What actually stops a closing
Bring these four things to the table.
Everything else below is a document we will have asked you for by name, weeks out. Send it early. The underwriter reads it, nobody skims it at the table.
On this page
What ID Florida accepts
Why your spouse signs
How to bring the money
Signing by power of attorney
Buying through an LLC or trust
Signing without coming here
What we tell you first
Sources
1
Photo ID
Current, or issued in the last five years.
2
Your spouse
If you are married and the house is your home. Even if their name is nowhere on it.
3
Your funds
Wired, after you have called us and read the numbers back out loud.
4
A checkbook
For a small adjustment on the day. Personal checks stop at $500.
The test nobody explains
What identification does Florida accept?
Section 117.05(5)(b)2 takes a Florida license or ID card, a US passport, a license or ID from another state, a US territory, Canada or Mexico, a military or veteran health ID, a US immigration card, and a foreign passport stamped by US immigration. Each counts only if it is current, or was issued within the past five years, and bears a serial number.
This one counts
Expired eight months ago, but issued three years ago.
This one does not
Still valid, but issued seven years ago.
That cuts both ways. A license that expired eight months ago but was issued three years ago satisfies the statute. One still valid but issued seven years ago does not, and Florida licenses run on six and eight year cycles. Bring something unexpired if you can, and a passport as backup.
The name should match the name on the deed. If you married, divorced or changed your name since you bought, tell us before the day.
The constitution, not the contract
Why does my spouse sign if they do not own the house?
Because Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution makes their signature the condition on your power to sell or mortgage a homestead, whether or not they are on the title.
Article X, Section 4(c), Florida Constitution
Joined by the spouse if married. A married sole owner cannot sell or refinance a Florida homestead alone. The spouse signs the deed on a sale, the mortgage on a refinance, and owns none of it.
The homestead tax exemption has nothing to do with this. That is a different part of the Constitution with its own deadline. Constitutional homestead attaches on living there with the intent to stay, filed or not. Nor does a prenuptial agreement clear it: the waiver in s. 732.702 works on rights that arise at death, not on a deed you sign while you are alive.
So tell us you are married, even if your spouse appears nowhere else in the file.
Money moves once
How do I bring the money?
Wire it, and call us on a number you already have before you send a dollar.
Florida has no statute called the Good Funds Law, and s. 627.7841, cited for it all over the internet, is a gap coverage statute that says nothing about funds. What governs us is Rule 69O-186.008, Florida Administrative Code, under s. 626.8473: certified and cashier’s checks, official bank checks, money orders, bank and credit union checks, checks from a lawyer’s trust or another agent’s escrow account, and personal checks only up to $500.
What we can disburse against
A wire transfer
Sent the business day before, where we can.
Certified and cashier’s checks
Official bank checks and money orders too.
Trust and escrow account checks
From a lawyer’s trust account or another agent’s escrow.
A personal check, up to $500
That is the rule’s ceiling, not ours to raise.
So, a wire, sent the business day before where we can. Our own limit for a cashier’s check instead is —. Ask first. A cashier’s check can be counterfeit too.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 12,368 real estate complaints in 2025 and $275,110,419 in losses.
Wire instructions that arrive by email did not come from us. Call (772) 581-0084, ask for Diane or Kim, and read the routing and account numbers back out loud. Never call a number printed in the email.
Where mail-aways break
Can someone else sign for me?
Yes, under a power of attorney, and it needs the same witnesses a deed needs.
A deed
Section 689.01 requires a Florida deed to be signed before two subscribing witnesses.
A mortgage
A mortgage does not need them.
A power of attorney
Section 709.2105(2) requires a power of attorney to be signed by the principal and two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary.
Most states notarise one and stop there. Florida recognises a power of attorney valid where it was signed, but we can ask for an opinion of counsel on it, and underwriters often do.
Signing away from our office, the two witnesses are yours to find, and their printed names and addresses go on the document. Send us the power of attorney a week out. Underwriter and lender approve it separately, we need the wet ink original to record in Indian River County, and the principal confirms on the day that they are alive and have not revoked it. It does not remove the spouse’s signature either.
When the buyer is not a person
What if I am buying through an LLC or a trust?
We need proof the entity exists and proof the signer can bind it, days ahead rather than at the table.
LLC
Articles
Active status
The operating agreement with every amendment
A resolution naming the signer
The EIN
Corporation
Articles
Active status
Bylaws
A board resolution naming the officer by name and office
Trust
A certification of trust under s. 736.1017
It need not contain the dispositive terms
So your beneficiaries stay private
New since 1 March 2026
Since 1 March 2026 the FinCEN rule at 31 CFR 1031.320 has covered non-financed transfers of residential property to an entity or a trust. Pay cash, take title in an LLC or a trust, and we report the people behind it: names, dates of birth, addresses, taxpayer identification numbers. Federal law, and nobody here can waive it.
If you cannot get here
Can I sign without coming to Sebastian?
Often. Florida has allowed remote online notarisation since 2020, under Chapter 117, Part II.
The session is recorded end to end, and unless the notary knows you, identity is proved three ways at once: you hold the physical ID to the camera, software analyses it, and you answer a quiz drawn from public and credit records. Have a camera, a microphone, a phone for the passcode and a quiet room.
Three ways at once, in one session
1
You hold the physical ID to the camera
2
Software analyses the credential
3
You answer a quiz drawn from public and credit records
Your lender, the underwriter and the county all have to accept it, so ask early. If remote will not work we send a mail-away package, and the witnesses above become yours to arrange.
Before the day, not at the table
What will you have told me before I arrive?
Which documents to send, by name, and what your figures are. Both reach you before closing day rather than landing in front of you at the table.
The file is opened the day your contract arrives and we tell you who is handling it. We search and examine the title, and if there is a defect we call, explain it plainly and start clearing it. If the file needs a power of attorney, a trust certification or an estoppel, you will have heard it from us weeks earlier.
Still asked at the door
A few more questions.
Can I pay in cash?
No. Currency is not accepted at closing, and paying that way raises federal currency reporting on its own.
Do I file for the homestead tax exemption at closing?
No, and nobody does it for you. Apply with the Indian River County Property Appraiser after you close. It qualifies on residence as of 1 January, and the deadline is 1 March.
What do sellers bring that buyers do not?
Payoff contacts for every lien, a written instruction to close any home equity line, contacts for every association, keys, remotes, fobs and codes, a forwarding address, and a certification of non-foreign status so no FIRPTA withholding is required.
Where this comes from
Sources.
Every statute, rule and figure on this page, linked to the primary source so you can read it yourself. This is general information about Florida closings, not legal advice about your file.
Article X, Section 4, Florida Constitution
s. 117.05, Florida Statutes — notary; identification of signer
Chapter 117, Part II, Florida Statutes — online notarizations
s. 626.8473, Florida Statutes — escrow; trust fund
s. 627.7841, Florida Statutes — insurance against adverse matters or defects in the title
s. 689.01, Florida Statutes — how real estate is conveyed
s. 709.2105, Florida Statutes — execution of a power of attorney
s. 709.2106, Florida Statutes — validity; out-of-state powers of attorney
s. 732.702, Florida Statutes — waiver of spousal rights
s. 736.1017, Florida Statutes — certification of trust
Rule 69O-186.008, Florida Administrative Code — escrow requirements
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Internet Crime Report
31 CFR 1031.320 — reports of certain residential real estate transfers
FinCEN — residential real estate reporting postponed to 1 March 2026
Call Today for a Title!
There is no form on this website. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, a person here answers the phone. Tell them the address and the closing date and they will tell you exactly what to bring.