St. Lucie County Clerk of the Circuit Court

The St. Lucie County Clerk of the Circuit Court works from a main office on South Indian River Drive in downtown Fort Pierce and a branch inside the South County Annex in St. Lucie West.

The Clerk's locations page lists the Main Office at 201 S. Indian River Drive, Fort Pierce, FL 34950, and the St. Lucie West Branch at the South County Annex, 250 N.W. Country Club Drive, Port St. Lucie, FL 34986, with both open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., holidays excluded (St. Lucie County Clerk locations and hours). Court hearings and jury service take place in a third building, the Fort Pierce Courthouse at 218 South 2nd Street, and the Clerk asks anyone reporting there to confirm the location and reporting instructions before arriving. Mail goes to the Clerk and Comptroller at P.O. Box 700, Fort Pierce, FL 34954. The main phone line is 772-462-6900, and the same page lists a 24/7 payments by phone line at 866-253-7528.

Parking downtown takes a little planning. The Clerk points visitors to the courthouse parking garage on 2nd Street, public lots and nearby streets, and warns that many downtown Fort Pierce spaces carry a two-hour limit (Clerk locations page). Recording, tax deed, Value Adjustment Board and finance business is listed only at the Fort Pierce Main Office, so a St. Lucie West visit suits filings, traffic payments, marriage licenses and passports. Last verified: October 22, 2026, against the St. Lucie County Clerk locations, fees, marriage, passport, jury and records request pages.

The St. Lucie County Clerk keeps the court files and the county's Official Records, and the same elected office also serves as clerk to the County Commission and as the county's chief financial officer, treasurer and auditor.

The Clerk's About page explains that the Florida Constitution established the Clerk of the Circuit Court as a public trustee responsible for safeguarding public records and public funds, and that the office is directly elected by St. Lucie County residents (St. Lucie County Clerk About page). Besides the court role, the page lists the roles of County Recorder and Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, and it describes the Clerk as the Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Auditor for St. Lucie County. The office says it carries more than 1,000 duties and traces its start to 1905, when St. Lucie County itself was formed.

The recorder duty comes from state law. Section 28.222 of the Florida Statutes makes the clerk of the circuit court the recorder of all instruments the law requires or allows to be recorded in the county, and it requires every instrument to be recorded in one general series called Official Records, with a register showing the filing number, the date and hour of filing, the kind of instrument and the names of the parties, plus a general alphabetical index, direct and inverse (Florida Statutes section 28.222). The same section lists deeds, leases, mortgages, liens, lis pendens and judgments among the instruments the clerk records. In St. Lucie County that work sits with the Recording department at the Fort Pierce Main Office.

The Clerk's home page groups the rest of the work by department: family cases such as divorce, child support and paternity; probate and guardianship; traffic tickets, where drivers can pay a fine, elect traffic school or upload documents; jury duty; marriage licenses; and department forms for change of address, redaction and evictions (St. Lucie County Clerk home page). The home page also offers a Property Fraud Alert sign up for St. Lucie County property owners and a daily court docket for today and tomorrow.

Most St. Lucie County Clerk fees are set by state law, so a plain copy costs $1.00 a page, a records search costs $2.00 for each year searched and recording a document costs $10.00 for the first page.

The Clerk's fee schedule says fees, fines and costs are set and subject to change by the Florida Legislature and asks payers to verify the amount due on the day of payment (St. Lucie County Clerk fees and costs). Cash, money orders and cashier's checks are accepted, personal checks are accepted only in Family Relations, Civil and Probate, and credit card transactions carry a service charge. The table below copies a selection of the St. Lucie County schedule as posted.

County civil claims in St. Lucie County use a sliding scale on the same schedule: $55.00 for a claim under $100, $80.00 for a claim from $100 to $500 and $175.00 for a claim over $500 up to $2,500 (Clerk fee schedule, County Civil). An eviction for possession only is listed at $185.00 plus $10.00 for each summons issued. The passport section of the St. Lucie County schedule adds a practical note: the U.S. Department of State share has to be a check, while the Clerk's own acceptance fee is payable in cash, by check or by credit card.

St. Lucie County court cases and Official Records can be searched online from the Clerk's public search menu, and records that are not online go to the Clerk's Research Department through a public records request.

From its home page the Clerk links searches for court cases and Official Records, plus the Daily Court Schedule, Statewide Searches, Administrative Orders, County Commission Minutes and plat searches (Clerk public search menu). Certified copies of recorded documents can be bought online through Clerk E-Certify. For a record that is not online, the St. Lucie County Clerk's records request page says the Clerk and Comptroller is the custodian of the county's public records and that, under section 119.12 of the Florida Statutes, its Research Department provides copies of court and official records (Clerk public records request page).

The same St. Lucie County page sets expectations: requests take 2 to 7 business days depending on the availability of records and the complexity of the request, and some information may be redacted under the statutes and court rule the page lists. Requests can also be faxed to 772-462-6908, the requester is told the final cost before the search is completed, and a certification done with a deputy clerk's help costs the $2 statutory fee plus a $1.50 Clerk service fee and $1 for each page. Mailed payments for court and official records go to the Research Department on the 4th floor, P.O. Box 700, Fort Pierce, FL 34954. The Clerk asks requesters to submit each request through one channel only, and a User Agreement Form opens enhanced access to some court records.

Property owners who disagree with a value set by the St. Lucie County Property Appraiser also end up at the Clerk. The Property Appraiser's petition page says a Value Adjustment Board petition is filed at the Clerk of the Court's website, with the Parcel ID number ready (Property Appraiser Value Adjustment Board page), and the Clerk lists the Value Adjustment Board among the Fort Pierce Main Office services (Clerk locations page).

Marriage license applications in St. Lucie County go online or across the counter at either Clerk office, Fort Pierce or St. Lucie West, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and the license, once issued, is good in any Florida county for 60 days.

In person, both parties bring a federal or state identification card showing name and date of birth, such as a driver license or passport, plus a Social Security number; the St. Lucie County Clerk does not accept birth certificates as identification (Clerk marriage license page). Both parties must read the Family Law Handbook and sign an affidavit saying they read it. Couples who apply online are processed through a 30 minute Zoom video conference, which the Clerk stresses is not a wedding ceremony, and that video service is offered only in English.

The Clerk's page explains the timing rules. A three-day waiting period applies before the license can be used, it is waived for couples who attend premarital counseling, and the St. Lucie County Clerk accepts counseling certificates from pastors or counselors; non-Florida residents have no waiting period. Counseling also brings a $25 discount on the license. If a divorce was final within the last six months, a certified copy of the final decree is required. After the ceremony, the officiant signs the license, and it must be returned to the Clerk within 10 days by mail or to the Recording Department.

The Clerk performs ceremonies at both the Fort Pierce Main Office and the South County Annex in St. Lucie West for $30 each, on top of the license fee, with no appointment needed unless the couple wants the Clerk's photographer, listed at $50.00. A keepsake certificate is offered for $10.70 including sales tax.

The St. Lucie County Clerk takes U.S. passport applications at both the Fort Pierce and St. Lucie West offices, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and it runs jury service at the courthouse on South 2nd Street.

First-time applicants, children under 16, people whose last passport was issued more than 15 years ago and anyone whose passport was lost or stolen apply in person with Form DS-11, proof of citizenship, proof of identity and one 2-inch by 2-inch color photo (Clerk passport page). Renewals use Form DS-82 and can go by mail when the applicant meets the age and issue date conditions the page lists. For travel within 14 calendar days, the Clerk sends applicants to the National Passport Information Center, 1-877-487-2778, to book a passport agency appointment. The St. Lucie County fee schedule lists a first-time adult passport book at $130.00 payable to the U.S. Department of State plus the $35.00 Clerk acceptance fee, a total the Clerk gives as $165.00 (Clerk passport fees).

A St. Lucie County jury summons leads to the Jury Assembly Room on the 2nd floor of the courthouse at 218 South 2nd Street, Fort Pierce, and the Clerk asks jurors to use the parking garage beside the courthouse on 2nd Street rather than two-hour spaces (Clerk jury duty page). Jurors can check in online to confirm service or request a postponement or excusal, and a summoned juror who is not postponed or excused calls 772-462-6982 after 5 p.m. the evening before to hear whether to report. Two postponements are allowed before written documentation is required, a person 70 or older may ask to be excused, and failing to appear can bring a $100 fine.

Juror pay comes from the state: the Clerk lists $15 a day for jurors who are not paid wages while serving, are unemployed, self employed or retired, and $30 a day from the fourth day of service for every juror. The St. Lucie County Clerk also warns that it and the courts never demand payment by phone, gift cards or money apps over a missed jury date, and it treats such calls, texts and emails as scams.