Manatee County Court Records Lookup

The following is for information purposes only

Manatee County was founded on January 9, 1855, and named after Florida manatee, the state's official marine mammal. Its largest city and county seat is Bradenton. Manatee County is one of the counties in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida and has over 405,069 inhabitants. A County Court and one Circuit Court (the higher court) make up the trial court system in Manatee County and serve as the backbone for resolving both minor and major legal disputes.

The County Court is located at Manatee Avenue West, Bradenton. It is also known as the People's Court and has jurisdiction over traffic violation cases, less serious criminal offenses, and disputes involving small amounts of controversy. The Circuit Court is also in Bradenton, where the courthouse is located, and is a court of general jurisdiction. It is made up of five divisions, which are civil, criminal, family, juvenile, and probate/guardianship. These divisions try felony, family law, juvenile, and probate cases. Cases are also appealed from the county court to the circuit court.

The crime report contained in Crime in Florida Abstract Manatee County indicates that there were 2,148.4 crimes committed in Manatee County in 2019. From a period of 2015 to 2019, there was a decrease in both violent and property crimes with violent crimes occurring less often compared to property crimes. There was a -7.6% difference in the 2018 and 2019 total index crimes committed such as robbery, larceny, burglary, aggravated assault, and motor vehicle theft. The Statewide County Report stated 2.0004 crimes committed by 100,000 people in the 2021 annual report. Official court records are stored by indexing on a database. Court records are in the custody of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller and they are maintained by this clerk as part of their judicial responsibility. The public can retrieve court records, non-confidential document images, or dockets online on the public records hub. Additionally, they could go on the website of the Circuit Court Clerk and Comptroller or from the public access department located in the courthouse. Cases such as adoption, juvenile, and petitions for injunctions, until a respondent has been served with a copy of a petition for injunction, affidavits, notice of hearing, and temporary injunction, are confidential.

With the use of cutting-edge technology in storing and disseminating court records in Manatee County, the public can access diverse case information and motions generated from court sessions. The efficiency in disseminating non-confidential court records in non-confidential case types has aided the public in locating records of interest in a timely fashion. The Circuit Court and County Court are very reliable and play pivotal roles in the daily administration of justice, thereby bringing about an unwavering belief in the trial court system of Manatee County.