A Florida deed has to be signed in the presence of two witnesses, who sign it too, and the signature has to be acknowledged before a notary. The notary on their own is not enough. The 2020 change you may have read about removed witnesses from leases and left deeds exactly as they were.
Two more things decide whether the clerk records the deed. Each witness's name and address have to be printed on the deed beneath the signature, by state law rather than county habit. And the whole signing, witnesses included, can be done by video through an online notary.
What the Statute Actually Says
Florida's rule for transferring land is a sentence that has been on the books since 1828. No interest in land, other than a lease of a year or less, can be created or transferred except by a written instrument "signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses" by the person making the transfer. A subscribing witness is one who watches the signing and then signs the document as a witness. Two of them, both signing, is the requirement, and it applies to a quitclaim deed the same as to any other deed.
That sentence is the one the clerk's office is working from. It is why a deed that comes back notarized but unwitnessed has not met the rule, however official the seal looks.
Two things were added to the section recently. In 2019, as part of Florida's online notarization law, a subsection was added allowing the two witnesses to be present and sign electronically by audio-video technology. In 2020 a proviso was added saying that no subscribing witnesses are required for a lease of real property or any instrument pertaining to a lease. That second change is the source of a persistent misunderstanding, covered below.
The 2020 Change Was About Leases
If a form or an article tells you Florida no longer requires witnesses on a deed, it is describing the lease rule and applying it to the wrong document. The 2020 amendment did one thing: it removed the witness requirement for leases and lease-related instruments. Deeds transfer ownership rather than a tenancy, and the requirement for them did not move.
The practical test is simple. If the document you are signing hands over ownership of the property, or any share of it, it needs two subscribing witnesses. If it hands over the right to occupy for a term, it does not.
Witness and Notary Are Two Different Jobs
The witnesses and the notary are doing different things, and Florida wants both. The witnesses watch the grantor sign and sign themselves to say so. The notary takes the grantor's acknowledgment, which means the grantor appears before the notary, is identified, and declares that they signed the deed, and the notary certifies that on the deed. The recording statute requires the acknowledgment before an instrument concerning real property can be recorded.
The acknowledgment can be taken by a Florida notary, or by a notary or comparable officer in any other state, with their seal. The statute also allows an older route: instead of the grantor acknowledging the deed, one of the subscribing witnesses can prove it before the officer. That is a way of getting a deed recorded when the grantor cannot appear; it is not a way around the witnesses, because the witness proving the deed is one of the two the statute already required.
A notary seal on a deed with one witness line filled in, or none, is the pattern the clerk sends back. Both jobs have to have been done.
Who Can Be a Witness
The conveyancing statute requires two subscribing witnesses and says nothing at all about who they may be. It does not bar the grantee, and it does not bar the notary. Nor does the Governor's reference manual for notaries answer whether a notary may sign as one of the two witnesses on the same document. Where the law is silent, the safe choice is two adults who are neither the notary nor a party to the deed, so that nobody later has to argue the point.
The notary law is not silent about the notary. A Florida notary may not notarize a signature for their own spouse, son, daughter, mother or father, and may not notarize a signature on a document in which the notary is a party or has a financial interest. On a family deed, that rules out the relative who happens to hold a commission. It also means the grantee cannot be the notary, whatever they might be as a witness.
Witnesses do not have to know the grantor beforehand. They have to be there when the grantor signs, sign themselves, and be identifiable afterwards, which is what the printed names and addresses in the next section are for.
What the Clerk Checks: Printed Names and Addresses
Florida's recording statute lists what the clerk of the circuit court will not record a conveyance without, and three items on that list are about the people who sign. The name of each witness has to be legibly printed, typed or stamped immediately beneath the witness's signature, and each witness's post-office address has to be printed, typed or stamped on the instrument. The grantor's name and address are required the same way. So is the notary's printed name beneath the notary's signature.
This is state law, applied in all 67 counties. It is not a local formatting preference, and a deed with two perfectly good witness signatures and no printed names beneath them will be returned. A generic form may give each witness a signature line and nothing else. Check, and add a printed-name line and an address line under each before anyone signs.
The same section requires the preparer's name and address, the grantee's name and address, and the blank spaces the clerk stamps. Those are covered in Step 2 of our Florida quitclaim deed page.
Signing by Video, Witnesses Included
Florida allows the entire signing to happen in one online session. The conveyancing statute says the two-witness requirement may be satisfied by witnesses being present and signing electronically by audio-video technology, and the notary law spells out how an online notary supervises that witnessing.
- A witness may be in the room with the grantor or remote, as long as everyone is on the same audio-video connection the notary is using.
- A remote witness has to be identified the same way the grantor is. A witness in the room with the grantor confirms their identity by stating their name and current address on the recording.
- The witness has to hear the grantor say, in substance, that they have signed the document. That spoken statement is what makes the electronic witnessing count.
- A remote witness has to confirm out loud that they are physically located in the United States or a United States territory at the time.
Florida adds a set of screening questions before a will, a trust with testamentary terms, a health care directive or a power of attorney can be witnessed remotely, to protect vulnerable adults. Those questions apply to that list of documents and not to a deed. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page covers how other states treat remote witnessing.
What This Means for Your Florida Quitclaim Deed
- Arrange the grantor, two witnesses and the notary for one session, in person or online.
- Before anyone signs, check that the deed has a signature line, a printed-name line and an address line for each witness, and a printed-name line under the grantor's and the notary's signatures.
- Use witnesses who are neither the notary nor a party. Do not use a notary who is the grantor's spouse, parent or child, or who is receiving the property.
- If the grantor is married and the property is the homestead, the spouse signs as a grantor too, and needs the same two witnesses.
Next step: our Florida quitclaim deed page has the full sequence, including the homestead signature rule, the documentary stamp tax and what recording costs.
Florida Deed Witnesses — Common Questions
Did Florida get rid of the two-witness requirement in 2020?
Only for leases. The 2020 amendment added one sentence to the conveyancing statute: no subscribing witnesses are required for a lease of real property or any instrument pertaining to a lease. Deeds were not touched. A quitclaim deed transfers ownership, not a tenancy, so it still has to be signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. Advice that says Florida dropped witnesses on deeds is describing the lease rule and applying it to the wrong document.
Can the notary also be one of the two witnesses on a Florida deed?
The statute does not say. It requires two subscribing witnesses and says nothing about who they may be, and the Governor's reference manual for notaries does not address the question either. Rather than test it, use two adults who are neither the notary nor a party to the deed. What the notary law does say is who the notary cannot be: a notary may not notarize a signature for their own spouse, parent, son or daughter, or on a document in which the notary is a party or has a financial interest.
What happens if only one witness signs a Florida deed?
The clerk should not record it, because the recording statute requires the printed name and address of each witness and the conveyancing statute requires two of them. The problem runs deeper than recording, though. The statute says no interest in land is transferred except by an instrument signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, so a one-witness deed is not a paperwork defect the clerk can overlook. If a deed has already gone through with one witness, or none, that is a question for a Florida attorney, not something to fix from a web page.
Do Florida deed witnesses have to print their names and addresses?
Yes, and it is state law rather than a county's preference. The recording statute says the clerk shall not record an instrument conveying real property unless the name of each witness is legibly printed, typed or stamped immediately beneath the witness's signature, and the witness's post-office address is printed, typed or stamped on the instrument. The same section requires the printed name and address of the person signing the deed and the printed name of the notary.
Can Florida deed witnesses appear by video?
Yes. The conveyancing statute says the two-witness requirement may be satisfied by witnesses being present and signing electronically through audio-video communication technology, in an online notarization. A remote witness has to be identified the same way the signer is, has to hear the signer say they have signed, and has to confirm out loud that they are physically in the United States. The extra questions Florida asks before remote witnessing of a will, a trust or a power of attorney do not apply to a deed.
Official Sources
Florida's laws are collected in the Florida Statutes, and a citation such as § 689.01 is an address: the first number is the chapter, the second the section within it. You do not need any of these to follow this page. They are here so that you, or an attorney, can read the exact wording rather than take this page's word for it. Each links to the official text, which opens in a new tab.
- Fla. Stat. § 689.01 — the two-subscribing-witness rule, the 2020 proviso exempting leases, and subsection (2) allowing the witnesses to appear and sign by audio-video technology.
- Fla. Stat. § 695.26 — what the clerk will not record without: the printed name and address of each signer and each witness, the printed name of the notary, the preparer block, the grantee's address and the clerk's blank spaces.
- Fla. Stat. § 695.03 — the acknowledgment or proof a deed needs before it can be recorded, who can take it in Florida and in other states, and proof by a subscribing witness as the alternative.
- Fla. Stat. § 117.285 — how an online notary supervises remote witnesses: identification, the spoken statement, the location confirmation, and the screening questions that apply to wills and similar documents but not deeds.
- Fla. Stat. § 117.107 — what a notary may not do, including notarizing for a spouse, parent or child, or on a document in which the notary is a party or has a financial interest.
- Governor's Reference Manual for Notaries Public — the State's own guidance to Florida notaries. It is cited here for what it does not say: nothing in it addresses a notary acting as a subscribing witness on the document being notarized.
Checked against the Florida Statutes on September 3, 2026.