Public Records

Payment Methods:

• Cash (in-person only)
• Personal check, money order, or cashier’s check made payable to the St. Johns County Clerk’s Office.
• Credit/Debit Card (Please Note: A convenience fee of 3.5% will be added to the authorized amount in accordance with the Clerk’s merchant services contract – Visa, MasterCard, and American Express accepted, in-person and via phone)

1. Do you have a public access terminal on site?
a. Yes. Public access terminals are available at various locations within our office. Simply ask one of our staff members about it, and they will show you where the nearest public terminal is located.

2. Does your website show dismissed court cases?
a. Pursuant to the combination of Florida Supreme Court Order SC2023-1320 and F. S. 943.0595, if a criminal court case is dismissed as to all counts and also meets certain specific criteria, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will mark the associated criminal history record as confidential and exempt from public disclosure. Thereafter, FDLE will file a notice with the Clerk’s Office to inform the Clerk’s Office of FDLE’s action, and the associated court case will also be marked as confidential and exempt from public disclosure. Until the Clerk’s Office receives that notice from FDLE, the dismissed criminal case will be able to viewed online anonymously. After the Clerk’s Office receives that notice from FDLE, the dismissed criminal case will not be able to be viewed online anonymously.

Any other type of dismissed case (i.e. civil, family, etc.) will be available for review in accordance with Supreme Court Order AOSC14-19 and subsequent related Administrative Orders governing the Standards for Access to Electronic Court Records.

3. Does your website show active warrants or warrant information?
a. Yes and no.

No, our office does not publish any information regarding active warrants on our website. Pursuant to Rule 2.420(c)(6), Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin., warrants and supporting affidavits are considered confidential and exempt from public disclosure either until they are served, or a law enforcement agency determines that the warrant cannot be executed.

Yes, our office does allow anonymous online review of warrants and supporting affidavits once a return of service is filed in the associated court case. Once that return of service is filed, the warrant and its supporting affidavits become publicly disclosable. But this information is still only reviewable within each individual and applicable court case. We do not publish any kind of a list of filed return of services for active warrants.

4. If your website is having technical issues or is down, will there be a message indicating so, or will we get an error message when we try to search a name?
a. If we know ahead of time, we will try to post on the main website. If the site is down, you’ll get a “page not found” error – you won’t be able to search.

5. Is your website considered real time or how often is it updated?
a. Searches are real time.

6. How far back do your court records go?
a. We generally divide our court records into two categories: Modern Era Records (~1990s to present day) and Archival Records (1821 to ~1990s). Within each of those two categories, those records are subdivided by case type (i.e. criminal, civil, etc.).

Most, if not all, of publicly disclosable Modern Era Criminal and Civil Records will be available online for review. In some instances, some archival court records will also be available online for review if the court case was active when our office transitioned to computerized court record keeping.

Unfortunately, our Archival Criminal and Civil Records are not available online for review at this time, but digital scans of those records are accessible [1] on-site at our public access terminals and [2] via public records request.

7. How far back do your non-court records go?
a. The term “non-court records” can encompass MANY different types of public records, including Clerk’s Office Administrative Records (i.e. COC Finance Records, HR Records, etc.), Board of County Commissioners Records (i.e. BCC Finance Records, Official Meeting Minutes, Official Meeting Agendas, etc.), and County Recorder’s Records (i.e. Deeds, Mortgages, Tax Deed Records, etc.).

Every public record has a retention requirement, and typically once the record meets its retention requirements, it is disposed of. As a result, there is wide range of non-court records that our office has within its possession that can, depending on the record, date as far back as 1821 when St. Johns County was created.

8. What types of copies can I get from your office?
a. The public is able to obtain 4 different types of copies of public records from our office. Brief descriptions of those types are:

• FREE-OF-CHARGE PHOTOCOPY: These copies are available online 24/7 and free-of-charge on our office’s website. If you’re able to view these documents online, the document being viewed is a free-of-charge photocopy.
• PURCHASED PHOTOCOPY: These copies are quite literally the same thing as the free-of-charge photocopy, but our staff collects the copy directly from our computers instead of the customer accessing it online. If our office emails photocopies of court documents that we gathered directly from our computers, those types of copies also fall under the umbrella of a purchased photocopy. For photocopies of Board of County Commissioner records that are maintained by the Clerk’s Office, the standard copying fee is $0.15 per page. For all other public records maintained by the Clerk’s Office, the standard copying fee for a purchased photocopy is $1.00 per page. Purchased photocopies can be furnished to the customer either via mail, email, fax, or in-person.
• TRADITIONAL “PAPER” CERTIFIED COPY: These copies are quite literally a purchased photocopy which has a certification stamp affixed to the last page of the complete document. Unfortunately, our office does not certify only specific pages that are selected from a filed document; we are only able to certify the entire document as a whole. For Board of County Commissioner records that are maintained by the Clerk’s Office, the standard cost of a certified copy is $1.00. For all other public records maintained by the Clerk’s Office, the standard cost of a certified copy is $1.00 per page plus an additional $2.00 for the standard certification fee. Traditional “paper” certified copies can only be either mailed or hand-delivered in person to the customer.
• ELECTRONICALLY CERTIFIED COPY: These types of copies only apply to public records that are maintained by the Clerk’s Office which are NOT Board of County Commissioner records, and these types of copies are quite literally a digital version of a purchased photocopy which has a unique certification code affixed to it. You may purchase electronically certified copies by visiting www.ClerkECertify.com and following the prompts therein. In addition to the standard $1.00 per page and $2.00 certification fees, a service charge of $6.00 per certified document is also assessed. Electronically certified copies will be delivered to the customer via email. 

Public records requests may be made in-person, by mail, or email at:

       St. Johns County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller
       Attn: Records Management
       4010 Lewis Speedway
       St. Augustine, FL 32084

Email: PRR@stjohnsclerk.com

As a convenience and assistance to you, our office has drafted and currently circulates the below requests in our Forms Library. Even though the use of this specific form is not mandatory, its use is encouraged and recommended. The form provided by our office has been designed to ensure the timely process for this type of request. The requirements for this free-of-charge process are that the request:

Request for Redaction of Exempt Personal Information from Non-Judicial Public Records (see form RM-001)

1. Must be in writing
2. Must specify which specific statutory exemption(s) the filer is seeking
3. Must specify what information needs to be redacted (i.e. name, address, phone number, etc.)
4. Must specify which document(s) to which the redaction should be applied
5. Must be notarized

It’s important to note that this request does not remove the subject document(s) from public record, but instead, it simply redacts protected personal information from the publicly disclosable copies of the subject document(s). Where applicable, unredacted copies of the subject document(s) are still subject to being furnished to other government entities when those other government entities require an unredacted copy of the subject document(s) to fulfill its official duties. With respect to exemptions referenced in F. S. 119.071, F.S., there is no way to remove or delete the subject document(s) from public record.

By law our office is permitted to release unredacted copies of the subject document(s) at the expressed request of the individual who filed the redaction request, but that request MUST be in writing and in the form of a sworn statement.

Request for the Removal of Public Records from General Viewing on the Public Internet Website, per F. S. 28.2221(5) (see form RM-004)

1. Must be in writing
2. Must specify which document(s) need to be removed

It’s important to note that this form ONLY applies to documents filed in Official Records prior to June 5, 2002, AND this request does not remove the subject document(s) from public record, but instead, it simply removes the subject document(s) from being anonymously viewed on our public website. F. S. 28.2221(5) frames a list of specific types of documents which are not permitted to be viewed anonymously online, and that restriction went into effect on June 5, 2002. Any Official Records that meet the criteria found in F. S. 28.2221(5), but were filed prior to June 5, 2002, are still eligible to have the digital image removed from anonymous viewing, but the statute requires that the Clerk’s Office receives a written request for that action.

Request for Permanent Removal of Military Discharge Documents, per F. S. 295.186 (see form RM-005)

1. The request MUST be in writing
2. The request MUST specify which document(s) need to be removed
3. The request MUST be made in person
4. On the written request, the requestor MUST identify who they are in relation to the subject veteran
5. The requestor MUST exhibit appropriate identification for identity verification

It’s important to note that this form ONLY applies to the following documents:
1. DD-214
2. DD-215
3. WD AGO 53
4. WD AGO 55
5. WD AGO 53-55
6. NAVMC 78-PD
7. NAVPERS 553

It’s also important to note that only the following persons may file this request:
1. The subject veteran of the United States Armed Forces (hereafter referred to as “Veteran”)
2. Veteran’s widow or widower acting on behalf of Veteran
3. Veteran’s attorney acting on behalf of Veteran
4. Veteran’s personal representative acting on behalf of Veteran
5. Veteran’s executor acting on behalf of Veteran
6. Veteran’s court appointed guardian acting on behalf of Veteran

It’s important to further note that this request PERMANENTLY removes or deletes the subject document(s) from public record. Once this removal occurs, it is irreversible. This request ensures that no further record the subject document(s) will exist within the Official Records of St. Johns County.

Failure to provide a request for redaction that meets the requirements referenced above may result in our office’s inability to process the request. Additionally, please be aware that copies of the public records may have been disseminated prior to your request.