Provisions of the first of six constitutions which have governed the people of Florida established the Clerk of the Circuit Court as a directly elected public trustee and set in place at the county level a system of “checks and balances” which has been proven by time and fact to have served the public well.

In a recent study by the Joint Select Committee on Judicial Personnel of the Florida Legislature, it was calculated that the Clerk’s Office performs 926 different tasks. Some of the more significant duties of the Clerk are summarized below:

Duties as a Member of the Court

• Attend each session of court
• File indictments, information and verdicts
• Process all civil and criminal cases
• Prepare records to next highest court of appeals
• Oversee Jury selection
• Receive payments for fines, court costs and victim restitution
• Disburse judicial funds
• Supervise the fines and forfeiture fund

Duties as County Recorder

• Record and index deeds, mortgages, and descriptions of all county property
• Record all tax liens and claims against estates, instruments of conveyance, agreements, contracts, maps and plats of subdivisions
• Process tax deed applications and conduct sales
• Maintain public microfilm libraries and a record storage facility

Duties as Ex-Officio Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners

• Attend all meetings of the Board of County Commissioners and committees of the Board as directed
• Produce, record, index and distribute the official minutes of those meetings
• Maintain legal custody of the Official County Seal
• Custodian of all County resolutions, ordinances and contracts
• Process appeals before the Value Adjustment Board

Duties as Custodian of County Funds, Account and County Auditor

• Provide effective and efficient accounting services to all the departments under the Board of County Commissioners
• Provide the correct accounting treatment for all of the fiscal changes that are implemented by the Board
• Responsible for the investment of available county funds
• Provide for the investment of available county funds
• Provide financial reporting to the Board and all federal and state agencies
• Process accounts payable
• Review the management and accounting controls existing in the County government

The Clerk

• Issues Marriage Licenses
• Records Birth Certificates (when requested to do so)
• Records Home Owner Deeds
• Records Mortgage Information
• Collects Documentary Stamps Required
• Closes Estates After Death (through the Probate Division)

The Office of the Clerk is a complex organization that performs a wide range of record keeping. All information management and financial management tasks in the Judicial System and County Government are kept.

These duties are vested in the Clerk by the State Constitution and implemented and expanded by numerous state statutes, regulations, county ordinances and judicial orders. The Clerk is charged with a number of administrative responsibilities essential to the efficient accomplishment of the judicial and executive functions of the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court.