Search the St. Lucie Court Case First—Then Get the Record You Actually Need
Use the St. Lucie County Clerk and Comptroller’s Court Case Search for local civil, criminal, family, probate and traffic case information. Court cases, recorded deeds and liens, Florida appeals, and federal proceedings use different record systems, so choosing the correct route matters.
Civil · criminal · family · probate
Case number · parties · disposition
Online image · Research · E-Certify
ACIS · Fourth DCA · PACER
The St. Lucie County Clerk and Comptroller is the court-record custodian for cases filed in St. Lucie County’s circuit and county courts. The county is part of Florida’s Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, which also includes Indian River, Martin and Okeechobee counties.
Being in the same judicial circuit does not combine those counties into one clerk database. If a case was filed in Martin, Indian River or Okeechobee County, you must use that county’s clerk rather than the St. Lucie search.
Start With the Record You Actually Need
“St. Lucie County records” can describe several unrelated databases. Choose the service based on the document or case, not simply the person’s name.
Civil, criminal, family, probate or traffic case
Use the Clerk’s Court Case Search to locate case information, parties, court costs, upcoming dates and eligible documents.
Deed, mortgage, lien or recorded judgment
Use the separate Official Records system. These are county-recorded instruments rather than the ordinary case docket.
Certified court document
Use Clerk E-Certify for eligible digitized court records or send a Public Records Request when the record is not available through the ordinary online search.
Do not use Official Records when you are trying to understand a lawsuit or criminal case. A judgment may appear in the court docket and may also be recorded later in Official Records. Those two entries serve different purposes.
Which St. Lucie Court Division Holds the Case?
St. Lucie County has both circuit-court and county-court matters. The Clerk maintains the records for both levels, but knowing the division makes searches and document requests much easier.
| Record or dispute | Likely division | Useful local distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Felony criminal case | Circuit Criminal | Circuit Criminal maintains felony case records. |
| Misdemeanor or criminal traffic | County Criminal | Also includes municipal and county ordinance cases. |
| Civil claim over $50,000 | Circuit Civil | Includes many larger civil actions and most foreclosure cases. |
| Civil claim up to $50,000 | County Civil | Includes evictions and replevin matters within county-court jurisdiction. |
| Small claim up to $8,000 | Small Claims / County Civil | The Clerk identifies small claims as claims up to $8,000. |
| Divorce, paternity or child support | Family / Circuit Court | Family records are handled by the Family Relations Department. |
| Estate, will or guardianship | Probate / Circuit Court | Public availability depends on the record and applicable access rules. |
| Juvenile dependency or delinquency | Juvenile | These cases are not publicly viewable through the online Court Case Search. |
| Traffic citation | Traffic / County Court | Search the citation or case to check fees, court dates and filing status. |
How to Search St. Lucie County Court Records
This method starts broad enough to find the case and becomes more specific only after you confirm a likely match.
Confirm St. Lucie County is the filing county
Use the location of the alleged offense, lawsuit, property dispute, divorce filing, probate estate or citation. A person’s current Port St. Lucie or Fort Pierce address does not prove that every case involving that person was filed here.
Open the Clerk’s Court Case Search
Use the St. Lucie County Clerk’s official Public Search route rather than a commercial people-search website. Choose Court Cases when you need a lawsuit, criminal case, family matter, probate case or traffic record.
Use the case number when you have it
A complete case number is usually more precise than a name. Copy the full number exactly from the citation, pleading, hearing notice or other court document.
Search a name without over-filtering
If you only know the party name, begin with the reliable first and last name. If no result appears, try a middle initial, no middle name, a former surname or a spelling variation before adding narrow dates.
Verify the correct case
Compare the case number, case type, party role, filing date, charges or claims, judge and current disposition. A same-name result by itself is not reliable identity verification.
Review the docket and available images
Use the case history to identify the complaint, information, judgment, sentence, divorce judgment, order or other filing you actually need. Select documents may be available for online viewing.
Request the document when online access stops
Use the Public Records Request service or Clerk E-Certify when the document is not visible, needs certification, requires redaction or must be retrieved through the Research Department.
What the St. Lucie Court Case Search Can Show
The online search can provide more than a simple list of names. Depending on the case and access level, it can show case information, parties, charges, sentences, court costs, upcoming court dates and eligible court-document images.
Useful document-coverage benchmark: the Clerk says its Court Case Search provides public access to select court case documents more than three days old dating back to 2008. That does not mean every filing from 2008 forward is publicly downloadable.
| What you see | What it tells you | What it does not automatically prove |
|---|---|---|
| Case summary | Identifies the court case, parties and key case information. | It is not automatically the complete certified court record. |
| Docket entry | Shows that a filing, order, hearing or other case event occurred. | The short docket description is not necessarily the full filing. |
| Document image | Lets an authorized public user read an eligible filing. | A viewed or printed image is not necessarily a certified copy. |
| Criminal charge | Identifies an accusation or filed criminal charge. | A charge does not establish a conviction. |
| Final disposition | Shows how the case or charge concluded when a final disposition has been entered. | Read the complete disposition rather than inferring an outcome from an earlier docket event. |
If the difference between a docket, complaint, order and judgment is unclear, see Court Record Types Explained.
Guest Access, Registered Access and Restricted St. Lucie Records
Florida electronic-court-record rules use different access levels. Registration can provide additional access to eligible records, but it does not convert a confidential or legally restricted file into a public document.
Ordinary public search
Use the Court Case Search for public case information and publicly available documents. Registration is not required merely to begin an ordinary public search.
Additional eligible documents
The Clerk states that some documents require an electronic-access account. General registered users can e-sign the application, while parties, attorneys of record and business entities have additional verification requirements.
Not everything is online
Mental-health, juvenile-delinquency and juvenile-dependency cases cannot be viewed through the online portal. Other sealed, confidential or redacted material can also remain unavailable.
Juvenile access is especially limited. The Clerk states that because juvenile proceedings are confidential, only selective information is provided by phone, and case information in person is limited to authorized people such as the juvenile, legal parent or guardian, attorney of record, custodian or law enforcement.
How to Check a St. Lucie County Court Date
The Clerk maintains a Daily Court Schedule that identifies the court calendar, assigned judge, hearing type, location and time. Criminal case pages also direct users to the Court Case Search for upcoming court dates and the assigned judge.
- Search the case and copy the complete case number.
- Review the newest court-date or hearing information in the case.
- Compare it with the Clerk’s Daily Court Schedule when the matter is scheduled soon.
- Confirm whether the listed location is Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie or virtual court.
- Use the assigned judge’s Nineteenth Judicial Circuit page when division-specific procedures are needed.
Do not assume the courtroom from an old hearing. The Clerk warns that criminal courtroom assignments can change daily. If your appearance is important and the location is unclear, confirm it before travelling.
St. Lucie Court Record Copies and Certification Fees
The Clerk’s current fee schedule lists the following charges for court-record copy services. Confirm the total before ordering because the number of pages, certification method and service channel can change the final cost.
| Service | Current Clerk-listed fee | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Record search | $2 per year searched | Clerk-assisted searching when the case or exact record is not already identified. |
| Standard copy | $1 per page | Standard pages no larger than 14 × 8.5 inches. |
| Oversize copy | $5 per page | Pages larger than the standard copy size. |
| Certification | $2 per document | Added when you need the Clerk to certify the copy. |
| Exemplified certificate | $7 | For an exemplified certificate including signing and sealing. |
Request a record that is not online
The Research Department provides copies of court and Official Records that are not available through the public systems. The Clerk says these requests usually take 2–7 business days, depending on record availability and complexity.
If you do not know the case number, the request form asks for party names and the document year. Providing the case number, document title and filing date can make a request much more precise.
Electronic Certified Court Records
Clerk E-Certify allows eligible digitized court documents and Official Records to be purchased as electronically certified records. The resulting PDF uses security features that allow the recipient to verify the certification and determine whether the file has been altered.
Some documents that cannot be ordered directly online can still be requested for e-certification through the Public Records Request process. Confidential or specific archived records may continue to require a traditional wet stamp or raised seal.
Ask the recipient what form it requires. A plain downloaded image, an electronic certified document, a paper certified copy and an exemplified copy are not interchangeable for every legal or administrative purpose.
Court Records and St. Lucie Official Records Are Different Searches
This distinction matters because both databases are operated by the Clerk, yet they contain different kinds of records.
| You need | Correct system | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal case, lawsuit or divorce | Court Case Search | These are court proceedings with case numbers, parties, dockets and judicial actions. |
| Probate or guardianship case | Court Case Search | These are circuit-court proceedings, though access to particular documents can be restricted. |
| Deed or mortgage | Official Records | These instruments are recorded in the county’s official record books. |
| Recorded lien or judgment | Official Records | The recorded instrument is separate from the underlying lawsuit docket. |
| History behind a judgment | Court Case Search | The court docket shows the litigation and judicial events that led to the judgment. |
The Clerk’s current Official Records page states that documents dating back to 1985 are available online. Older recorded instruments or unavailable images may require a Research Department request.
Where to Get St. Lucie Court Records in Person
The location you need depends on the transaction and case type. A courthouse where a hearing occurs is not necessarily the same building as the Clerk counter handling copies or filings.
| Location | Relevant services | Practical use |
|---|---|---|
| Clerk Main Office 201 S. Indian River Drive Fort Pierce, FL 34950 |
Court filings, payments and copies; Research Department; recording and other Clerk services. | Best general Clerk destination for court-record research and copies. |
| St. Lucie West Branch 250 NW Country Club Drive Port St. Lucie, FL 34986 |
County Civil, Small Claims and Traffic filings, payments and copies. | Useful for eligible south-county civil, small-claims and traffic services. |
| Fort Pierce Courthouse 218 S. 2nd Street Fort Pierce, FL 34950 |
Court proceedings and jury duty. | Use the current hearing notice or docket to confirm a court appearance here. |
| St. Lucie County Courthouse Annex 250 NW Country Club Drive Port St. Lucie, FL 34986 |
Nineteenth Circuit court proceedings at the annex. | Confirm the case location before arriving because cases can be assigned to different facilities. |
Current Clerk business hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., excluding holidays. General Clerk phone: 772-462-6900. Check closures and case-specific reporting instructions before travelling.
If No St. Lucie County Court Record Appears
An empty search is not proof that a case never existed. Work through the likely access and jurisdiction issues before drawing a conclusion.
Start again with reliable name information rather than an uncertain date, middle name or case type.
Use the number from a notice, citation, pleading or other court document whenever possible.
Martin, Indian River and Okeechobee cases are not stored in the St. Lucie Clerk database even though all four counties share the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit.
Mental-health and juvenile matters are not viewable through the ordinary online case portal, and sealed or confidential records can have additional restrictions.
The online document-image benchmark does not guarantee that every historical filing is digitally available. Use the Research Department when the docket exists but the document does not.
An appeal may be in ACIS, while a federal case belongs in PACER rather than the county Clerk search.
For a broader Florida search strategy, see Florida Court Records Search by Name.
Florida Appeals and Federal St. Lucie Cases Use Different Systems
Fourth District Court of Appeal
The Fourth DCA hears appeals and extraordinary-writ proceedings from Florida’s Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, including St. Lucie County.
Florida ACIS
The Appellate Case Information System provides public dockets and available documents for the Florida Supreme Court and all six District Courts of Appeal. Public document searching does not require registration.
Southern District of Florida / PACER
St. Lucie County is in the Southern District of Florida and is included in its Fort Pierce Division. Search federal civil and criminal cases through PACER rather than the county Clerk system.
Local federal courthouse: the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse is at 101 South U.S. Highway 1 in Fort Pierce. Federal case information is maintained by the federal court, not by the St. Lucie County Clerk.
Check Nearby Counties When the Filing Is Not in St. Lucie
The filing county—not the person’s present address—normally determines which Florida clerk maintains the trial-court record.
Use the Florida guide to identify another county clerk, search an appeal through ACIS or locate the correct federal district.
Florida court records searchIf the matter was filed farther south, Palm Beach County uses its own Clerk case system and is not part of the St. Lucie database.
Palm Beach County court recordsRead St. Lucie Court Records in Context
A court search can show allegations, claims, duplicate names, pending matters, dismissed charges and entries that were later superseded. Check the complete case history and final disposition before describing what happened.
- A criminal charge is not automatically a conviction.
- A civil complaint does not establish liability.
- An arrest does not necessarily produce a filed court case.
- A same-name result does not establish identity.
- An online document image is not automatically a certified copy.
- No online result does not prove that no court record exists.
Consumer-reporting caution: PublicCourtRecords.org is an independent information guide and is not a consumer reporting agency. Do not use this article as a substitute for an FCRA-compliant consumer report for employment, housing, credit, insurance or another regulated eligibility decision. Review the site’s FCRA and Consumer Reporting Notice.
St. Lucie County Court Records FAQs
Can I search St. Lucie County court records by name?
Yes. Start with the St. Lucie County Clerk’s Court Case Search and use the party’s reliable name information. Once you locate a possible match, verify the case number, case type, filing date, parties and disposition.
Does the St. Lucie search include criminal and civil cases?
Yes. The Clerk describes its public Court Case Search as providing access to criminal and civil case information. The Clerk’s departments also maintain family, probate, traffic and related court records subject to applicable access restrictions.
How far back are St. Lucie court documents available online?
The Clerk states that select court case documents more than three days old are available online dating back to 2008. This does not guarantee that every document from every public case is digitally available.
Do I need an account to view St. Lucie court documents?
Not for every public document. Some documents are available through ordinary public access, while others require a registered-user account. Registration does not override sealed, confidential or otherwise restricted access.
Which St. Lucie cases cannot be viewed online?
The Clerk specifically states that mental-health, juvenile-delinquency and juvenile-dependency cases cannot be viewed online. Other protected or confidential documents may also be unavailable under Florida law and court-access rules.
How much does a St. Lucie court-record copy cost?
The Clerk currently lists standard copies at $1 per page and certification at $2 per document. Other fees apply to searches, oversize pages, exemplification and some service methods.
How long does a St. Lucie Public Records Request take?
The Clerk’s Research Department states that requests generally take two to seven business days depending on record availability and the complexity of the request.
What is the difference between Court Case Search and Official Records?
Court Case Search covers proceedings such as criminal cases, lawsuits, divorces and probate matters. Official Records contains recorded instruments such as deeds, mortgages, liens and separately recorded judgments.
Where do I search a St. Lucie County appeal?
St. Lucie County is part of Florida’s Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, whose state appeals go to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Search Fourth DCA and Florida Supreme Court cases through Florida ACIS.
Where do I search a federal case from St. Lucie County?
Use PACER. St. Lucie County is in the Southern District of Florida and its Fort Pierce Division rather than the county Clerk’s state-court system.
Official Sources Used for This St. Lucie County Guide
The search routes, access rules, fees, office locations and appellate/federal distinctions in this guide were reviewed against the responsible Clerk, Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Florida Courts and federal judiciary sources. Confirm time-sensitive fees, hours and access restrictions before ordering a record or travelling.
Primary verification routes
- St. Lucie County Clerk — Public Search
- St. Lucie Court Case Search
- St. Lucie Clerk — Electronic Access Registration
- St. Lucie Clerk — Public Records Request
- St. Lucie Clerk — E-Certified Records
- St. Lucie Clerk — Fee Schedule
- St. Lucie Clerk — Locations & Hours
- Nineteenth Judicial Circuit — Courthouse Locations
- Florida Appellate Case Information System
- Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal
- U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida
- PACER — Federal Court Records