The Florida Senate

¹55.203  Judgment lien certificate; content, recording, and indexing.--

(1)  An original judgment lien certificate, as provided in s. 55.202, must include:

(a)  The legal name of each judgment debtor and, if a recorded legal entity, the registered name and document filing number as shown in the records of the Department of State.

(b)  The last known address and social security number, federal identification number, or, in the instance in which the judgment creditor is a state agency or a political subdivision of the state, a taxpayer or other distinct identification number of each judgment debtor, except that in cases of default judgment, the social security number must be included only if known, or federal employer identification number of each judgment debtor.

(c)  The legal name of the judgment creditor and, if a recorded legal entity, the registered name and document filing number as shown in the records of the Department of State, and the name of the judgment creditor's attorney or duly authorized representative, if any.

(d)  The address and social security number or federal employer identification number of the judgment creditor.

(e)  The identity of the court which entered the judgment and the case number and the date the written judgment was entered.

(f)  The amount due on the money judgment and the applicable interest rate.

(g)  The signature of the judgment creditor or the judgment creditor's attorney or duly authorized representative.

(h)  With respect to a lien created by a delivery of a writ of execution to a sheriff prior to October 1, 2001, an affidavit by the judgment creditor which attests that the person or entity possesses any documentary evidence of the date of delivery of the writ, and a statement of that date or a certification by the sheriff of the date as provided in s. 30.17(4).

(2)  A second judgment lien certificate, as provided in s. 55.204(3), must include the information required in subsection (1) and must state the file number assigned to the record of the original judgment lien certificate, the money amount remaining unpaid, and the interest accrued thereon.

(3)  An amendment, as provided in s. 55.206, or a correction statement, as provided in s. 55.207, must state the file number of the judgment lien record to which the amendment or correction statement relates and must state the action, change, or statement to be added.

(4)  The Department of State shall examine, for compliance with ss. 55.201-55.209, each document submitted for recording and shall accept or reject the document accordingly. For each judgment lien certificate recorded, the department shall:

(a)  Create a record.

(b)  Assign a unique file number to the record.

(c)  Include the date of filing of the judgment lien certificate.

(d)  Maintain the record in a database accessible to the public via the Internet.

(e)  Index the judgment lien certificate according to the name of each judgment debtor.

(f)  Index all subsequently filed documents relating to an original judgment lien certificate in a manner that associates them to the original judgment lien certificate.

(5)  The validity of a judgment lien certificate recorded under this section may not be defeated by technical or clerical errors made in good faith which are not seriously misleading, nor may any claim of estoppel be based on such errors.

(6)  The Department of State shall prescribe mandatory forms of all documents to be filed under this section.

History.--s. 10, ch. 2000-258.

¹Note.--Effective October 1, 2001.