transfer property to someone else while remaining in – and retaining full control of – their residence during their lifetime. The property would then avoid probate and be received by the named beneficiary without any further action needed at the time of the original owner’s death.

While the beneficiary will receive the home’s title at the time of the owner’s passing, they have no right to it while the owner still lives. The owner may sell or rent as they see fit, cancel the Florida Ladybird deed, or change its beneficiary.

Florida ladybird deeds have several benefits:

• Allows the grantor to remain in their home with continued homestead protection.

• The grantor retains full control of their property until their passing.

• Seamlessly transfers property onto the beneficiary, avoiding probate may prevent the property from being subject to a federal gift tax.