Official records and deeds — Indian River County, Florida

One office records land documents for the whole county: the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, at the Indian River County Courthouse in Vero Beach and a Sebastian Office on U.S. 1.

No city in the county runs its own land registry. A deed for a grove tract west of Fellsmere, a condominium on Orchid Island or a lot in Vero Lake Estates goes into the same Official Records, and the Property Appraiser points owners to the Clerk with the line that deeds are available at the Clerk of the Court (Indian River County Property Appraiser). The Clerk's list of recordable papers covers deeds, mortgages, leases, assignments, claims of liens and satisfactions, plus court documents, declarations of domicile and some federal instruments (Clerk Official Records page). Anything outside a statute is turned away: the Clerk records only the document types a statute authorizes, however much a filer wants a paper on file.

The scale is large. The Property Appraiser's 2025 certified tax roll counts 95,396 real parcels across the county (ircpa.org).

The Records Service Center is at 2000 16th Avenue in Vero Beach (Copies and Records Research), the Recording Department works from the same courthouse (Clerk Recording Department location), and the Clerk's contact page lists Recording hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (Clerk contact page). The Sebastian Office at 1921 U.S. Highway 1 opens only Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8:30 am to 5 pm. Other Clerk functions sit at the county complex: the Comptroller and the Clerk to the Board both list the County Administration Building, 1801 27th Street, Building A, Vero Beach (Indian River County Clerk). The Property Appraiser's own pair of offices, 1800 27th Street in Vero Beach and 1921 U.S. 1 in Sebastian, value parcels but do not record deeds.

Viewing Indian River County Official Records online costs nothing, while certified copies are issued by the Records Service Center at the Vero Beach courthouse or through the online eCertify service.

Free viewing rests on state law. Florida Statutes 28.2221 makes every county recorder keep an online index running back to January 1, 1990 at the latest, holding grantor and grantee names, party names, date, book and page, comments and record type (F.S. 28.2221). Indian River County meets that through its Official Records Search, where many records can be read and uncertified prints made at no charge (Records Service Center).

A free printout is not proof. The same statute says that, unless another law provides, nothing retrieved electronically under it is admissible in court as an authenticated document. For a closing, a title claim or a court file, a certified copy is the usual answer. The Records Service Center copies Official Records such as deeds, mortgages, judgments, liens and marriage licenses, along with court records, plats and County Commission records. A request moves faster with the CFN (Clerk File Number) or the book and page, plus the page count. Counter customers can pay by cash, check, money order or credit card; mailed requests need a check or money order.

Certification can also happen online. The Clerk's eCertify function, run by Triedata, issues tamper-proof electronically certified copies of most recorded documents, including deeds, mortgages, notices of commencement and final judgments (Clerk E-Certify). A document with restricted internet access cannot be eCertified, so a certified copy of it means an in-person visit to the Clerk's Office, where the Records Service Center in Vero Beach issues certified copies over the counter. The Indian River County fee schedule prices online eCertified copies at $9.00 per copy, and a walk-in eCertified copy at $9.00 for the first page and $1.00 for each additional page (Clerk fee schedule).

The Clerk of the Circuit Court in Vero Beach charges $10.00 to record the first page of a standard document and $8.50 for each page after it, with state documentary stamp and intangible taxes added on deeds and mortgages.

The taxes are the large number. The Clerk collects them as agent for the Florida Department of Revenue: 70 cents per $100 of consideration on a deed and 35 cents per $100 of the loan on a mortgage, always rounded up to the next hundred, plus intangible tax at 2 mills (.002) of the mortgage amount (Clerk Official Records page). Take a $250,000 mortgage on a house in the Vero Beach area. That is 2,500 units of $100, so the stamps come to 2,500 times $0.35, or $875, and the intangible tax is $250,000 times 0.002, or $500, for $1,375 in state taxes before any page fees. The same rates are written into state law: 35 cents on each $100 or fraction of a mortgage debt under section 201.08 (F.S. 201.08) and a one-time tax of 2 mills on each dollar of a mortgage-secured obligation under section 199.133 (F.S. 199.133).

Short payment costs more. The Clerk warns that unpaid documentary stamps draw a penalty of 10 percent that may rise to 50 percent, depending on how long the tax goes unpaid, plus interest of one percent per month from recordation. Because consideration can include assumed debt or the value of a trade, the Clerk directs filers in Sebastian, Vero Beach and elsewhere in the county to Florida Department of Revenue Taxpayer Services at 800-352-3671, open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Construction liens have their own lines on the schedule of the Clerk of the Circuit Court: recording a mechanic's lien certificate is $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 per added page, the Clerk's issuance of the certificate is $20.00, and each additional lien is $10.00 more (Indian River County Clerk fees). A 3.5 percent fee applies to credit and debit card payments.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court will not record an Indian River County land document that lacks the printed names and post office addresses Florida Statutes 695.26 demands, or that leaves no blank margin for the recording stamp.

The statute, which binds the Clerk in Vero Beach as it binds every Florida clerk of the circuit court, lists the checks one by one (F.S. 695.26). Each signer's name must be printed, typed or stamped below the signature together with a post-office address. The person who prepared the instrument, or supervised its preparation, must appear by name and address. Each witness needs a printed name and a post office address, and a notary's name must be printed under the notary signature. On page one, a 3-inch by 3-inch block at the top right corner stays empty for the Clerk, and later pages keep a 1-inch by 3-inch block. Any instrument other than a mortgage must also show each grantee's name and address.

The witness address is the newest piece. Effective January 1, 2024, the Clerk of the Circuit Court requires the post office address of each witness on any instrument that conveys, assigns, encumbers or otherwise disposes of an interest in real property, including leases and agreements for deed (Indian River County Clerk). Notices of commencement are excluded, a post office box satisfies the rule, and a protected person may ask to have a witness address redacted.

Some papers sit outside section 695.26 entirely: instruments signed before July 1, 1991; decrees, orders and judgments of a court; instruments executed, acknowledged or proved outside Florida; wills; plats; and instruments prepared by a public officer other than a notary. Plats still pay the separate plat rate at the courthouse in Vero Beach.

Indian River County land documents can be filed electronically through three vendors the Clerk accepts, and any owner can sign up for a free Property Fraud Alert email from the Clerk's Recording Office.

The Clerk lists its e-recording vendors in alphabetical order: CSC (Corporation Service Company), ePN (eRecording Partners Network) and Simplifile (Clerk E-Recording). The page sends Recording Department questions to 772-226-3100, Option 2, Option 6; 772-226-3100 is the main line of the courthouse in Vero Beach.

Property Fraud Alert watches names, not parcels. It sends an email each time a document is recorded under a registered name at the Indian River County Clerk of Court Recording Office, and the sign-up page asks for a separate form for every alias, middle initial and full middle name (Property Fraud Alert). Businesses can register a business name the same way. Questions go to the Recording department at (772) 226-3176.

Mail aimed at owners deserves a careful read. On October 12, 2026, the Indian River County Property Appraiser's home page carried a caution that a mailer advertisement is reaching property owners, beside its reminder that deeds come from the Clerk of the Court (Property Appraiser). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Indian River County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller website, with office details checked against the Property Appraiser site.

Florida law keeps military discharges, death certificates and family, juvenile and probate court papers off the public Official Records Search website of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, though the names of grantors and grantees stay in the index.

Section 28.2221 forbids a county recorder from placing those images, or any information exempt under section 119.071, on a public internet site (F.S. 28.2221). Where a grantor or grantee name carries the street portion of an exempt home address, the recorder must strip the street address from display, while the full record stays in the Official Records kept at the Vero Beach courthouse.

Removal is by request. A person claiming an exemption under section 119.071 must put the request in writing, have it notarized, state under oath the statutory basis, and identify the book and page, instrument number or clerk's file number. No fee may be charged. The Clerk of the Circuit Court repeats the notice on its records pages and adds that grantor, grantee and party names described in section 28.222(2) will not be removed from the index (Clerk Copies and Records Research). Anyone may also ask the Clerk to add to the website the identity of a respondent in a final injunction for the protection of a minor, unless that respondent is a minor.