Florida People Search

Florida has no statewide trial court search, so a search pairs these state offices with the clerk and the property appraiser of each county where the person lived.

• Sunbiz, Division of CorporationsSearch companies by name, officer or registered agent
• Florida Department of Corrections offender searchCurrent and released state inmates and people on supervision
• MyFloridaCounty, the county clerks' statewide portalOrder official records and court documents from county clerks
• FDLE Sexual Offender and Predator SearchRegistered offenders by name or address, kept by FDLE
• Florida Bureau of Vital StatisticsBirth, death, marriage and divorce certificates and how to order

Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, the public records law, opens state, county and city records to any person for inspection and copying. It dates from 1909, and since 1992 the right of access is also in the state constitution (Article I, Section 24). Records are public unless the Legislature has made a specific exemption.

Court filings, deeds, business registrations and arrest records are open. Active criminal intelligence, juvenile records, sealed or expunged cases and some personal identifiers, such as Social Security and bank account numbers, are withheld, and law enforcement officers, judges and some other officials can ask to have their home addresses removed from property records.

The Department of State and the state courts website cover elections, corporations, archives and the 20 judicial circuits.

• Florida Department of StateElections, corporations, library and archives divisions
• Florida CourtsState court system, with links to the 20 judicial circuits

Florida does not have a single, unified database for searching all trial court cases statewide. Instead, court records are managed locally by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller in each of the 67 counties. To find civil lawsuits, criminal charges, divorces, or evictions, you must know which county the event occurred in.

The state has 20 judicial circuits. County courts hear misdemeanors and civil cases up to $50,000, including small claims, and circuit courts hear felonies, family law, probate and larger civil cases. Both are usually searched through the same county clerk website.

Common Mistake

Confusing Florida's 67 separate Clerk of Court sites with a statewide case search. Researchers often assume they can search one database to find all of a person's criminal or civil history in Florida. You must search county by county.

In Florida the county property appraiser values property, the county tax collector collects the tax, and the clerk of court records deeds and mortgages.

Each of the 67 counties operates its own Property Appraiser website (e.g., Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser). These sites offer free, highly detailed GIS mapping and property search tools. By searching a person's name, you can discover all real property they own in that county, the assessed value, sale history, and mailing address.

Florida's Division of Corporations runs Sunbiz, linked in Where to Look, which can be searched by company name and also by the name of an officer or registered agent, a way to trace a person's addresses and business partners.

Also, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) oversees licenses for millions of Floridians, from real estate agents to cosmetologists.

• DBPR license searchLicenses from real estate agents to cosmetologists, with discipline

The Florida Department of Corrections offender search, linked in Where to Look, covers people in state prison or on state supervision. For county jail inmates, those awaiting trial or serving misdemeanor sentences, check the sheriff's office of the county.

The Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics maintains birth, death, marriage, and divorce records. Unlike court dockets, Florida birth records are highly restricted and are only available to the registrant, parents, or legal guardians until 100 years have passed. Death records are public, but the cause of death is redacted for 50 years.

Voter registration records in Florida are public, though certain information (like Social Security Number, driver's license number, and signature) is exempt from public disclosure. Searching the voter file can confirm an individual's address, political party affiliation, and voting history.

• Florida voter information lookupCheck your own registration status

For historical people searches, the Florida State Archives and the State Library of Florida provide extensive digitized collections, including old census data, military records, and photographic archives. Researchers should also utilize the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) and Chronicling America for historical newspaper archives.

• Florida State Archives and State LibraryHistorical state records and genealogy collections

Most Florida records are kept by the counties. These are the clerks and property appraisers of four of the largest:

• Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and ComptrollerCivil, criminal and official records for Miami-Dade County
• Miami-Dade Property AppraiserOwner, value and sales for Miami-Dade properties
• Broward County Clerk of CourtsCourt and official records for Fort Lauderdale and Broward
• Broward County Property AppraiserOwner and value records for Broward properties
• Palm Beach County Clerk and ComptrollerCivil, criminal and official records for Palm Beach County
• Orange County Clerk of CourtsCourt dockets, evictions and traffic citations for Orlando

Other large counties include Hillsborough (Tampa), Duval (Jacksonville), Pinellas (St. Petersburg), Lee (Fort Myers), Polk (Lakeland) and Brevard (Melbourne), each with its own clerk and property appraiser website.

To conduct an effective people search in Florida, follow these methodologies:

Start with Sunbiz: If they ever owned an LLC, their address and associates are public.

Check Surrounding Counties: People commute. A person living in Broward may have traffic tickets in Miami-Dade or Palm Beach. Always check adjacent counties.

Use Traffic Citations: Florida's county clerks list traffic tickets online. These records often include the driver's address at the time of the citation, providing an excellent timeline of residency.

Search "Official Records" vs. Court Records: Clerks maintain two databases. "Court Records" hold lawsuits and criminal charges. "Official Records" hold deeds, mortgages, liens, and marriage licenses. Check both.

Researcher Tip

When searching Florida property appraisers, try searching by just the last name and the street name (if known). Due to data entry errors, first names are sometimes abbreviated or misspelled. Less is more when querying county databases.

Florida Chapter 119 guarantees access, but it also provides protections. Law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, and firefighters can request their names and addresses be redacted from the Property Appraiser and Clerk websites. If you search a property and the owner is listed as "CONFIDENTIAL," this is why.

The Florida Attorney General runs an Address Confidentiality Program for victims of domestic violence and some other crimes, which keeps a participant's home address out of public records.

Privacy Note

Florida has some of the broadest public records laws, but juvenile criminal records, adoption records, and active criminal intelligence are strictly exempt from public disclosure under Chapter 119.