Looking for Florida Public Records?
If you’re looking for Florida public records, you’ve come to the right place. There’s a lot to be found in the court houses, sheriff’s departments, and local directories in the “sunshine state.” In fact, Florida is one of the most open and accessible of all the states when it comes to public records. This is thanks to the famous “Sunshine” law that ensures all government proceedings conducted in the state are open to the public.
The idea behind the law is that the government plays an integral role in the lives of the state’s citizens, and that accordingly, citizens are entitled to know exactly what the government is doing.
This means that all government meetings are open to the public, and citizens can record those meetings in any manner they choose, as long as they’re not disruptive. It also means that records generated by the government are open for public inspection, with very few exceptions (records involving minors and sexual assault victims are generally sealed, and birth certificates are only available to the person whose name is on the certificate or to that person’s parents).
The Sunshine law applies to local, county, and state government bodies. As such, it’s easy to look up public records on nearly anyone who has lived in Florida within the past two decades.
Here are just a few of the types of Florida public records that are available to you:
*Marriage records
*Death records
*Birth records
*Driver’s license records
*Voter registration records
*Civil court and criminal court records
*Arrest records, mug shots, and inmate information
*Adoption records (in some cases)
*Divorce records
*Bankruptcy records
*Address, telephone, email, occupation, income, and cell phone records
*Real property records (such as mortgage records)
*Probate records
*Driver history records
*License plate records
Believe it or not, this is just the start of the types of records you might find in the state of Florida. However, to find these records, you’ve got to know where to look. You COULD go to each individual county’s clerk of the court, sheriff’s department, and property appraiser office to find some of this information, but that would take a long time, especially if you’re tracking down a lot of different records. You’ll also pay a lot of money in copy fees, since very few places will give you the records for free.
You can save a LOT of time looking for Florida public records by subscribing to a record finding service. Not only does the service save you a lot of money, it also will save you a lot of time, as these records can be accessed through your computer, which saves you a lengthy and time-consuming trip to the court house.
