Hillsborough County Court Records
Hillsborough County court records are comprehensive and precise documented information on all court proceedings in the county's jurisdiction. The Hillsborough County court records are officially created and managed by the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court and are open for public perusal. However, like most Hillsborough County Public Records, some information may be exempt from public disclosure if a judicial order is issued to that effect.
The Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court offers various court services through its diverse departments, which are:
- Civil court services: This department handles mainly court cases that are non-criminal, such as Circuit Civil, County Civil, Domestic Violence, Family Law, Traffic, Juvenile Dependency, and other civil cases.
- Criminal Court Services: The departments that handle criminal Court services are Bond Agent Registration, Cash Bond Depositor Instructions, Circuit Criminal, County Criminal, Expungement and Sealings, Juvenile Delinquency, Traffic.
Are Court Records Public in Hillsborough County?
Hillsborough court records are public and are accessible to requesters. These records are kept and maintained by local and state government agencies. The Florida Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives access to requesters to inspect or copy court records that are dated as far back as 1965.
However, there are some court records restricted from the public. These records are considered confidential due to privacy issues. Some of these court records are:
- Juvenile records
- Individual medical records
- Adoption records
- Any court filings that contain Social Security Number, account numbers or victims of sexual offenses.
What Do Hillsborough County Court Records Contain?
Hillsborough County court records contain the following information:
- Citation number
- Party name
- Party type
- Case style
- Case status
- Case number
- Case summary
- Date filed
- File location
- Charges
- Financial summary
- Disposition
- Clock-in event date
- Event description
Where to Conduct a Hillsborough County Case Lookup
Since court records are generated during court proceedings, a Hillsborough county case lookup, may be performed in one of two places:
How to Conduct a Hillsborough County Case Records Search
Interested members of the public may perform a Hillsborough County case search online or in person at the the office of the appropriate court custodian.
As authorized by the Florida Supreme Court, individuals interested in case records have the right to access the records electronically, as provided by the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court and Comptroller, 13th Judicial Circuit. Requesters should visit Hillsborough County online portal and search for court records using any of the following information:
- Case Number/Uniform Case Number
- Citation Number
- Party or Business Name
- Date Range/Court Type/Case Type
- Court Date
For a broader and easier search, requesters could register as users on the portal using either of the listed user roles:
- Anonymous: registering as an anonymous user gives room to view non-confidential or sealed name indexes, including redacted images and progress dockets. However, records in regards to Juvenile cases, Family Law and Probate, are not accessible to anonymous users.
- Attorney Registration: Requesters who register as Attorneys will be able to view unredacted images, non-confidential/sealed name index, progress dockets for cases in which they either appear as the attorneys of records or not. However, records that are rendered confidential according to court rule, would not be accessible.
- Self-Represented Litigants (Pro Se): These users can view progress dockets, nane index, non-confidential/non-sealed name indexes and unredacted images for cases in which they appear.
Requesters aiming to register on this portal should click on the "Register to be a Hover User" button, select any of the user roles peculiar to them and fill the required forms.
Alternatively for in-person requests, interested persons should visit any of the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Court & Comptroller office locations. To facilitate the search, requesters must provide information about the case such as the case number, citation number, case party names, court date, or filing date. Requesters must also pay the necessary fees before they can obtain the requested court records.
After retrieving the records, they can only be viewed on the court premises. On no account should records be taken out of the Court premises.
Hillsborough County Civil Court Case Records
Civil records are factual information that pertain to civil cases, such as divorces, bankruptcies, liens, and other court filings that are non-criminal. These records give information about legal disputes between two parties. They are mostly used by people to get payment for damages, loss, or injury that might have suffered.
Also, they are sometimes used by some employers to dig out additional background information about a prospective employee's past offenses. Civil records are accessible by the public either online or in-person.
Hillsborough County civil records are managed by Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Hillsborough County, hence, requesters should visit the court to obtain or inspect civil court cases. Some of these civil court cases are:
- Landlord or tenant cases: involving a legal dispute between a landlord and his tenant over eviction or retrieval of security deposit.
- Small case claims: these are cases involving money damage that is below $30,000.
- Family laws: involving cases of divorce, adoption, child support and child custody.
- Probate cases: involving a deceased's testate and the distribution of estate to beneficiaries.
Hillsborough County Criminal Court Case Records
Criminal records are written and documented details of a person's criminal history. Hence, a criminal record would contain a list of an offender's contact with the criminal justice system. Information about the offender's arrests, convictions and detentions would also be included in the records.
Hillsborough County Criminal records are of two types: Circuit Criminal records and County criminal records.
To search for criminal Court case records in Hillsborough County, visit Hillsborough Online Viewing of Electronics Records (HOVER) On this site, indexes, dockets, and non-confidential records are available in electronic forms to the public.
Interested persons should go on the site to search for these records using any of the means provided on site. Conducting this search is easy and straightforward - requesters only need to provide information regarding the case, such as the case number, citation number, first and last name of party or business name, case status or date range. Any if these aforementioned information can be used to search Hillsborough court case records on HOVER.
Furthermore, requesters can also obtain copies of the court case records. To do this, interested persons would have to complete the Order Form for Circuit Criminal files or Order Form for Misdemeanor files to pre-order before visiting any of the court locations at Tampa Edgecomb and Plant City.
Alternatively, copies of the court case records can also be obtained by filling the Obtaining Copies of Court Records Documents Form.
How to Get Court Records Online for Free
There are online portals that give free online access to persons interested in getting court records.
Hillsborough County Clerk of Court & Comptroller came up with an online portal that makes court records freely available to requesters electronically.
To get court records, Interested persons should visit Hillsborough County Online Portal and select any of the mediums for case search.
- To get court records by case number: enter the last two digits of the year the case was filed, select court type, select party designator, enter case number and click on the search button.
- To search by citation number, enter citation number or last name, Florida driver license and click on the search button.
- To search by party or business name: enter first and last name/business name/attorney. Select case status, case categories, and case types. Then, enter the correct date the case was filed and click on the search button. Under the view section, click on the document icon to view records.
- To search by date range, court type, or case type: select case status, case category, and case type, enter the date range for the case and click on the search button. Go ahead and click on the document icon for the correct case.
Considered open to citizens of the United States, court records are available through both traditional, government sources, and through third-party websites and organizations. In many cases, third-party websites make the search easier as they are not limited geographically or by technological limitations. They are considered a good place to start when looking for a specific record or multiple records. In order to gain access to these records, interested parties must typically provide:
- The name of the person listed in the record. Juveniles are typically exempt from this search method.
- The last known or assumed location of the person listed in the record. This includes cities, counties, and states.
While third-party sites offer such services, they are not government sponsored entities, and record availability may vary on these sites when compared to government sources.
Courts in Hillsborough County, Florida
Hillsborough County has quite a number of courts where one can find court records on a person. Below are the locations of the courts in Hillsborough County. Persons interested in court records should send requests or application forms to the appropriate court locations listed:
Hillsborough County Circuit Court
George E. Edgecomb Courthouse
800 East Twiggs Street,
Tampa, FL 33602
Phone: (813) 276-8100
Pat Collier Frank Courthouse
419 Pierce Street,
Tampa, FL 33602
Phone: (813) 276-8100
Plant City Courthouse
301 North Michigan Avenue, Room 1071
Plant City, FL 33563
Phone: (813) 276-8100
Brandon Regional Service Center
311 Pauls Drive, Suite 110
Brandon, FL 33511
Phone: (813) 276-8100
Southshore Regional Service Center
410 30th Street Southeast,
Ruskin, FL 33570
Phone: (813) 276-8100
