Broward County Public Records

Court records contain important information regarding not only the final disposition of the case but also a record of how the disposition was reached and why the case was disposed of in such a way. Thanks to the contents of these records, they court records are very important not only as a means of informing the public of judicial decisions but also as a means to ensure that the requisite statutory and constitutional due process requirements had been met. In addition, they are typically used by both the appellate courts, in the appeals process, and by law students, who learn the theories and applications of the various laws by studying these cases. Thanks to these factors, court records had become an important part of the Broward County Public Records.

Court records contain more than just the disposition of the case. Such records also contain the legal reasons why the case was decided in such a way because these records contain the minutes of the trial as well as the evidences that were presented by both sides. In the state of Florida, these records are considered to be a matter of public record, and because of this, no one, not the official custodian of the records or anyone else for that matter, could deny anyone the right to look into these records.

The official custodian of all public records in Broward County is the Clerk of Court. This is because the Clerk is the entity assigned by statute as custodian. This means that there is a specific law that mandates the clerk to keep and secure these records. In pursuit of this mandate, all records are kept by the office of the clerk of court, and because of this, a person who desires to look into the records would be well advised to look into the office of the clerk of court first. There is typically two methods to obtain court records from the clerk of court.
The first method would be to pay a visit to the office of the clerk and to conduct the search there, either personally or through an assistant, usually with the assistance of the employees of the office itself. Note that the sheer volume of records kept within the office would mean that the search might take some time. Once the records had been located, however, the searcher could be assured that this is indeed the original record. If a copy is desired, the office could make a copy for the searcher after paying the requisite copying fee which is typically one dollar per page. Once done, the clerk could certify the copy at two dollars.

The second method would be to use the online database operated and maintained by the clerk of court. Note that the database, while instantaneous with their results, is currently incomplete. Note further that currently, the Broward system has two separate databases for civil and criminal cases. Once inside the database, simply input the information requested by the system and click search. Results should be returned if there are hits, and it is from these results that the searcher would have to locate the specific case that he or she is searching for. Once located, simply click on the title of the case in order to view the records.

A third method of searching for case records does exist, and this is through the use of other specialized search databases. The World Wide Web plays host to a number of these specialized online databases, so they are relatively easy to locate. In addition, they are often easier to use than the official databases and are typically free of charge to use. They also provide more information than the ones that are usually available at the official online depository and because the search is conducted over the net, there is typically no need for the searcher to actually leave their homes.

Florida Public Records

Comprehensive Public Court Records of Florida Counties