News, Notices, and Court Orders

By Order of the Chief Judge, the New Smyrna Beach Courthouse Annex will be permanently closed on December 23rd, 2017. Services previously provided at this location will be relocated to the Daytona Beach Courthouse Annex and the Volusia County Courthouse, DeLand. Click here to view a copy of the order.

Floridians, especially those who have recently purchased property in Florida, should be wary of unsolicited letters or emails asking consumers to pay a fee to obtain a copy of their real estate deed. Consumers have received letters from a company stating they should request a copy of their deed and property details for a fee of $89 or more. The letter contains identifying details on the property and has an official appearance. It urges a response by a specified date. The letter does include a disclaimer stating that the company is not affiliated with any government agency and that it should be taken as a solicitation rather than a bill; however, the letter’s official appearance and wording could mislead consumers.

Consumers who wish to obtain an official copy of their deeds or details on their property should contact their local county clerk’s office or property appraiser’s office. These services are usually free or a nominal fee.

The Clerk’s new Official Records application is fully implemented and we hope you are benefitting from this new mobile-friendly technology. We will discontinue offering the “old” Official Records application on Monday, December 4th. If you have bookmarks to the original Official Records Document Inquiry, you will need to remove them and start using the new inquiry after that date.

Supreme Court of Florida:The Supreme Court of Florida has issued Administrative Order AOSC17-69 regarding extension of time periods due to Hurricane Irma.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court: 2017 UNCLAIMED PAYMENTS NOTICE.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court is pleased to offer a mobile device friendly version of the Volusia County Official Records Document Inquiry. The New Document Inquiry has an updated design and we hope that you find searching the official records more efficient. Please feel free to provide feedback by using the Customer Service Survey found on the home page.

The Clerk's office now has an automated kiosk accepting payments for traffic citations and child support located in the hallway outside of the Traffic department, Room 109, at the City Island Courthouse Annex. It accepts cash, debit and most credit cards for your convenience. To make child support payments you'll need your case number and social security number. For traffic, please have your driver's license number and traffic citation number. Please be aware there is a convenience fee charged by the vendor for use of the kiosk.

Consumers targeted for payment of fraudulent citations

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. � The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) is warning consumers that they may be targeted by a company representing itself as the DHSMV demanding payment for fraudulent citations. The company, which is not associated with the DHSMV in any way, will send emails to consumers requesting payment of a citation within a certain timeframe and if the payment is not received on time, the company will falsely require a daily late fee payment.

The email sent to consumers includes a linked payment page and email address. While the linked payment page appears to be inactive at this time, the DHSMV is warning consumers that this is a scam and no payment should be made. If a consumer has made a payment, they should refute the charge and take the appropriate security measures with their financial institution.

Consumers should note the following:

• The DHSMV and Clerks of Court do not email citations to customers;
• The DHSMV and Clerks of Court do not require citation payment via email;
• Citation numbers are always seven alpha-numeric digits;
• If a consumer receives a notice regarding a suspicious citation, they should contact the local Clerk of Court or call the DHSMV immediately.

We are finding that some people that access forms from the website are still getting forms with Diane M. Matousek, while other people that access the same form are getting Laura E. Roth. This is occurring even after clearing all browser cache.

This issue can occur due to Adobe PDF Reader caching previously viewed documents in order to speed up display. Adobe Reader suggests the following steps to clear cache:

• Start Adobe Reader.
• From the menu, select Edit ~ Preferences ~ General.
• Select Startup. The Opening Documents option is displayed.
• Clear the Use Page Cache option to prevent Adobe Reader from storing the next page of a PDF image in a local cache.
• Shut down Adobe Reader.

Be aware that different versions of Adobe Reader exist with varying menu options. The version number usually can be found selecting Help and then About. Specific instructions may be available via a Google Search.

Credit and debit card payments can now be made online for all types of court cases such as Felony, Misdemeanor, Circuit Civil, County Civil, Family Law, and Probate. See Court Case Payments under Online Payment Options.

Effective Friday, December 2, 2016, the Clerk of Court is expanding the eService pilot to include Circuit Civil in addition to Family Law documents. Pursuant to Volusia County Administrative Order P-2016-152, attorneys will receive most court and clerk originated documents via their email address(es) registered on the Florida Statewide ePortal. If you receive service on a case in which you no longer represent a party, you must remove yourself from the service list for that case on the Statewide ePortal. Instructions on how to remove yourself from a case on the ePortal can be found here. Non-attorney parties who have registered on the Florida Statewide ePortal or who have filed a Permission to Use E-Mail form with the Clerk of Court, will also receive most court and clerk originated documents via the email address they have provided.

Notice - Effective August 1st, 2016, upon receipt of the summons issuance fee, the Volusia County Clerk's Office will prepare and electronically sign and seal the summons. The summons will then be mailed back to the filer and the filer is responsible for effectuating service on the party. The Clerk's office will no longer accept the Sheriff's fee and summons packets to be forwarded to the Sheriff, with the exception of evictions and pro se cases. Be advised the Clerk's office will begin eServing electronically signed summonses as well in the near future. Notices will be posted to our website advising of the date.

If you receive a mailing offering to provide a copy of your property deed in exchange for a fee, please be aware many of these documents are available for free, or certified copies for a nominal fee, on the Clerk of Court's website in Volusia County. You may use "Search Public Records Online" on our homepage and chose document inquiry under "Official Records" and find many recorded deeds, mortgages and other recorded public records. You may print these documents at no charge.

Effective immediately, subscriber access will be required in order to make image viewing requests on all sex-related criminal cases.

To obtain subscriber access, please refer to our Request Online Viewing page.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to represent the Clerk's office threatening you with a warrant or arrest as part of an attempt to get payment from you, this is an imposter and is NOT the Clerk's office. The most recent scam is sophisticated and may even appear to be the Clerk's office on your caller ID. However the official Clerk's office will never call you discussing a warrant or threatening you for payment over the phone. If you receive such a call, please call your local law-enforcement agency. Do not give money to the imposter.

We are pleased to announce that pursuant to Supreme Court Administrative Order AOSC 15-18, the Clerk is now authorized to make many public court document images available for online viewing. This Order specifies the security level permissions of various users depending on the case and document type. Cases and documents made confidential by statute or court order are excluded.

Using Case Inquiry on the Public Records page you will now see many public document images displayed automatically on the docket tab within the case. Some documents must be requested and reviewed by a Clerk before they can be released for online viewing. Of course, some case types and documents are nonpublic and may not be viewed.

Also, you may apply to receive login information for increased viewing permissions. These applications require a notarized signature and other information pursuant to the Supreme Court Order. To register for additional online viewing, see the options on the Request Online Viewing page.

NOTICE: Fraud Alert - Please review Notice Concerning Scams Targeting Jurors.

Volusia County Florida Clerk of the Circuit Court was awarded the 2015 Best of NIEM for their effort to standardize and centralize crucial court data and case files across Florida.

The Clerk's Office efforts in piloting of the Comprehensive Case Information System (CCIS 3.0) was so successful that the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers (FCC) received a $1.8M grant to distribute among those needing funding assistance with implementing the model for information sharing state-wide. Data elements from CCIS 3.0 will be re-used, adapted, and extended not just in the state of Florida, but in communities across the country.