Miami-Dade Lawyer

About Arturo R. Alfonso, P.A.

How Legal Matters Work in Miami-Dade County

One circuit, several courthouses. Miami-Dade County is Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Divorce and other family cases are heard at the Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, 175 NW First Avenue, in downtown Miami. The Clerk also runs branch locations closer to home: the South Dade Justice Center in Cutler Bay lists county court, small claims, landlord-tenant, and domestic violence matters, and the North Dade Justice Center, 15555 Biscayne Boulevard, takes domestic violence filings with extended hours. Bankruptcy is federal: Miami-Dade cases go to the Miami Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, 301 North Miami Avenue.

Deed taxes are different here. Florida’s documentary stamp tax on a deed is 70 cents per $100 of the price in every county except Miami-Dade, where it is 60 cents per $100 plus a 45-cent surtax. The surtax is not due on a deed that transfers only a single-family dwelling (Florida Department of Revenue). How it fits with the other costs of a sale is covered in how much closing costs are in Florida.

Homestead depends on where you live. Florida’s homestead protection from forced sale covers up to one-half acre of contiguous land inside a municipality such as Miami, Coral Gables, or Cutler Bay, and up to 160 acres in unincorporated areas such as Kendall (Florida Constitution, Article X, section 4(a)(1)). See whether you could lose your house in bankruptcy.

City or unincorporated: who handles permits. Miami-Dade is made up of incorporated cities, towns, and villages, each with its own building official overseeing permits and inspections, and unincorporated communities such as Kendall, where Miami-Dade County handles buildings (properties whose folio number begins with 30). Before you buy, sell, or renovate, the permit and inspection history comes from that local office, not from the title records.

One place for the property records. Deeds, mortgages, liens, and judgments for property anywhere in the county are recorded in the Official Records kept by the County Recorder’s Office of the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, which accepts documents in person, by mail, or through approved eRecording vendors. A title search reads those records before a closing; see title search and title insurance in Miami.