TL;DR: Florida charges documentary stamp tax on deeds at $.70 per $100 of consideration, or portion of $100, in every county except Miami-Dade. That tax is only one of three costs in a deed transfer. The other two are the Clerk of Court’s per document recording charge and the preparation fee. Our published fee schedule shows all three, and this page shows how they add up on real Lee County transfers.
Almost every page about Florida documentary stamp tax is written for lenders or commercial deals. If you are a homeowner in Fort Myers trying to work out what it costs to put your daughter on the deed, or to take an ex spouse off it, those pages are not much help.
So this is the homeowner version. What the tax is, what counts as consideration, which transfers are exempt, what the county charges on top, and worked examples with actual numbers.
Lee County Document Preparation, Inc. is a non-attorney document preparation service and has prepared and recorded deeds from Fort Myers since 1997. We are not tax advisors. The figures below are the published state rate and our own published fees. Whether a specific exemption applies to your transfer is a tax and legal question for a CPA or a licensed Florida attorney.
What is documentary stamp tax in Florida?
Documentary stamp tax is a Florida excise tax on documents that transfer an interest in real property, most commonly a deed. On deeds it is calculated at $.70 per $100 of the consideration, or any portion of $100, and it is normally paid to the county Clerk of Court at the time the deed is recorded.
The rate comes straight from the state. The Florida Department of Revenue states that for real property in every county except Miami-Dade, tax is calculated at $.70 per $100 or portion thereof, of the consideration paid or to be paid. Miami-Dade is charged differently, at $.60 per $100 on a single family residence, with an added surtax on other property types. Lee County uses the standard $.70 rate.
Two details worth internalizing. The phrase “or portion thereof” means the tax rounds up to the next full $100, so a $150,100 sale is taxed as though it were $150,200. And a deed is taxable whether or not it is recorded, which is why “we just never filed it” is not a tax strategy.
What counts as consideration?
Consideration is what the person receiving the property gives up to get it. Cash is the obvious form, but it is not the only one. The outstanding balance of a mortgage the new owner takes on, or is relieved of, generally counts as consideration too, and that is what turns a supposedly free family transfer into a real tax bill.
This is the number one surprise in the whole subject. Two neighbors in Cape Coral each add an adult child to their deed on the same afternoon. The first owns the house free and clear, so the consideration is nominal and the tax is the minimum. The second has $240,000 left on a mortgage and just handed over a half interest, so there is real consideration in the transaction and the doc stamp is not nominal at all.
If there is a mortgage on your property, say so when you request the deed. It changes the arithmetic, and getting it wrong at the counter means the Clerk holds the recording. Our three step process asks the questions that pin this down.
Which deed transfers are exempt from documentary stamp tax?
Florida exempts a narrow set of transfers. The two that matter most to homeowners are a deed between spouses or former spouses pursuant to a divorce where the property is or was the marital home, and a deed transferring homestead property between spouses where the only consideration is the mortgage encumbering it.
Both come from the same statute. Section 201.02 of the Florida Statutes exempts a conveyance between spouses or former spouses pursuant to an action for dissolution of their marriage wherein the real property is or was their marital home, and separately exempts an instrument transferring homestead property between spouses where the only consideration is the amount of a mortgage or other lien encumbering it. The divorce exemption is unusual in that it applies regardless of consideration, and the statute also provides a refund route where the transfer happened within a year before the dissolution.
What is generally not exempt, contrary to widespread belief: a gift to a child, a transfer to a sibling, a transfer into an LLC, or a transfer of a non-homestead investment property between spouses. Being family does not create an exemption by itself. The divorce specific treatment is covered in more depth in quit claim deeds and divorce in Florida, and the spousal versus non spousal split is discussed in how to add a name to a deed in Florida.
How much does a quitclaim deed cost in Florida?
A quit claim deed in Florida has three cost components: preparation, recording, and documentary stamp tax. Our published fees are $225 to prepare a deed and $18.50 to record it, plus $8.50 for each page beyond the first. Documentary stamps are calculated separately at $.007 of the consideration with a $.70 minimum, which is the same $.70 per $100 rate expressed as a decimal.
Note that a quit claim deed and a warranty deed cost the same to prepare and the same to record, and are taxed identically. The choice between them is about legal protection, not price, and we compare them in warranty deed versus quit claim deed. A Lady Bird deed is also a deed for these purposes.
A few line items people forget to budget for, all published on our fee schedule: $25 if we have to obtain a copy of your prior deed because you do not have it, a courier charge if the recording is hand delivered, a rush fee if you need it fast, and $75 or more in processing where there are three or more owners in different locations. A title search is separate again, at $295 for general real estate or $125 per chain for a timeshare.
Worked examples: three real Lee County scenarios
Numbers make this concrete. All three use the published state rate and our published fees, on a single page deed.
| Scenario | Consideration | Doc stamp tax | Prep | Recording | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parent adds adult daughter to a mortgage free Fort Myers home as a gift | Nominal | $0.70 minimum | $225.00 | $18.50 | $244.20 |
| Divorcing spouse deeds the Cape Coral marital home to the other spouse | $185,000 | $0.00 (exempt under s. 201.02) | $225.00 | $18.50 | $243.50 |
| Sibling buys out the other sibling’s half of an inherited Bonita Springs house | $150,000 | $1,050.00 | $225.00 | $18.50 | $1,293.50 |
The middle row is the point of this whole page. Two nearly identical documents, moving a similar amount of value, and one of them carries over a thousand dollars of tax while the other carries none. The difference is not the deed, it is the relationship and the reason for the transfer.
Read the third row carefully too. $150,000 of consideration at $.70 per $100 is $1,050 in tax, which dwarfs every other cost in the transaction. If you are buying out a co-owner, the doc stamp is the number to plan around, not the preparation fee.
What the Clerk of Court charges to record
Recording is a separate charge from the tax, paid to the Lee County Clerk of Court, and it is assessed per document and per page. We collect it as a line item rather than absorbing it, so it appears on your invoice at cost. Our fee schedule lists $18.50 to record a deed and $8.50 for each page after the first.
Because recording charges and doc stamp calculations are collected at the counter, an error on the page means the document comes back rather than getting filed. The most common causes are not tax related at all. They are missing witness signatures, missing printed names, and missing post office addresses, all covered in Florida deed witness and notary requirements.
For the current official recording fee schedule, check with the Lee County Clerk of Court directly. Statutory recording charges can change, and we would rather you confirm a current figure with the Clerk than rely on a number in a blog post. The two figures we stand behind here are the state doc stamp rate, which is published by the Department of Revenue, and our own fees, which are published on our own price page.
Frequently asked questions
How much are recording fees in Florida? Recording charges are set by statute and collected by each county Clerk of Court, assessed per document and per page. We list $18.50 to record a deed and $8.50 per additional page on our fee schedule. Confirm the current official schedule with the Lee County Clerk of Court.
Who pays the documentary stamp tax on a deed? By convention in most Florida transactions the seller or the party transferring pays it, but the parties can agree otherwise and the Clerk simply requires that it be paid before recording. In a family transfer it is normally the person arranging the deed.
Is documentary stamp tax due on a gift deed with no money involved? Usually only the minimum, if there is genuinely no consideration and no mortgage. But if the recipient takes on or is relieved of mortgage debt, that debt generally counts as consideration and the tax is calculated on it.
Does a deed have to be recorded for the tax to apply? No. Florida documentary stamp tax applies to a taxable deed whether or not it is recorded. Not recording a deed creates title problems and does not avoid the tax.
What does it cost to transfer a deed in Florida in total? For a straightforward single page family transfer with no mortgage, budget the preparation fee, the recording charge, and the minimum doc stamp. Where real money or mortgage debt is involved, the doc stamp usually becomes the largest single cost. The table above shows both ends of that range.
Get an exact number before you commit
The only way to know your real cost is to tell us the actual facts: the property, the parties, whether there is a mortgage, and what if anything is being paid. Call 239-482-7900 and you will get a figure rather than a range. You can also review the full fee schedule, start with the quit claim request form, or reach us through our contact page. Preparing and recording Lee County deeds since 1997.