Florida Court Records

Florida Court Record Lookup

Obtaining Florida court records online requires Florida court case lookup. Florida court records search can be performed online. Florida FL court records are public documents and are only restricted by specific privacy laws; anyone is entitled to request records.

County Courts

Each of Florida’s 67 counties has a court that is responsible for misdemeanors, traffic violations, and small claims under $15,000 in value. Records from mentioned these courts are public and can be accessed when performing Florida court record lookup, while some records may be restricted due to privacy issues, such as juvenile records or names of victims of crimes.

There has been a steep declining trend in the number of cases before county courts over the past 10 years. Most recently these courts saw about 2.5 million cases filed, versus a high of nearly 3.5 million in 2007-2008. In Brevard county, the court disposed of over 1,700 DUI cases in 2016-2017, and Broward county court had 5,400 DUI cases during the same period.

Circuit Courts

The state’s 20 circuit courts are generally responsible for trials of Florida criminal records and civil matters, family issues, including Florida child support and custody orders, probate, juvenile cases, and appeals of county court decisions. These Florida courtrooms have seen an average of about 750,000 cases filed per year recently, down from a high of nearly 1.8 million in 2008-2009. 

Appellate Courts

At the top of the state’s courts are five district courts of appeal and the state supreme court. These Florida courthouses hear disputed cases from lower courts. The supreme court takes selected cases from lower courts as well as advises the state legislature on the constitutionality of laws, overseeing the state bar, and review of all death row cases.

Federal Courts

Those who file for bankruptcy or who join a civil class-action lawsuit have their cases heard in federal courts, also called U.S. District Court. There are three such federal courts in Florida. It is possible to research federal cases by performing a Florida court records search online prior to requesting documents.

Florida Notable Court Cases

The Supreme Court of Florida disbarred six attorneys and punished 26 more in early 2016 for a variety of reasons. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the state bar, including attorney misconduct. There are over 103,000 attorneys registered to practice law in Florida. The complaints against the attorneys who were punished included misappropriation of client funds, lying to a client that a case was dismissed in federal court, and failing to respond to a bar inquiry complaint.

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt Florida courts a blow in 2016 when a death row inmate's appeal caused the court to examine the way death penalty cases are handled in Florida. The case the court examined consisted of a man who was sentenced to the death penalty twice for the same murder. The result was that the U.S. Supreme Court decided in January 2016 that Florida's courts are sentencing alleged criminals unconstitutionally. Rather than a judge handing down the sentence, the state should have at least 10 jurors hearing the case and agreeing on the penalty, the justices said. Now the man's attorney wants his sentence commuted to life in prison, but the implications go much further, potentially affecting all of the 400 inmates on Death Row. While some argue that all death penalty cases should be commuted to life in prison, the Florida Supreme Court must find a remedy for the error in sentencing procedure.