Clerk of Court

I had quite in interesting time in Downtown Tampa last week. Although I spent 40 minutes in the Florida sun walking around downtown, I never actually made it to meet my class at the county center. I was inside the correct building, I even later found out that I was pretty much at the door, but was redirected by security who told me on board members were allowed in the conference that my class was located in. Fortunately for me, the field trip was recorded and placed online. Thank goodness for Professor Thelen preparedness...

I recognized her face from the website. In fact when you log on to http://www.hillsclerk.com/ Pat Frank's face is the first thing you see. Frank has been extremely influential in the faster progression of time that documents are processed. Her office began coordinating with the sheriffs office in order to process documents faster. Inmates used to wait months to be transferred from county jails (at tax payer expense) to state prison due to the slow process of paperwork.

After watching the lecture I spent some time on the clerk's website. For a whopping $109.00 and sealed with true love's kiss, I could tie the not. No glitz, glamour, or stress of wedding planning...sound enticing? The website also has a full list of fees the court charges to file certain cases, that helpful in asking oneself is it worth it to pursue legal action in certain cases. Family law is definitely intriguing. Its interesting to see if someone is paying their child support on time. If you're dating someone and you happen to know their SSN and case #, you can find our if they're really paying their child support on time. There is also a link to the office of Vital statistics. Which comes in handy when needing to pull up Birth and Death Certificates, marriages licenses and of course, divorce.

Due to volumes of paper work needed in complex cases attorney's can upload pleadings automatically to official court files through e-filings. The clerk of court has become more efficient and organized through the use of technology according to Pat Frank during her lecture. There have been a number of services and offices created to help people who are need of general information as well as young reporters who need access to vital accurate information to inform the public.

I thought my class had pretty much learn most of what we'd need to know to be good investigative journalist until I really took the time to explore all the information made available to the public through the county clerks office.