Marion County Public Records

Public records exist not only because their existence is mandated by law. In fact, the requirements of the law for their existence is founded because of far more important reasons, an open society and for the requirements of checks and balances in government are only two of many other reasons why they exist in the first place. These are also the reasons why the collection of records classified under the umbrella of the Marion County Public Records are considered to be available to the public at all times, regardless of the circumstance that they are requested for.

Public records contain information not limited to just the names of the parties involved in the proceedings that gave rise to the document and the type of document that the record is. These records typically contain a summary of the proceedings that it is related to, as well as the actual minutes of the proceedings. Often, these records also contain the reasons why the parties resolve to the proceedings that the document refers to, including their position papers, their evidences, and even their claims. The law recognizes that these documents are important not only for those who are engaged in the practice of law but also for ordinary citizens who wish to be more informed about their neighbors.

The importance of these records is perhaps best described by the fact that the law requires not only that the official custodian of these documents, which the law identified as the clerk of courts, keep, maintain, and secure these documents, but also added upon their shoulders the responsibility of keeping them open to the public at all times. It is for these mandate of the law that the clerk of courts could not validly refuse any person access to the records regardless of the reason behind why said person wishes to access the records.

For a person who wishes to look into the records, the best place to search for the same would be the Office of the Clerk of Courts. This is because as the official custodian, the clerk has the original copies of the records. To obtain access to the archives, the person simply has to make a personal request upon the clerk. Now, it is important to note that the clerk could not refuse anyone access to the records, but it is suggested that the actual records search should best be left to the clerk. Presumably, they would be more efficient and fast in locating a given record because they are more familiar with their filing system.

Once the records are located, the searcher is free to peruse the same or even make notes, so long as the actual records are not damaged. Note that the original copies could not be taken out of the archives, they are kept within for other future searchers. It is possible to obtain a copy of the records, however, for a minimal fee of just one dollar per page, plus an additional two dollars for certification per document.

For those who cannot head over to the office of the clerk of courts, the only other option would be to conduct the search online. An undeterminable number of online databases are all over the World Wide Web and quite a few of them provide the same information available within the office of the clerk of court. These searches are faster, more efficient, often free, and are near instant with their results. In addition, because they are internet searches, the nature of interconnectivity plays an important part, so that it is possible that some of these databases actually provide more information than the ones that could be found at the archives.

Florida Public Records

Comprehensive Public Court Records of Florida Counties