Florida Courthouse Records

If you are setting out in search of records at a Florida courthouse, you need to be able to tell what kind of court record you are looking for. You could find the following types of records:

Adoption records: This contains names of adopted children, the natural parents, and the adopting parents. You need to however know that you can have them opened only by a court order for "good cause shown"-- often only if you are the adopted individual.

Divorce records: These normally list names of both spouses, names of children (if any), dates and location of the marriage, dates of birth of both spouses, and the county and state of the births.

To get a copy of a divorce record, you have to write to the county court where the divorce was granted. You will need to provide some information here such as the names of the two spouses, the approximate year of the divorce, and your relationship to the couple when you are sending over your application. For county addresses, ask the state's justice department. Some state vital records offices also have divorce records.

Naturalization records: The records maintained usually include petitions for citizenship with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), a copy for the local court clerk, and a Certificate of Naturalization.

Probate records: These records are useful if a case involves a will, evidence of assets, inheritance, names of survivors and their relationship to the deceased.

Or, they could be case files. These contain evidence, testimony, correspondence, depositions, and other documents relevant to a case, whether civil or criminal. You will most likely need to use a case number to obtain the correct case file.

Criminal records: Accessing these records is vital when you want to check the background of a person. These records can tell you if a person has ever been convicted because of some crime or not and whether there have been any lawsuits as well.

It would help to know which level of the state judiciary the case record is likely to be. It could be the State Supreme Court, which presides over all the judicial districts, a District Court that presides over a number of judicial circuits, a Circuit Court that presides over a number of counties or the County Court that has civil jurisdiction over a county.

How to Access Your Court Records

If you want records of criminal proceedings, you would go straight to the county court for misdemeanors or district court for felonies. For all other records, you would go to the County Clerk's office, where most court records are kept.

The state government’s central archives will have the records, but if you can spare the time it’s advisable to go straight to the relevant county where the records are sure to be absolutely complete. You then apply to the County Court Clerk’s office in the prescribed form or format.

The office will conduct a search for the records. Try to give them as complete and accurate leads as you can. Quicker searches will cost you less. Better yet, do none of this. Sit at your desk and go online. You’ll surely find a few online search services with authentic courthouse Florida records.