Broward County Circuit Court Records

Search for public court records online in the Broward County Circuit Court of Florida. Lookup the case information you need and search by case number, case name, party, attorney, judge, docket entry, filing date, courthouse, case type, party type, party representation, and more. Get access to the court dockets, court documents, transcripts, and legal data on the parties, attorneys, law firms, and judges involved in court cases in Broward County.

UniCourt’s case search gives you real-time access to a range of case types in many Florida trial courts, including Civil Right, Contract, Criminal, Family, Forfeiture, Labor, Personal Injury, Probate, Property, and Small Claim. Along with streamlined access to court data, you can also get the latest court docket information, obtain case summaries, check case statuses, download court documents, and track lawsuits to get real-time alerts on new case updates.

About the Broward County Court System

The Broward County Court System is a two-tier trial court system that consists of the Broward County Court and the 17th Judicial Circuit Court. With almost 2 million people living and working in the county’s 1,323 square miles, Broward County is the second most populous county in Florida after Miami-Dade.

Each county in Florida has a County Court, making the County Court of Broward County one of Florida’s 67 County Courts. Generally referred to as “the people’s court,” the Broward County Court is a court of limited jurisdiction, as defined in the Florida State Constitution.

The Broward County Circuit Court, or alternatively the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, is a court of general jurisdiction that hears and decides matters not assigned by statute to the County Courts. There are 20 judicial circuits in Florida, each with jurisdiction over one or more counties. These Circuit Courts serve as intermediate appellate courts for Florida’s County Courts. The 17th Judicial Circuit Court has jurisdiction over Broward County.

The Clerk of the Courts for Broward County is the Hon. Brenda D. Forman, who is located at the Central Courthouse Judicial Complex, West Building, 201 S.E. 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. You can reach the Clerk of the Courts by calling (954) 831-6565.

Divisions of the Broward County Circuit Court

The Broward County Circuit Court is divided into divisions, including the Appellate, Civil, Criminal, Domestic Violence, Family, and Probate Divisions. There are 58 Circuit Court Judges in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Broward County.

Circuit Appellate Division

The Appellate Division of the Broward County Circuit Court hears appeals from the County Court as well as from various quasi-judicial boards and administrative agencies. The Circuit Court has a three-judge panel system that presides over its Appellate Division. Two Civil Circuit Court judges, and one Criminal Circuit Court judge are empaneled to preside over appellate matters. Judges presiding on the Appellate Panel are on a six-month rotation schedule.

The Appellate Division operates out of the Central Courthouse Judicial Complex, West Building at 201 S.E. 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. You can reach the Appellate Division by calling (954) 831-5751.

Circuit Civil Division

The Civil Division handles cases where damages are alleged to be greater than $15,000 and are filed by an individual, business, or government agency. This division has jurisdiction over many types of cases, including tort cases, contract disputes, products liability and malpractice cases, infringements of intellectual property, enforcement of non-compete contracts, and petitions for injunctive relief. Within the Circuit Civil Division is a complex business court, two complex tort divisions, and a mortgage foreclosure division

The Broward County Circuit Civil Division is located at the Central Courthouse Judicial Complex, West Building, which can be reached by calling (954) 831-6565 or faxing (954) 831-6572.

The Administrative Judge is the Hon. Carol-Lisa Phillips, who is located in the Central Courthouse. The Administrative Judge’s Chambers are in WW15127 and the Administrative Judge’s Courtroom is found in WW15175. You can reach the Administrative Judge by calling (954) 831-7554.

Circuit Criminal Division

The Circuit Criminal Division has jurisdiction over all actions, cases, and proceedings involving the administration of criminal justice, including felonies and misdemeanors arising out of the same circumstances as felonies. Felonies are crimes punishable by more than a year in state prison and include the following offenses: capital murder, noncapital murder, sexual offenses, drugs, robbery, burglary, theft, forgery, fraud, worthless checks, and other crimes against persons or property.

This division is located in the North Wing of the Central Courthouse.

The Administrative Judge for the Circuit Criminal Division is the Hon. Martin S. Fein, who is located in the Central Courthouse. The Administrative Judge’s Chambers are in NW4760 and the Administrative Judge’s Courtroom is found in NW4780. You can reach the Administrative Judge by calling (962) 2049-5954.

Domestic Violence Division

The 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida created specialized Criminal and Civil Domestic Violence divisions, each with four judges and support services that exclusively handle family violence issues and address these type crimes. The Criminal Domestic Violence Courts hear criminal felony and criminal misdemeanor cases involving family violence as well as violation of injunction cases. The Civil Domestic Violence Courts are actually part of the Family Court Division.

The Domestic Violence Division is housed in the following locations: the Central Courthouse, where the division can be reached by calling (954) 831-5570 or (954) 831-5579; and the West Regional Courthouse at 100 North Pine Island Road, Plantation, FL 33324, where the division can be reached by calling (954) 831-5612 or (954) 831-3570.

The Clerk of Court for the Domestic Violence Division can be reached by calling (954) 831-5520 or (954) 831-5579.

The Domestic Violence Chairperson is the Hon. Michael G. Kaplan, who is located in the Central Courthouse. The Chairperson’s Chambers are in WW10138 and their Courtroom is found in WW10150. You can reach the Domestic Violence Chairperson by calling (954) 831-1663.

Unified Family Court Division

The Unified Family Court (UFC) is a comprehensive approach to handling all cases involving children and families to resolve family disputes in a fair, timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner. UFC judges hear all juvenile delinquency and dependency cases as well as identified interconnected cases involving domestic relations issues, including domestic violence. Broward County has designed the UFC to have one judge oversee all matters involving one family.

The Unified Family Court Division of the Broward County Circuit Court operates out of the Central Courthouse, and can be reached by calling (954) 831-6565 or faxing (954) 831-6572.

The Administrative Judge for the UFC Division is the Hon. Hope Tieman Bristol, who is located in the Central Courthouse. The Administrative Judge’s Chambers are in WW9135 and the Administrative Judge’s Courtroom is found in WW9155. You can reach the Administrative Judge by calling (954) 831-7882.

Probate Division

The Probate Division of the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida hears cases related to the processing of wills and the settling of estates, as well as guardianship and mental health cases.

The Probate Division is located on the third floor of the Central Courthouse and can be reached by calling (954) 831-7154.

The Administrative Judge is the Hon. Kenneth Gillespie, who is located in the Central Courthouse. The Administrative Judge’s Chambers are in WW14133 and the Administrative Judge’s Courtroom is found in WW14160. You can reach the Administrative Judge by calling (954) 831-7565.

Courthouses in Broward County Circuit Court

Courthouse Image  
Broward County Central Courthouse
Location Image
201 S.E. 6TH STREET, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33301, USA

Facts and Statistics

  1. In 2021, over 140,000 cases were filed in the 17th Judicial Circuit Criminal Division.
  2. The most populous city in Broward County is Fort Lauderdale, which is home to over 180,000 people.
  3. In 2021, over 140,000 cases were filed in the Broward County Circuit Civil Division.
  4. The 17th Judicial Circuit is one of three Judicial Circuits in Florida that serve only one county.

Why use UniCourt to search for Broward County Circuit Court Cases?

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 Broward County Circuit 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. Further, 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™.

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

UniCourt also gives you access to court records for all of the federal courts across the state of Florida, including the federal courts with jurisdiction over Broward County: the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

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.

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