Protect Your Florida Nest, Snowbirds!

If you're a snowbird ready to fly away from Florida for the summer - or if you're already roosting somewhere else - make sure you take care of this important detail.

If you own homestead property, your county's Property Appraiser sends a card annually to verify ownership of your homestead property. But that card is NOT forwarded by the Post Office, even if you have left a forwarding address with the Post Office. If the card bounces back to the Property Appraiser, you could jeopardize yourr $25,000 homestead exemption because of a simple technicality.

The solution: Contact the Property Appraiser in person, or by phone or mail to request that correspondence be sent to your alternate (non-Florida) address while you're away. This is also an important step for the purposes of Florida Medicaid eligibility, since Medicaid considers homestead property (up to a certain amount of equity) to be an exempt asset. If you lose your homestead status, you could end up losing or being denied Medicaid benefits.

Here are some links to the Florida Property Appraiser offices where many of my clients reside:
Palm Beach
Martin County
St. Lucie County
Broward County
Indian River County
Okeechobee County