Florida Public Records

Florida is an open record state with a rich history and many options for requesting and obtaining various records. However, there are restrictions on vital records, which include birth and death records. However, Florida marriage records and divorce records have no restrictions in place and may be requested by anyone. The Florida Department of Health satisfies requests for these Florida public records, although local health departments can also fulfill in-person requests for events in that county. Florida public records that are not restricted are court records, which are available from the specific Circuit Court that handled the civil or criminal case. Some Circuit Courts offer online access to cases, but this depends on the county. To request Florida criminal records, contact the Department of Law Enforcement, which offers online name-based searches to the public for a fee. To access historic Florida military records, vital records and cemetery records, visit the State Archives.

About Florida Public Records

Although Florida restricts access to birth and death records for privacy reasons and to prevent identity theft, there are certain exceptions. Florida death records that don’t list a cause of death are unrestricted and available to the public. Only death records with the cause of death listed are restricted to immediate family members or legal representatives. Florida birth records can be released to a third party if permission is granted from the person of record, immediate family member or through a court order. Historic birth records stored at the State Archives are public record and can be searched by anyone.

Other Florida public records, like marriage and divorce records, are not restricted. Anyone may request these from the Department of Health, although these are also maintained locally by the Clerk of Court where the event occurred. Also, any Florida marriage records or divorce records before 1927 are only stored at local Clerks of Court and aren’t part of the state repository of vital records.

Searching Florida Online Public Records Free

Florida court records are another important resource for many researchers. Access includes both civil and criminal court records as well as divorce records. Although there is no central court database that provides online access to these Florida court records, many counties offer Florida online public records free. For example, the Circuit Court of Orange and Osceola Counties offers online public access to many of their court records. These free services are similarly offered in many other counties.

Although online public records in Florida include access to criminal records through the Department of Law Enforcement, this service requires a fee. Another way is to perform a criminal records search of various courts online for free is to find past and pending criminal records. The Department of Law Enforcement only makes conviction information available to the public.

Performing a Public Records Search in Florida

The Florida State Archives is a valuable source of historic records for anyone interested in Florida’s past or in performing genealogy research. Available to the public are collections of Florida military records pertaining to the Seminole Wars, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Revolutionary War and Civil War, just to name a few resources. A public records search for Florida vital records will yield multiple birth, death and marriage records indexes. These are all available to search and copy.

A Florida public records search through the Archives will also yield burial and cemetery records throughout the state. These are all valuable resources for those researching family history. Some of the Florida cemetery records are directly related to military burials, which is a helpful and specific type of records. The State Archives welcomes visitors and doesn’t charge a research fee, unless copies or research is requested remotely for those who can’t visit in person.