Public Access to Florida Court Records

The State of Florida is home to over 21 million people, making it the third most populous state in the United States. Florida has an area of 65,758 square miles. The state capital is Tallahassee and the most populous single city in the state is Jacksonville. However, the Miami Metropolitan Area, which includes Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, is the most populous area in Florida with a population of over 6 million people living in approximately 1,200 square miles.

As a result of being such a populous state, the Florida state court system has over 3 million cases filed, heard, and processed each year. The Florida Courts are made up of  67 County Courts, 20 Circuit Courts, six District Courts of Appeal, and a Supreme Court – the highest court in the state. Over 1,000 judges and justices work in these courts. Many influential and famous cases in American history have come out of the Florida Courts.

The Supreme Court of Florida is the state's highest court, consisting of a Chief Judge and six Associate Judges appointed by the Governor from a list of nominees from the Judicial Nominating Commission. Newly appointed judges serve for at least one year, after which they appear in a yes-no retention election held during the next general election. If retained, judges serve six-year terms.

The Florida Supreme Court has mandatory jurisdiction over final orders imposing death sentences, District Court decisions declaring a state statute or provision of the Florida Constitution invalid, bond validations, and certain orders of the Public Service Commission on utility rates and services. The Court has discretionary jurisdiction and may review any decision of a District Court of Appeal that expressly declares a state statute valid, construes a provision of the state or federal constitution, or affects a class of constitutional or state officers. The Supreme Court also has jurisdiction over decisions that directly conflict with another District Court’s or the Supreme Court’s ruling on the same question of law, or that have been certified as of great public importance, certified in direct conflict, certified judgments of trial courts, and certified questions from federal courts.

The number of petitions brought before the Court each year averages around 1,800. The Florida Supreme Court has decided many important cases in U.S. jurisprudence, including Gideon v. Wainwright, Florida v. J.L., and Florida v. Jardines.

As the state’s intermediate appellate courts, Florida’s District Courts of Appeal (DCA) aim to provide the opportunity for thoughtful review of decisions of lower tribunals by multi-judge panels. District Courts of Appeal correct harmful errors and ensure that decisions are consistent with rights and liberties to contribute to the development, clarity, and consistency of the law.

As of January 1, 2023, there are six operating District Courts of Appeal in Florida, located in Tallahassee, Tampa, Miami, West Palm Beach, Daytona Beach, and Lakeland.

The First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee has jurisdiction over the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th, and 14th Circuits.

The Second District Court of Appeal in Tampa oversees the 6th, 12th, and 13th Circuits, while the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami has jurisdiction over the 11th and 16th Circuits.

The 15th, 17th and 19th Circuits are covered by the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal is based in Daytona Beach and has jurisdiction over the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 18th Circuits.

The most recently added Sixth District Court of Appeal has jurisdiction over the 9th, 10th, and 20th Circuits and is located in Lakeland.

Generally, decisions of the Florida District Courts of Appeal represent the final appellate review of litigated cases. The DCA can hear appeals from final judgments in Circuit Court cases, and in most County Court cases, and can also review certain non-final orders.

The District Courts have been granted the power to review final actions taken by state agencies in carrying out the duties of the executive branch of government. These courts have also been granted the constitutional authority to issue extraordinary writs of certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and habeas corpus, and other writs necessary to the complete exercise of their jurisdiction.

DCA judges have to meet the same eligibility requirements for appointment to office, and are subject to the same procedures and conditions for discipline and removal from office, as Justices of the Florida Supreme Court.

District Court judges serve terms of six years and are eligible for successive terms under a merit retention vote of the electors in their districts. Each District Court has a Chief Judge, who is selected by the District Court judges within the district, and who is responsible for the administrative duties of the court.

Due to the size of the population, Florida has a two-tiered trial court system, consisting of 20 Circuit Courts and 67 County Courts.

The Florida State Constitution provides that a Circuit Court shall be established to serve each of the 20 judicial circuits created by the Legislature.

Circuit Courts have general trial jurisdiction over matters not assigned by statute to the County Courts, such as civil disputes involving more than $30,000. The Circuit Courts hear controversies involving the estates of decedents, minors, and persons adjudicated as incapacitated, as well as cases relating to juveniles, criminal prosecutions for all felonies, tax disputes, and actions to determine the title and boundaries of real property.

Florida’s Circuit Courts also hear suits for declaratory judgments to determine the legal rights or responsibilities of parties under the terms of written instruments, laws, or regulations before a dispute arises and leads to litigation and they also hear requests for injunctions to prevent persons or entities from acting in a manner that is asserted to be unlawful.

If authorized by the Florida Statutes, these courts may hear appeals of decisions in certain administrative and noncriminal infraction cases. This makes the Circuit Courts both the highest trial courts and the lowest appellate courts in Florida's judicial system.

Each Circuit may have any number of judges, depending upon the area’s population and caseload. To be eligible to be a Circuit Court Judge a person must be an elector of a county within the Circuit and must have been admitted to the practice of law in Florida for the previous five years.

Circuit Court judges are elected by the voters of the circuits in nonpartisan, contested elections. Term length for a Circuit Judge is six years. A Chief Judge is chosen from among the Circuit and County judges in each judicial circuit to carry out administrative responsibilities for all the trial courts in the Circuit.

Since there are 20 judicial circuits in Florida, there are 20 Circuit Courts with jurisdiction over specific counties.

The Florida State Constitution provides that a County Court shall be established to serve each of the 67 counties in the state. These courts are sometimes referred to as “the people’s courts.”

Statutes establish the trial jurisdiction of the County Courts. County Courts have jurisdiction over civil disputes involving $30,000 or less, traffic offenses, and less serious criminal matters, such as misdemeanors. The majority of non-jury trials in Florida take place before a County Court judge.

In order to be eligible to be a County Judge, a person must be an elector of the county and must have been a member of the Florida Bar for five years. However, in counties with a population of 40,000 or less, a person must only be a member of the Florida Bar. County judges serve terms of six years and are eligible for reassignment to the Circuit Courts.

The Office of Problem Solving Courts (OPSC) provides support to problem-solving courts through technical assistance, training, data collection and analysis, research, policy development, legislative analysis, and technology to support case management.

Problem solving courts offer a special docket and typically provide: a problem solving team, a non-adversarial approach, a continuum of individualized treatment services, judicial leadership and interaction, and responses to participant compliance. In Florida, the problem solving courts are the Veterans, Mental Health, Adult Drug, Early Childhood, DUI, Juvenile Drug, and Dependency Drug Courts.

In 1966, an amendment to the Florida State Constitution created the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) to investigate allegations of misconduct and disability by all judges within the state.

While the Judicial Ethics Advisory Commission advises on whether conduct violates Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct, the JQC conducts an investigation and can issue sanctions based on its findings. The Commission is made up of six judges, five laypersons selected by the Governor, and four members of the Florida Bar Association.

The Office of the State Courts Administrator for Florida aims to provide a timely and accurate accounting of judicial branch statistics.

The following statistics are some of the highlights from the Chief Administrator’s 2022 data:

• In 2022, the Florida Supreme Court disposed of 1,871 cases, the majority of which dealt with direct conflicts of decisions.
• The Criminal Circuit Courts saw over 149,000 filings in 2022.
• 146,534 civil cases were filed in the Florida trial courts, with over 46,000 cases being auto and other negligence related and 38,635 cases dealing with contracts and indebtedness.
• There were 73 DCA judges by January 1, 2023.

UniCourt is your single source for state and federal court records, offering comprehensive court coverage and the most complete and accurate dataset available.

Everyday of the week, UniCourt collects all of the newly filed civil and criminal cases in the Florida Courts and lets you search through those new case filings in our CrowdSourced Library™. You can also use UniCourt to track state court litigation and get real-time case alerts sent directly to your inbox. Additionally, UniCourt empowers you to download court documents on-demand without ever having to login to a government court database, and gives you unlimited access to download millions of free state and federal court documents in our CrowdSourced Library™.

UniCourt provides you with access to many state courts across Florida, including many of the largest counties across the state, such as the Palm Beach County Courts, the Miami-Dade County Courts, the Broward County Courts, the Hillsborough County Courts, and the Orange County Courts.

UniCourt also gives you access to court records for all of the federal courts across the state of Florida.

• Middle District of Florida
• Northern District of Florida
• Southern District of Florida

• Middle District of Florida
• Northern District of Florida
• Southern District of Florida

• Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals

UniCourt’s industry-leading Legal Data APIs provide Enterprise users with on-demand, bulk access to structured data from Florida state and federal courts. Our Legal Data as a Service (LDaaS) collects, organizes, standardizes, and normalizes court data from Florida state courts and all federal courts, and makes it readily available via our UniCourt Enterprise API for business development, competitive intelligence, litigation strategy, and docket management.