Florida Statute 196.041
“Extent of homestead exemptions”
What it means
Section 196.031 grants the homestead exemption to owners; §196.041 defines who counts as an owner. It reaches beyond people holding a straightforward deed. A person whose possession rests on a beneficial interest for life — the kind a revocable trust or a life estate creates — is declared to hold 'equitable title to real estate' and qualifies. The section also covers certain long-term arrangements, including residential leases of 98 years or more and tenant-stockholders in cooperative apartments. This is the provision that lets a home held in a living trust keep its homestead exemption after the owner's death.
- A beneficial interest for life is declared 'equitable title to real estate' — enough to claim the homestead exemption.
- This is what lets a home in a revocable trust or life estate keep its homestead exemption.
- Certain residential leases of 98 years or more qualify the tenant as an owner for the exemption.
- Tenant-stockholders in cooperative apartments are treated as holding beneficial title in equity.
How it plays out
When we put a homestead into a revocable trust — which most of our estate plans do — this is the section that protects the tax exemption. As long as the trust gives the resident a life interest, 196.041 treats that as equitable title and the exemption holds. We draft the trust to say so plainly, because a property appraiser will look for it. The same reasoning saves the exemption when a will or deed leaves someone a life estate in the home with the remainder to the children.