In Florida, a person who owns and resides on real property and makes it his or her permanent residence is eligible to receive a homestead exemption up to $50,000.

In order to qualify your Florida homestead, you and your home must meet three criteria:

• You must have legal or beneficial title to the home on January 1 of the current year.
• You must reside at the home as your permanent residence.
• You must apply for the homestead exemption in person at the property appraiser’s office in the county where your home is located between January 1 and March 1 of the year in which you are seeking the homestead exemption.

While in many other states, a persons homestead is not protected from creditors and can be lost to claims for Medicaid reimbursement, this is not the case in Florida. Some of the multiple benefits of the homestead exemption are protection from creditors, reduction of property taxes and protection to the surviving spouse or minor child.

Less well understood are the homestead protections from the claims of creditors and the restrictions on transfers of homestead property at death. WFP Law can help explain these Florida homestead concepts at a free consultation.

Michael D. Wild is a Florida attorney specializing in the areas of estate planning, asset protection and probate administration. To learn more about estate planning, please contact the South Florida law firm of WFP Law at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation. It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?