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Florida County Court, Probate, Tax and Other Miscellaneous Records

  •  Florida Court, Probate and Land Records  •  Florida Tax Records  •  Florida Burned Courthouses  •  

See Also Researching Court Records, Researching Probate Records, Research In Immigration & Naturalization Records and Researching Tax Records

On-Site County Court Records Search - Find nearly any Florida court record online! Many court records are not digitized yet, which signifies the only way to obtain these records is by visiting the actual Pennsylvania courthouses. Someone from our network of court-runners will go retrieve the records and then send you the outcomes. Average response time is 38 hours. Florida Civil Records include Lawsuits, Bankruptcies, Liens and judgments, Marriage/divorce judicial proceeding, Child custody, Civil rights violations ands Other. Florida Criminal Records include Violent offenses, Theft and robbery, DUI/DWI's, Drugs and alcohol, Sexual crimes, Some traffic violations, Behavioral.

Even if your ancestor is not mentioned in a probate case, consider all of the other procedures which could have lead to him or her appearing in court records. FOR DEFINITIONS OF ALL COURT TERMS SEE THE GENEALOGY ENCYCLOPEDIA

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Florida Counties with Burned Courthouses

The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. No only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. Even if they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the hands of arsonist. However, not all records were lost.

   Below is a list of Florida Counties and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.

  • Baker County Courthouse - courthouse, constructed in 1888, was lost to fire.
  • Bradford County Courthouse - The original Lake Butler courthouse was burned in 1865, reportedly to destroy a murder indictment along with all other county records. A second courthouse burned in 1875,
  • Brevard County Courthouse - Record Loss, unknown causes
  • Calhoun County Courthouse - Record Loss, unknown causes
  • Clay County Courthouse - Court was held in McRae House which burned in 1872 and with it most of the county's judicial records.
  • Columbia County Courthouse - Numerous prior courthouses, most if not all constructed from logs, fell victim to arsonists in 1848, 1860, 1867, and 1874. Most early records were destroyed.
  • Dade County Courthouse - Record Loss (Court)
  • Duval County Courthouse - was burned during the Civil War, burned in 1901. Extent of reocrd loss unknown.
  • Franklin County Courthouse - destroyed by fire in 1887
  • Gadsden County Courthouse - burned in 1849, supposedly an act of arson by a Forbes family slave.
  • Hamilton County Courthouse - may have been destroyed by a tornado prior to 1836. Courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1929 and rebuilt in 1932.
  • Hernando County Courthouse - destroyed by fire in 1877
  • Hillsborough County Courthouse -
  • Holmes County Courthouse - Courthouse at Cerro Gordo also burned at least once in the 1870's. Westville Courthouse burned in 1902, and most early county records perished with it.
  • Jackson County Courthouse - courthouse was destroyed by fire on November 30, 1848. All records were destroyed
  • Lafayette County Courthouse - courthouse caught fire on New Year’s Eve, 1892, apparently the result of a drunken prank.
  • Madison County Courthouse - The first Madison courthouse burned in 1876 and was replaced by one built in 1880 of brick. This building burned as well, in 1912, and was replaced in 1913 by the present courthouse
  • Orange County Courthouse - The first Orange County Courthouse, a two-story hewn-log affair, was burned in 1868.  Most of the books and records were destroyed. 
  • Santa Rosa County Courthouse - Record Loss (Marriage & Probate)
  • Wakulla County Courthouse - Record Loss (Marriage & Probate)
  • Walton County Courthouse - Record Loss (Marriage & Probate)
  • Washington County Courthouse - Record Loss
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Florida Court, Probate and Land Records

See Also Research In State Court Records

Article five of the Constitution of Florida has simplified locating and using the recorded instruments of the state: all judicial power is now vested in a supreme court, district courts of appeal, circuit courts, and county courts. No other courts may be established by the state, any political subdivision, or any municipality. Under a 1973 reorganization of the judicial system, the clerk of courts in each county was made, and remains, custodian of all records of all predecessor courts, whether justice of the peace, city, county, probate, civil, or criminal.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court is also the County Clerk. His office is located in the County Courthouse. The office of the Clerk is created in Article V and Article VIII of the Florida Constitution. The Clerk is an officer of the court of justice whose responsibilities are mandated by the Constitution as well as state and local laws. Under a 1973 reorganization of the judicial system, the clerk of courts in each county was made, and remains, custodian of all records of all predecessor courts, whether justice of the peace, city, county, probate, civil, or criminal.

Among the records useful to the genealogist and usually held by the county courthouses are original marriage and divorce records. Probate court records include wills, administrations, bonds, inventories and appraisements, and guardianships. Land grants, homesteads, deeds, mortgages, and similar or related records are found in earlier individual books, but for a number of years in most jurisdictions such records have been combined into "Official Record" books. Recorded plat books, civil and criminal court dockets (case schedules) minutes, order books, naturalizations, incorporations, incompetencies, soldier and sailor discharge records, Confederate oaths of allegiance, delayed birth certificates, and marks and brands are all generally useful as well.

Deed, probate, tax and marriage records are available for most Florida counties. Other miscellaneous records are available for particular counties. They may include delayed birth certificates, birth and death records, family history, naturalization record indexes, court records, foreign judgments, homesteads, marks and brands, burial permits, cemetery records, and lists of registered voters. Official minutes of county commissions, road and bridge trustees, and other taxing authorities may also be of interest.

County Clerk of the Circuit Court / County Clerk has Marriage Records, Land Records, Probate Records and Court Records and is located at the respective courthouse

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Florida Tax Records

See Also Researching in Tax Records

Tax assessment lists and tax rolls, poll tax records (on free white males aged twenty-one and up) are helpful, as are listings of local lawyers, physicians, and dentists. Personal property tax records have been published for a few counties. Tax lists, along with other sources, are being used to reconstruct the lost 1890 federal population census.

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