Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tenant Title-Clearance Requirements in Florida

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Covered title and the recordable instrument

Florida Statutes § 689.15 separates the title question from the recording question. An estate by the entirety carries the section's express exception. For other co-owners, a conveyance to two or more creates a tenancy in common unless the creating instrument expressly provides a right of survivorship. Recording death evidence cannot add survivorship language that the deed lacks.

For an already-valid survivorship title, § 28.222(3)(g) gives the statewide public-record route. The clerk records a certified copy authorized by the Florida Department of Health that excludes information confidential under § 382.008, or a certified copy issued by another state whether or not that information is excluded. The statute prescribes the certificate itself, not a separate affidavit.

Filer, contents, and formalities

Section 28.222(3) directs the clerk to record listed instruments when they are presented and the statutory service charges are paid. It names no survivor, personal representative, lawyer, or other exclusive presenter. Subsection (3)(g) likewise requires no property description, parcel number, creating-deed reference, survivor identification, marriage recital, affidavit signature, oath, acknowledgment, witnesses, or notary.

Florida Statutes § 695.03 matters only if someone chooses to record a separately executed instrument concerning the real property. That instrument's execution must be acknowledged by the executing party, proved by a subscribing witness, or otherwise legalized or authenticated through the section's routes. Those formalities should not be imported into the expressly recordable certified death certificate.

Office, deadline, companions, and effect

Under § 28.222(1)-(2), the clerk of the circuit court serves as county recorder and places the certificate in the county's Official Records. The death- certificate subsection states no deadline and does not itself direct recording in every county containing the property.

Florida Statutes § 198.32 supplies a separate, conditional tax instrument. Subsection (2) lets a personal representative record the department's nonliability affidavit when the estate is nontaxable and no return is required. Subsection (3), however, says no such affidavit is required and no subsection (1) lien applies to a post-2004 decedent when the stated federal estate-tax or generation-skipping credit is unavailable. The tax affidavit is therefore not a universal companion to the death certificate.

Finally, § 695.11 says the instrument is officially recorded and becomes notice to all persons when the clerk affixes the consecutive official register number. Section 28.222(7)(a) keeps it open to public inspection. Neither section says the certificate conveys title or conclusively proves that survivorship existed and remained unsevered.

What trips people up

A deed to two people is not automatically survivorship title. Outside an estate by the entirety, § 689.15 makes tenancy in common the default unless the creating instrument expressly provides survivorship.

A recordable certificate is not an affidavit form. Section 28.222 requires the clerk to accept the certified death certificate. It does not require a survivor's identity statement, continuous-marriage recital, deed reference, legal description, jurat, or notary block.

The estate-tax affidavit is not universal. Section 198.32(2) permits a personal representative's department-prescribed nonliability affidavit, but subsection (3) removes both the affidavit requirement and lien for a post-2004 estate when its federal-credit condition is met.

Common questions

Must I sign an affidavit to record the death? Not under § 28.222(3)(g). That subsection directs the clerk to record a qualifying certified death certificate and names no affiant.

Does the certificate need a property description? The statewide certificate provision does not require one. It records death evidence, not a parcel-specific conveyance.

Is an affidavit of continuous marriage required for entirety property? Neither § 689.15 nor § 28.222 prescribes that affidavit. Local or title practice may ask for additional evidence, but it is not part of this statewide statutory route.

Does recording establish that the joint tenancy was never severed? No. Section 695.11 gives notice of the recorded instrument. It does not adjudicate the deed, marriage, severance, or competing title claims.

Statutes and sources

• Fla. Stat. § 689.15 — express-survivorship rule and entirety exception. https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0689/Sections/0689.15.html
• Fla. Stat. § 28.222 — county recorder, certified death certificates, and public Official Records. https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0028/Sections/0028.222.html
• Fla. Stat. §§ 695.03, 695.11 — separately executed instrument formalities and notice from official numbering. https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0695/Sections/0695.03.html https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0695/Sections/0695.11.html
• Fla. Stat. § 198.32 — conditional estate-tax affidavit and post-2004 exception. https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0198/Sections/0198.32.html

All sources accessed 2026-08-02.