A commissioner of deeds is a public officer appointed by the Florida Secretary of State for a term of four years, who is authorized to administer oaths and take acknowledgments and proofs of execution relating to a timeshare estate, timeshare license, a property subject to a timeshare plan, or the operation of a timeshare plan located within the State of Florida. A commissioner of deeds may only exercise his or her duties outside the geographical boundaries of the 50 United States and within any territorial limits to his or her jurisdiction.

Florida Commissioners of Deeds live and work all over the world, representing the State of Florida in U.S. territories, foreign countries, and even international waterways.

The original office of Commissioner of Deeds in Florida was established on January 28, 1831, as a means of extending the state's notarial authority beyond its borders. Appointees were designated to serve in specific states or countries, and were required to actually reside in the jurisdiction for which they were appointed. These commissioners were empowered to notarize any document to be used or recorded in Florida.

By the 1990s, concerns arose over the misuse of the office. A 1996 report from the Florida Secretary of State to the Joint Legislative Information Technology Resource Committee noted that the position had "been used to facilitate fraudulent acts on some occasions" and that "the Governor's office prefers that this chapter be repealed." Consequently, the original office was abolished by the Legislature on May 30, 1997. 

At the time, lawmakers hoped the functions previously carried out by commissioners of deeds would be absorbed into the newly created office of Florida International Notary (later renamed Florida Civil-Law Notary). However, this office was limited to licensed Florida attorneys. It quickly became apparent that this new class of attorney-notary, who typically practices international law, lacked the time or interest to handle routine acknowledgments, particularly for the timeshare industry, which required accessible and efficient notarial services overseas.

Recognizing this gap, the Legislature acted. Less than a year later, on April 30, 1998, the office was revived in a narrower, more specialized form as the "Timeshare Commissioner of Deeds." Under this modern framework, commissioners are only authorized to "notarize" documents relating to a timeshare estate, timeshare license, a property subject to a timeshare plan, or the operation of a timeshare plan located within the State of Florida. 

While limited in scope compared to the original 19th-century role, the modern commissioner of deeds continues to serve a vital function – bridging the gap between Florida's legal system and its global network of timeshare transactions.

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