CLERK OF COURT & COMPTROLLER
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA
The County Civil Department maintains the records and documentation for cases involving eviction law suits, small claims and other civil law suits up to $50,000 which include car repair disputes, release of personal property and payment information for a judgment.
Electronic viewing of many court records, indexes and dockets as well as non-confidential document images is currently available on our Hillsborough Online Viewing of Electronic Records (HOVER) site.
If you are authorized under Florida Rules of Judicial Administration to view a court file but are unable to view it online and/or you need a copy, you may view or pick up a copy of the file at our Tampa Edgecomb or Plant City locations. To allow adequate time for redaction processing, it may take four business days for your file to be available for on-site viewing and/or pick-up. We suggest that you pre-order the file for onsite viewing or pick-up by completing the Order Form for County Civil files.
You can file a case in the county court, if the car is valued less than $50,000, requesting the judge to declare you the owner of the car. You would take a certified copy of the order to the county tax collector to begin the process of issuing a title. The Clerk's Office does not provide forms for this type of case. You may need to seek legal advice on how to proceed.
The Clerk's Office cannot advise you on the proper party to sue as it may constitute the giving of legal advice, which we cannot do as we are not attorneys. File your case with the best information that you have. When the case comes to court, additional information may be presented at the hearing.
A pretrial hearing is held only on small claims cases (under $8,000.00). The purpose of the pretrial is to briefly discuss the issues and determine if the case can be settled at that time, rescheduled for a trial at a later date, or referred to mediation.
The judge will refer a case to mediation. A mediator will listen to both sides of the case to see if it can be resolved. If you were ordered by the judge to go to mediation, you MUST attend or further court actions against you may occur for not attending. If mediation does not resolve the case, it may be referred back to the Judge for a final hearing.
When a judgment is signed, copies of the judgment are served on all parties in the case at the last known address in the court file. If you have moved and did not notify the court of your current address, you may not receive notification of the judgment.
If you want to pay the judgment, you are required to pay the full amount of the judgment plus interest at the legal rate from the date the judgment was signed. The amount would be paid to the plaintiff or their attorney. If the plaintiff or their attorney cannot be located, you can deposit the full amount into the Court Registry and the Clerk will prepare a Satisfaction of Judgment upon payment of the applicable statutory Clerk's fees.
The State of Florida Bureau of Financial Responsibility handles the revoking of driver’s licenses resulting from a judgment. You can contact Financial Responsibility by calling 850-488-7135.
Contact the attorney, if there is one in the case, and see if he/she will agree to the continuance. If not, you may file a request for continuance with the Clerk's Office for review by the judge.
Mail: PO Box 3360, Tampa, FL 33601-3360 |
Email: Contact us |
Phone: (813) 276-8100 |
In person: Downtown Tampa, Plant City. See wait times. Schedule an appointment online for the Downtown Tampa location to shorten wait times at the Clerk's Office. Select Civil Courts - Appt as your appointment service type. |