Taylor County calls itself the Tree Capital of the South, and this is not decorative chamber-of-commerce foliage. In 1965, the county's more than half-million forested acres helped earn the proclamation. The Forest Capital Museum State Park near Perry explains how pine, turpentine and timber shaped local life. Outside, a 19th-century cracker homestead shows what settlement looked like when the forest was both workplace and building supply.
Perry is the county seat and only incorporated city, the center for government, schools, shopping and forest-industry history. Steinhatchee sits on the river near the Gulf and is known for fishing, boating and scallop season. Keaton Beach, Dekle Beach and Cedar Island are small coastal communities on the county's broad Big Bend shoreline. Inland places such as Shady Grove and Salem retain a rural landscape of pine tracts, farms and scattered homes.
That mix creates deeds for very different kinds of property. A Perry house may have a straightforward platted description. Timber acreage may use section, township and range. Coastal parcels can involve old plats, private roads, flood zones and access questions. A legal description should be checked against the prior deed and survey information rather than reconstructed from a map outline. The street address helps people find the gate, but it does not do the legal work of identifying the land.
The Taylor County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller records deeds in the county's Official Records. The office is at 108 North Jefferson Street, Suite 102, Perry, Florida 32348. Mailed instruments go to Taylor County Clerk of Courts & Comptroller, P.O. Box 620, Perry, Florida 32348. The current main number is 850-838-3506. Customers may deliver documents in person, send them by mail or use the electronic recording service linked by the clerk.
Standard recording costs $10 for the first page and $8.50 for every additional page. Each indexed name after four adds $1. Documentary stamp tax on a deed is generally 70 cents per $100, or fraction, of taxable consideration. An instrument must also satisfy Florida requirements for execution, acknowledgment, witness information, preparer identification and grantee address. The clerk can explain recording mechanics but cannot select a deed or give legal advice.
Taylor County's property appraiser data can help confirm a parcel number, situs and assessment record. The clerk's local Official Record Search provides the recorded deed trail. Both are useful, but legal title depends on the instruments and law, not simply the name shown on a tax page. A sale, gift, trust transfer, probate-related conveyance or ownership correction may each raise different issues.
A forest succeeds one tree and one season at a time. A land-record system grows much the same way, one properly indexed instrument after another. Whether the deed concerns a Perry home, a Steinhatchee retreat, a Keaton Beach lot or a long rectangle of timberland, careful names and a complete legal description help the record remain useful after many rings have been added to the pines.
Official Records
Where deeds are recorded in Taylor County
| Detail | Recording information |
|---|---|
| Recording authority | Taylor County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller |
| Department | Official Records |
| Main recording office | 108 N. Jefferson Street, Suite 102, Perry, FL 32348 |
| Mailing address | P.O. Box 620, Perry, FL 32348 |
| Telephone | 850-838-3506 |
| Submission | in person, mail, and approved eRecording provider |
| 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 Taylor 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 Taylor County, the recorder currently describes submission this way: in person, mail, and approved eRecording provider 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
- Taylor Clerk ContactCurrent office and mailing addresses, agency name and phone.
- Taylor Clerk FeesOfficial recording, indexing and documentary stamp charges.
- Florida State Parks, Forest Capital Museum1965 Tree Capital proclamation, forest acreage and timber-history interpretation.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Taylor CountyCurrent population and geographic context.
- Taylor Clerk Official Record SearchOfficial local search for recorded instruments.
- 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.