The judicial process is often long and arduous. Cases often do not end when a jury or a judge pronounces the verdict, often, the parties to a case would have the option to elevate the matter to a higher court, the appellate court, for a petition for review. It is also possible that during the course of the trial, one of the parties would have to change lawyers for a myriad of reasons, or even a judge would have to be replaced for an equal number of various reasons. Often, the same people who begun the trial are not the ones who are going to decide the case with finality, and because they were not there when the trial began, how are they supposed to be able to decide properly? Court records came into existence because of this dilemma and in Clay County, Florida, court records had become part of a series of documents known as Clay County Public Records.
Public records are precisely those documents that are considered to be so important to the public interest that they had to be available to everyone at any given time. Florida statute had made these records available to the public at any given time, and because of this, the official custodian of these records could not deny any person, regardless of circumstance, the right to look into these documents. In Florida, the same statute had made the clerk of court the official custodian of these records.
In pursuit of this mandate, the clerk of court of Clay County, Florida, operates and maintains a system whereby official court records may be available to the public. As the official custodian, the clerk of court also has the obligation to show the same to the public upon request of a searcher, and this made the office of the clerk of court as the first office to look into should one desire a copy of a court record.
To obtain a copy of a court record from the clerk of court, there are a number of options available to the searcher, but for a more efficient search, it is suggested that the searcher make use of the online database operated and maintained by the office. To use this database, the searcher must first visit the welcome page of the same database and in here; indicate the type of case that he or she wants to search. The next page would be a more detailed form where the searcher should input the necessary information. Note that only those in the red are considered necessary and must be filled up. A return page should display the results of the search. At this page, the searcher should locate the file that he wishes to see and click on the same. The details of the case should then be available.
For those others who wish to see more information, the other option would be to use other online resources. The World Wide Web plays host to a number of these specialized databases. Often, they are easier to use and are mostly free in addition to the fact that they typically provide more information than the one that was initially requested by the searcher. In addition, they do not require the searcher to leave the comforts of their own homes when doing the search because the searcher only needs a computer, an internet connection, and usually a printer.
Clay County Court Public Records Access
To obtain a copy of a court record from the online search database operated and maintained by the clerk of court of Clay County, follow the following procedures.
- Visit the office of the Clerk of Court
- Visit the online search database
- Indicate the type of case that you want to search.
- Input the requested information. Note that the red titles are required fields that must be filled before a search could be conducted.
- Click ‘Search’
- A return page should display the results of the search, locate the case that you want to view.
- A return page should display the specifics of the case.
Clay County Public Records Free Access
For other pertinent discussions regarding public records from Clay County, refer to the following links.
Florida Public Records
Comprehensive Public Court Records of Florida Counties