How to Look Up a Court Case in Walton County
An arrest record only tells you how a case started. To find out what actually happened — whether charges were filed, reduced, dropped, or resolved — you need the Clerk of Court. Here is how Walton County’s system works, including the two quirks that catch people out.
Start here
Walton County’s court records search is run by the Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller. Note the domain — it is a .gov address, and sites with similar-looking names are not the Clerk:
waltonclerkfl.gov/courtrecords
You will land on a disclaimer screen first and have to click Accept before the search opens. Usefully, Walton puts its search instructions on that same disclaimer page, so it is worth reading rather than clicking straight through.
Two things that make Walton different
If you have used another county’s portal, two differences will trip you up.
Walton lets you search by last name only — unlike Okaloosa, which requires both a first and last name. The Clerk notes you will get faster results with the full name, but a surname alone will return something. Format is Last, First, Middle, and it is not case sensitive.
This is the big one. Date-range searches are capped at seven days. You cannot pull a month of filings in one query — you have to run it week by week. Plan around it if you are looking across a longer window.
Searching by case number
If you have a case number, use it — it skips name-matching problems entirely. Walton uses two formats, and the Clerk breaks them down like this:
- 662020000123CAAXMX — 2020 is the year filed, 000123 is the sequence number, and CA is the case division.
- 20000123MM — 20 is the year filed, 000123 is the sequence number, and MM is the case division.
The division code tells you what kind of case it is. MM is misdemeanor, CF is felony, CT is criminal traffic, and CA is circuit civil. If you are following a criminal case from this site, you are most often looking for MM, CF, or CT.
Reading the results
A criminal case record typically shows the case number, the charges as filed by the State Attorney (which often differ from the arrest charges), a docket listing every filing and hearing in date order, and the disposition once the case concludes.
The disposition is what most people are actually after:
The State Attorney declined to prosecute, or dropped the charge after filing. No conviction. Often shortened to “nolle prossed” or “NP.”
The judge withheld a formal finding of guilt, usually alongside probation. Not a conviction under Florida law, which matters for sealing eligibility.
The court ended the case — after a successful motion, a completed diversion program, or the State being unable to proceed.
A formal conviction, by plea or trial. This is what disqualifies someone from sealing or expunging under Florida’s standard criteria.
What these records are — and what they are not
Walton’s Clerk offers this access under Florida’s public records law, Chapter 119.01. But the disclaimer is direct about the limits: the website is intended for the personal use of the general public for information purposes only, the information is not the official record, and it should not be relied upon for any type of legal action. The Clerk also states plainly that it will not be responsible for inaccuracies.
So: good enough to find out what happened, not good enough for anything with legal weight. For an employer, landlord, immigration filing, or court, you need a certified copy from the Clerk — not a screenshot.
Getting fuller access — for free
Electronic court record access in Florida is governed by the Florida Supreme Court’s Access Security Matrix, which sets what you can see based on who you are. The general public sees less than attorneys or parties to a case.
Walton offers something worth knowing about: Florida attorneys and individuals seeking registered user access can request a free secure login by completing a Walton County Access Agreement and submitting all three pages to the address on page 3 of the document. If you are regularly following cases, that is a meaningful upgrade over the public view, at no cost.
Office locations
Walton has two Clerk locations, and the second one confuses people constantly:
- Walton County Clerk’s Office — 571 U.S. Highway 90 East, DeFuniak Springs, FL 32433 · (850) 892-8115 · Fax (850) 892-8017
- South Walton Courthouse Annex — 31 Coastal Centre Boulevard, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459 · (850) 267-3066 · Fax (850) 267-1335
The South Walton annex is in Santa Rosa Beach — which is in Walton County, not Santa Rosa County. Despite the name, a case handled there is a Walton County case. If you are searching for a booking that happened around 30A, Miramar Beach, or Santa Rosa Beach, you want Walton County records, not Santa Rosa County’s.
Mailing address is P.O. Box 1260, DeFuniak Springs, FL 32435 — note the different ZIP from the street address, which is for package delivery.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time, except scheduled holidays. That is a half hour earlier than Okaloosa’s opening time if you are planning a trip to both.
A note on the circuit
Walton County sits in Florida’s First Judicial Circuit, along with Escambia, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa counties. All four operate under the same Chief Judge and the same circuit-level administrative orders — so differences you notice between them are usually county practice, not different law.
Bay County is the exception among the counties we cover: it belongs to the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit.
If your case was resolved in your favor
If the Clerk’s record shows your charges were dropped, dismissed, or nolle prossed, and an arrest listing for it still appears on this site, you can ask us to remove it. Removal is free and always will be. A certified disposition is the fastest way to confirm it — submit it through our Mugshot Removal Policy page.
To clear the record more broadly, see our guide on sealing or expunging a Florida criminal record.
Sources
Walton County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller — Public Records Case Search Disclaimer, Contact Us, and Clerk Information pages; Chapter 119.01, Florida Statutes; Florida Supreme Court Access Security Matrix. Portal addresses, forms, search limits, and office hours change — verify with the Clerk before relying on any detail here.
Last reviewed: September 2026