Broward County Lawyer

About Arturo R. Alfonso, P.A.

How Legal Matters Work in Broward County

A different circuit from Miami. Broward County is Florida’s Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, separate from Miami-Dade’s Eleventh. A Broward divorce, eviction, or foreclosure is filed and heard in Broward, under the Seventeenth Circuit’s own judges and procedures, even though our office is in Miami. The main courthouse is the Central Courthouse at 201 SE 6th Street in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The Clerk lists its West Building as the place for family cases (divorce, child support, and paternity, with the Family Division in Room 04130), domestic violence, county civil, small claims, evictions, and foreclosures. Three regional courthouses handle county civil matters and accept circuit civil and probate filings closer to home: North Regional at 1600 West Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach, West Regional at 100 North Pine Island Road in Plantation, and South Regional at 3550 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood (Broward County Clerk of Courts and Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, checked October 2026). A residential eviction is a county court case under the summary procedure of Florida Statutes section 83.59; see landlord-tenant and eviction representation. Whether a divorce needs a court appearance at all is covered in our guide to going to court for a divorce.

Bankruptcy has its own Broward courthouse. Bankruptcy is federal. Broward cases belong to the Fort Lauderdale Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, at the United States Courthouse, 299 East Broward Boulevard, not to the Miami Division. Filing a case triggers the automatic stay wherever the debtor lives; see how the automatic stay affects collection.

The County records deeds, not the Clerk. In Miami-Dade, the Clerk’s office keeps the Official Records. In Broward, deeds, mortgages, liens, and other documents are recorded by Broward County’s Records, Taxes and Treasury Division, 115 South Andrews Avenue, Room 114, in Fort Lauderdale. Recorded images can be searched online. A title search reads those records before a closing; see title search and title insurance. Florida law does not require an attorney at a closing, but your own attorney can review the contract and the title commitment and step in when a problem comes up.

The standard deed tax applies. Florida’s documentary stamp tax on a deed is 70 cents for each $100 of the consideration (Florida Statutes section 201.02(1)(a)). Miami-Dade’s different rate and surtax do not apply to a Broward deed. How it fits with the other costs of a sale is covered in how much closing costs are in Florida.

Building safety inspections start at 25 years. Broward’s Board of Rules and Appeals runs a county-wide Building Safety Inspection Program (BORA Policy 05-05, effective August 9, 2024). A building that is not exempt must have a structural and electrical inspection by a Florida-licensed engineer or architect once it reaches 25 years from its certificate of occupancy, and every ten years after that. Exempt buildings include single-family through four-family dwellings of three or fewer habitable stories, fee simple townhouses, and buildings under 3,500 square feet. The owner or association pays for the inspection and any required repairs. After the building official’s notice, the inspection must be completed within 180 days, and repairs found necessary generally must be completed within 180 days of the report unless the building official specifies otherwise. For condominium and cooperative buildings, the policy says this inspection also counts as the state milestone inspection under Florida Statutes section 553.899. If you are buying a Broward condo unit or a commercial building, ask for the latest inspection report and any repair letters before you are bound; see Florida’s condo milestone inspection and SIRS rules.

Watching the records for your own property. The Broward County Property Appraiser offers Owner Alert, a free service that emails a registered owner when the Appraiser’s office receives a change of ownership on the property. You register with your name, the Property ID number, and an email address. The Appraiser does not decide whether a deed is fraudulent and advises contacting the police for the city where the property sits. Florida law gives a quiet title action based on a fraudulent conveyance a summary procedure, advanced on the court’s calendar (Florida Statutes section 65.091). See quiet title actions.