State Resources

Florida

One of the most open states in the country. Instant statewide criminal history for $24, the best free business search of any state, and a public records law with no fee to ask and few excuses to refuse. Court records are county by county.

At a glance

Record	Held by	Cost	Online
Business and entity search	Division of Corporations — Sunbiz	Free, including scanned filings	Yes
UCC filings	Florida Secured Transaction Registry — floridaucc.com	Free to search	Yes
Professional licenses	DBPR — MyFloridaLicense; Dept. of Health for medical	Free	Yes
Property and land records	67 county clerks of court (recording) and property appraisers (values)	Free to search in most counties	Yes
Court records	67 county clerks of court	Free to search in most counties	Yes
Criminal records	Florida Department of Law Enforcement	$24 per search, non-refundable	Yes
Vital records	Bureau of Vital Statistics, Florida Dept. of Health	Birth $9 · Death $5 · $4 each additional	Yes
Unclaimed property	Florida Dept. of Financial Services — Treasure Hunt	Free	Yes
Voter and resident records	Division of Elections; county supervisors of elections	Free to modest	By request

Worth knowing about Florida

Sunbiz is the best free business search in the United States

Florida’s Division of Corporations search — everyone calls it Sunbiz — is free, fast, complete, and it lets you search by officer or registered agent name as well as by entity.

Run a person’s name and you get every Florida entity they are an officer, director, manager or registered agent of. Every annual report is there as a scanned filing, free, and each one carries the officers with their addresses as at that date.

Pull a subject’s filings across several years and you have a dated address history, a list of business associates, and a picture of what they own — without paying anyone. On a Florida subject this is usually the first search worth running, ahead of the criminal check.

A real statewide criminal history, instantly, for $24

FDLE runs a public name-based criminal history search that returns results on screen immediately after payment. $24, non-refundable, card only, and anyone can run it on anyone.

Enter identifiers exactly as they appear on government-issued ID, including the middle name or initial, and add any aliases you know. Florida matches on name and identifiers, so a missing middle initial is the usual reason a real record comes back clean.

The fee is charged whether or not a record is found.

The Sunshine Law is genuinely strong

Florida’s public records law is among the broadest in the country. There is no fee to make a request, no requirement to explain why you want the record, and no requirement to put it in writing — a verbal request is valid.

You do not have to identify yourself. An agency that demands your name as a condition of answering is wrong, and you can say so.

There is no fixed statutory deadline; the standard is a reasonable time and agencies are expected to acknowledge promptly. Unreasonable delay is itself a violation. The Attorney General publishes a Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual and runs a mediation programme, and a requester who has to sue and wins is entitled to attorney’s fees.

Record by record

Business and entity search

Open Sunbiz search →

Held by: Division of Corporations — Sunbiz
Cost: Free, including scanned filings

Search by entity name, officer or registered agent name, document number, or FEI/EIN.

The officer-name search is the one to reach for. Annual reports are free scanned images and name the officers, directors and managers with addresses as at that filing date.

Fictitious name registrations are on the same system. A subject trading under a DBA has to register it, and that registration names the owner.

UCC filings

Open UCC search →

Held by: Florida Secured Transaction Registry — floridaucc.com
Cost: Free to search

Florida runs its UCC registry on a separate site from Sunbiz, which catches people out. Free debtor-name search.

A UCC-1 names the debtor, the secured party and the collateral, which frequently names the bank. Boats, aircraft and restaurant equipment are the Florida-typical collateral.

Watch out: Judgment liens against personal property are filed with the Department of State and appear through Sunbiz, not on the UCC site. Run both.

Professional licenses

Open license search →

Held by: DBPR — MyFloridaLicense; Dept. of Health for medical
Cost: Free

DBPR covers construction, real estate, cosmetology, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco licences, and a long list of trades. Free search by name, licence number or business.

Licence records carry an address of record and disciplinary history. Alcohol and restaurant licences name the individual behind the business.

Watch out: Health professions sit with the Department of Health, not DBPR. Insurance is with the Department of Financial Services. Attorneys are with The Florida Bar.

Property and land records

Open official records →

Held by: 67 county clerks of court (recording) and property appraisers (values)
Cost: Free to search in most counties

Deeds, mortgages, liens, judgments and lis pendens are recorded with the clerk of the circuit court in each county. Florida clerks are generally very good online and most publish free grantor/grantee searching with document images.

MyFloridaCounty aggregates official records for a number of counties in one search, which is a useful starting point when you do not know the county.

Property appraiser sites give ownership and assessed value free and are usually the fastest confirmation of what somebody owns.

Watch out: Florida homestead protection is constitutional and effectively unlimited in value. A judgment lien does not attach to homestead property. Confirm homestead status before building a plan around a Florida house.

Court records

Open court directory →

Held by: 67 county clerks of court
Cost: Free to search in most counties

There is no single statewide case search. Each county clerk of court runs its own, and most are free and good.

Florida clerks publish more than most states — civil, criminal, family, probate and traffic, usually searchable by party name with the docket and often the filed images.

All 67 counties are listed below.

Watch out: Access to some case types was tightened after a change to the court rules on remote access. Criminal and family images are often restricted online but available at the clerk’s counter.

Criminal records

Open instant search →

Held by: Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Cost: $24 per search, non-refundable
Turnaround: Immediate

Public name-based statewide criminal history. Results appear on screen as soon as the card clears. Anyone can run it on anyone.

Enter the name exactly as it appears on government ID, include the middle name or initial, and add aliases.

Watch out: A missing middle initial is the commonest reason a real record returns clean. Run the variants. The $24 is charged either way.

Vital records

Open vital records →

Held by: Bureau of Vital Statistics, Florida Dept. of Health
Cost: Birth $9 · Death $5 · $4 each additional

Among the cheapest vital records in the country. Birth $9 for the first year searched including one certification; death $5. Extra copies ordered at the same time are $4 each.

Florida death records are public without the cause of death. The cause is restricted for 50 years, but the certificate itself — name, date, place, informant — is open to anyone. That is unusually generous and very useful for confirming a death and identifying next of kin.

Watch out: Birth records are confidential for 100 years and restricted to the registrant, parents, legal guardian or legal representative.

Unclaimed property

Open search →

Held by: Florida Dept. of Financial Services — Treasure Hunt
Cost: Free

One of the largest unclaimed property programmes in the country. Free name search over dormant accounts, uncashed cheques, insurance proceeds and safe deposit contents.

Each record carries the address the holder had on file when the property was reported.

Voter and resident records

Held by: Division of Elections; county supervisors of elections
Cost: Free to modest

Florida voter registration lists are public records. Name, address, party, voting history and date of birth are obtainable from the Division of Elections or a county supervisor of elections.

This is one of the more accessible voter files in the country and a legitimate address source. Driver licence and Social Security numbers are exempt and will be redacted.

Court records for all 67 counties

Florida has no statewide case search, but the county clerks are among the best in the country. Nearly all publish free party-name searching of civil, criminal, family, probate and traffic cases with the docket, and many with the filed images.

Alachua clerk Baker clerk Bay clerk Bradford clerk Brevard clerk Broward clerk Calhoun clerk Charlotte clerk Citrus clerk Clay clerk Collier clerk Columbia clerk DeSoto clerk Dixie clerk Duval clerk Escambia clerk Flagler clerk Franklin clerk Gadsden clerk Gilchrist clerk Glades clerk Gulf clerk Hamilton clerk Hardee clerk Hendry clerk Hernando clerk Highlands clerk Hillsborough clerk Holmes clerk Indian River clerk Jackson clerk Jefferson clerk Lafayette clerk Lake clerk Lee clerk Leon clerk Levy clerk Liberty clerk Madison clerk Manatee clerk Marion clerk Martin clerk Miami-Dade clerk Monroe clerk Nassau clerk Okaloosa clerk Okeechobee clerk Orange clerk Osceola clerk Palm Beach clerk Pasco clerk Pinellas clerk Polk clerk Putnam clerk Santa Rosa clerk Sarasota clerk Seminole clerk St Johns clerk St Lucie clerk Sumter clerk Suwannee clerk Taylor clerk Union clerk Volusia clerk Wakulla clerk Walton clerk Washington clerk

Each link goes to that county’s clerk of the circuit court. The case search is usually under Court Records, Records Search or Online Services. Verified August 2026.

Public records requests in Florida

Statute: Public Records Act, Fla. Stat. ch. 119 — the Sunshine Law
Response deadline: No fixed deadline; a reasonable time, promptly acknowledged
Appeal to: Attorney General mediation, or circuit court
Appeal window: No statutory deadline

Broad and requester-friendly. No fee to make a request. No obligation to say why you want it. No requirement that it be in writing. A verbal request is valid and an agency cannot demand your identity as a condition of answering.

Charges are limited to the actual cost of duplication, plus a special service charge only where the request genuinely requires extensive clerical or IT work.

There is no fixed response deadline — the standard is a reasonable time, and unjustified delay is itself a violation. The Attorney General publishes the Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual and runs a voluntary mediation programme, and a requester who sues and wins recovers attorney’s fees. That fee provision is the reason Florida agencies generally comply.

File an appeal →

What Florida will not give you

Driver and vehicle records. Closed under the federal DPPA.
Birth records. Confidential for 100 years. Restricted to the registrant, parents, guardian or legal representative.
Cause of death. Restricted for 50 years, though the rest of the death certificate is public.
Statewide court search. Does not exist. 67 county clerks of court.
Some remote case images. Criminal and family documents are often restricted online but available at the clerk’s counter.

Fees and procedures verified August 2026. Clerks change their counter rules more often than the statutes change — call before you drive.