Bay County
Bay County was incorporated in July 1913 and is located in the panhandle area of Florida's northwest region. The county, whose seat is Panama City, covers 1,0333.3 square miles and has an estimated 175,000 people per the 2020 decennial census.
The Bay County court system includes circuit civil, county civil or small claims, family law, felony, jury services, juvenile, misdemeanor, probate, traffic, and county probation divisions. The circuit civil division of the Bay County court system handles matters of auto negligence, professional malpractice, product liability, civil lawsuits under Chapter 718 of the Florida Statutes, contracts and indebtedness, real property or mortgage foreclosure, eminent domain, enforcement of lien by sale of motor vehicle, and other civil matters related to replevins, forfeitures, interpleader, habeas corpus proceedings, bond entreasures, injunctions, administrative agency appeals, and declaratory judgments. Matters involving claims between $8,001 and $30,000 in damages, motor vehicle act, lawsuit under Chapter 78 of Florida status involving claims worth up to $30,000, small claims, and solicitors' permits are referred to the county civil small claims division of the Bay County court system.
Court records are an important part of the Bay County court system. These include legal documents related to proceedings of cases heard at all divisions of the Bay County Court system. In order to ensure transparency of the judiciary in the county, the government of Bay County makes court records available to requesters through the office of the Bay County Clerk of Court and Comptroller located at 300 East, 4th Street, Panama City.
The office of Bay County Clerk offers internet access to public court records per Florida Statutes 119.01 (1), (2),(3), generated by the divisions of its court system. The clerk's office makes public court records available for the personal use of the public to retrieve general information in the following case categories:
- Civil Traffic Infraction
- Circuit Criminal
- County Criminal
- County Criminal worthless check
- Municipal Ordinances
- State Statute and Ordinance
- Criminal Traffic
- Wildlife and Tobacco Violation
- Animal Control Violations
- Code Enforcement Violations
- Parking Violations
- Circuit Civil
- Domestic Relations and Family Law
- County Civil and Landlord Tenant
- Small Claims
- Motor Vehicle
- Solicitors Permit
- Probate
To search public court records via the Bay County Clerk of Court's webpage, use the Case Search feature of the page to find information on any case in the categories available from the Bay County court system. No login credentials are required to use the Case Search feature on the Bay County Clerk of Court webpage. However, in cases where broader access to review a full calendar of court docket events are required, you will need to request secure login from the Bay County Clerk of Court and fill out an application for a free login name and password to enable you access advanced search features including the full court docket information. For search tips on the Bay County Clerk of Court Case Search tool, see the case format examples available on the Clerk of Court webpage.
