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March 2005 |
Question:
What if the courthouse
burned to the ground. Would the Clerk's records be lost?
Answer:
The Clerks of the Circuit Court have been mandated by the Florida Constitution to be the keepers of all official documents and records. We take this task quite seriously, and take all steps available to us to ensure records are not lost.
In the past, before the age of technology, records were tragically lost due to fire, flood or other catastrophic events, much to the frustration of people looking to recreate their family tree or trying to reconstruct history for whatever reason. Fortunately, we live in a great age in which such loss is virtually impossible.
The Department of State is the agency responsible for promulgating records retention and the manner in which they are to be stored. Microfilm is the only media recognized as having a 100 year retention life even though other ways of storage exist. The reason is that technology is constantly changing and the machine that is needed to read a CD ROM may not exist in ten years. Today Florida Clerks not only have records on site but also store copies on film off site in the event of catastrophic disaster.
Increasingly, even historic records across the state are being scanned and stored electronically.
If the courthouse
were to be destroyed, you can rest assured that the records would be safe!