Flagler County contains one of Florida's smallest towns and one of its fastest-growing cities, side by side on a short Atlantic coast. Marineland was created in the late 1930s around Marine Studios, an underwater filming facility and attraction that opened in 1938 as the world's first oceanarium. The town still has only a tiny year-round population, but its name is recognized around the world. Just south, coquina rock rises through the sand in rusty-colored shelves that make this shoreline look unlike a typical Florida beach.
Palm Coast now holds most of the county's population. Its network of neighborhoods, canals and parkways grew from a planned community into a full city, and it continues to attract residents from other parts of Florida and the country. Bunnell is the county seat and retains an older small-town grid beside the railroad and U.S. 1. Flagler Beach has a low-rise oceanfront character, with a pier and beach road rather than a wall of towers. Beverly Beach is a small coastal town between Flagler Beach and Marineland.
The county's growth is recent enough to be visible in the land records. Former timber tracts became planned subdivisions, Palm Coast lots changed hands as houses filled in, and coastal parcels accumulated declarations, restrictions and association documents. A legal description may use a Palm Coast subdivision section and lot, a condominium unit, or a metes-and-bounds call in the inland countryside. Similar street names across different sections make the parcel number and exact recorded description especially useful.
A deed might follow a sale, gift, trust transfer, estate plan, family ownership change or correction. If the land is in Palm Coast, Bunnell, Flagler Beach, Beverly Beach, Marineland or an unincorporated part of the county, the instrument is recorded in the same Flagler County Official Records. Recording makes the deed part of the public chain of title. It does not substitute for choosing the correct deed or reviewing the transaction before signing.
The Flagler County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller's Recording Division is on the first floor of the Kim C. Hammond Justice Center, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Building 1, in Bunnell. Documents may be brought to the office, mailed or submitted through an approved eRecording provider. Professional electronic recording accepts deeds and other conveyances through listed vendors, while consumer options have document-type limits that should be checked before use.
The clerk publishes a base recording fee of $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page of a standard instrument. Each indexed name after four adds $1. Documentary stamp tax may also be due on a deed. The recording page lists formatting rules, including the space reserved for the clerk's stamp and the printed names and addresses required for parties and witnesses.
The Flagler County Property Appraiser's website provides the parcel map, ownership and assessment record. The clerk's Official Records search provides deeds and related instruments. Those two official resources are a better starting point than a real estate listing, which may simplify the description for marketing. Marineland made history by letting people see below the ocean's surface. Good deed research does something similar for a property's recorded past.
Official Records
Where deeds are recorded in Flagler County
| Detail | Recording information |
|---|---|
| Recording authority | Flagler County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller |
| Department | Recording Division / Official Records |
| Main recording office | Kim C. Hammond Justice Center, 1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 1, Bunnell, FL 32110 |
| Mailing address | 1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 1, Bunnell, FL 32110 |
| Telephone | 386-313-4360 |
| Submission | In person, by mail, or through approved eRecording providers. Consumer electronic options have document-type limits. |
| Standard charges | For a standard letter-size instrument, Florida's statutory charges generally total $10 for the first page, $8.50 for each additional page, plus $1 for each indexed name after the first four. Deed documentary stamp tax is generally $0.70 per $100 or part of $100 of consideration. Tax, extra documents, certified copies and vendor charges can change the total. |
| Official Records | Search recorded documents |
| Property records | Open the county property appraiser |
Preparing the instrument
Deed requirements for Flagler County
Florida law generally requires a deed conveying real property to be signed by the grantor in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. The instrument also needs the parties, legal description, consideration and documentary stamp treatment, acknowledgment, preparer information, return address, and printed witness information required for the particular recording.
For Flagler County, the recorder currently describes submission this way: In person, by mail, or through approved eRecording providers. Consumer electronic options have document-type limits. Posted standard charges are: For a standard letter-size instrument, Florida's statutory charges generally total $10 for the first page, $8.50 for each additional page, plus $1 for each indexed name after the first four. Deed documentary stamp tax is generally $0.70 per $100 or part of $100 of consideration. Tax, extra documents, certified copies and vendor charges can change the total.
The clerk records documents that satisfy its intake requirements but does not decide whether a deed produces the intended ownership, homestead, tax, mortgage, or estate-planning result. Review the current deed and transfer plan before signing. See Florida Statutes section 689.01 ↗ for the statewide conveyance rule.
Recording places a deed in the county's public records, but it does not replace attorney review of the deed, title, homestead, tax or signing issues.
Sources and verification
- Flagler County Official RecordsRecording Division role, location, contact and record types.
- Flagler Recording Information and FeesDocument requirements, payment types, base recording charges and mailing information.
- Flagler eRecordingApproved eRecording providers and professional and consumer document limits.
- Flagler County Coast to Country: MarinelandTown creation and the world's first oceanarium.
- Flagler County Property AppraiserOfficial parcel, ownership and assessment information.
- Florida Statute 28.24, clerk recording chargesState recording charge framework.
- Florida Department of Revenue, Documentary Stamp TaxDeed tax rates and Miami-Dade distinction.
General information only. This article is not a substitute for legal advice about a particular property or transfer.