Florida married couples enjoy one of the strongest asset protection regimes in the country: property held as tenants by the entireties is generally beyond the reach of creditors of only one spouse. Floridians rely on it, planners build around it, and against ordinary creditors it works. Then the IRS shows up, and the rules change - because the Supreme Court said so.
The Craft Decision
In United States v. Craft, the Supreme Court held that the federal tax lien attaches to a taxpayer spouse's individual rights in entireties property, state law protections notwithstanding. Federal law defines what the federal lien reaches, and it reaches the debtor spouse's interest in the entireties home, the entireties accounts, all of it. The Florida protection that defeats the credit card company does not defeat the federal tax lien.
Florida's homestead protection meets the same ceiling: the constitutional exemption that stops most forced sales does not bind the federal government. Federal courts can authorize the sale of a residence to satisfy tax debt, with the non-liable spouse compensated for their interest.
The Practical Reality
Now the other half of the truth: the IRS rarely uses its full power here. Administrative seizure of a primary residence requires court approval and high-level signoff, forced sales of family homes are reserved for egregious cases, and a non-liable spouse's interest complicates the government's math considerably. The lien attaches and clouds everything - sales and refinances require dealing with it - but the bulldozer mostly stays parked. The risk is real at the margins and overwhelming in nobody's base case.
What This Means for Planning
Two takeaways. First, anyone who told you entireties titling makes assets IRS-proof sold you Florida law without the federal footnote, and post-debt retitling can create worse problems than it solves - transfers while taxes are owed get unwound and added back into settlement math. Second, the genuinely protective moves are the boring ones: resolving the liability, managing the lien through withdrawal and discharge tools, and keeping the one-spouse debt from becoming a two-spouse problem on future joint returns. All of that is plannable. Let's talk before you move anything.