No. Domestic partnership registration, terminations, and amendments are recorded in the Official Records of Leon County, and are subject to Florida public records laws.

No. You will complete the affidavit while you are at the County Clerk's office.

Yes. Both partners must come to the County Clerk's office together.

To register a domestic partnership, both partners must come in person, together, to the Leon County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller's Official Records Division. Office locations are 1276 Metropolitan Boulevard, #101, or the county courthouse at 301 S. Monroe Street, #100. Click here for our current hours of operation. A recording fee of $50 is required, and must be remitted at the time of application by cash, credit card, or check (made payable to the Leon County Clerk of Courts).

The following summarizes the rights granted to Leon County's Registered Domestic Partners, to the extent these rights are not superseded by federal or state laws, or contrary to rights conferred by contract or separate legal instrument:

• Healthcare facility visitation - Healthcare facilities operating within or under the jurisdiction of Leon County shall allow a registered domestic partner visitation as provided under federal law. A dependent of a registered domestic partner shall have the same visitation rights as a patient's child.


• Healthcare decisions - Each registered domestic partner is designated to make health care decisions for their incapacitated partner, and is authorized to act as the other's healthcare surrogate.


• Funeral and burial decisions - Each registered domestic partner is authorized to direct the disposition of their partner's body for funeral and burial purposes, unless the decedent provided other written direction subsequent to registering their domestic partnership.


• Notification of family members - In any situation providing for mandatory or permissible notification of family members, such as in an emergency or when permission is granted to inmates to contact family members, such notification shall include a registered domestic partner.


• Preneed guardian designation - Each registered domestic partner has the same right as any other individual to be designated as a preneed guardian pursuant to Florida law, and to serve in such capacity in the event of his or her registered domestic partner's incapacity.


• Correctional facility visitation rights - Each registered domestic partner is entitled to visit their partner, or other family member of their partner, who is an inmate at a correctional facility located within or under the jurisdiction of Leon County, under the same terms and conditions afforded to spouses, children or parents of inmates, and these visitation rights extend to an inmate's registered domestic partner, and to an inmate's registered domestic partner's dependents, sons, daughters, and parents.


• Participation in education - In all educational facilities located within or under the jurisdiction of Leon County, each registered domestic partner has the same rights to participate in the education of a dependent of the registered domestic partnership as a biological parent has to participate in the education of their child. However, if a biological parent of a minor dependent (whose parental rights have not been terminated) objects to a registered domestic partner (who is not the biological parent of the minor dependent) participating in education conferences or other dissemination of education information, then only the biological parents shall be allowed to participate.

$50.00 (cash, credit card, or check - made payable to the Leon County Clerk of Courts) and evidence of identify (one of the following for each partner: a Florida driver's license, a Florida Identification Card, a United States Passport, or any other document listed in the Florida Governor's Reference Manual for Notaries as satisfactory evidence). Additionally, you may bring two witnesses who are not blood relatives of either of the partners, or staff of the County Clerk's office may serve as witnesses. You do not need to bring witnesses with you.

$50.00, which must be remitted at the time you complete the Domestic Partnership Registration Affidavit. Payment may be made by cash, credit card, or check (made payable to the Leon County Clerk of Courts).

If one or both of the partners wishes to terminate their registered domestic partnership or if their registered domestic partnership automatically terminates (as described below), one or both partners must come to the County Clerk's office and complete an Affidavit of Termination of Registered Domestic Partnership ("Affidavit of Termination").

If both partners do not complete the Affidavit of Termination, then the partner who is executing the affidavit is asked to provide the County Clerk's office with their former partner's last know mailing address.

Upon the partner(s) completion of the Affidavit of Termination and payment of the required $20.00 fee, the County Clerk's office will record the Affidavit of Termination in the Official Records of Leon County. If the Affidavit of Termination was completed by only one of the partners, then the County Clerk's office will additionally send a copy of the Certificate of Termination of Domestic Partnership to the absent, former partner.

A registered domestic partnership automatically terminates if one (or both) of the partners becomes married under Florida law; one of the partners dies (however, provisions relating to funeral and burial decisions survive); or one (or both) of the partners enters into a civil union of registered domestic partnership with someone else. The marrying, surviving, or re-registering partner(s) is/are responsible for executing the Affidavit of Termination and having it recorded in the Official Record of Leon County within ten days of the occurrence of the event that led to the automatic termination.

To update your registered domestic partnership records to reflect a legal name change, both partners must come to the County Clerk's office and complete an Affidavit of Amendment of Registered Domestic Partnership ("Affidavit of Amendment") and present a certified copy of the court order granting the legal name change, for review by the County Clerk or his or her designee. Upon the partners' completion of the Affidavit of Amendment, presentation of the certified court order granting the legal name change, and payment of the required $20.00 fee, the County Clerk's office will record the Affidavit of Amendment in the Official Records of Leon County. The certified court order will not be retained by the County Clerk's office; it will be returned to you.

It is a committed domestic relationship between two individuals who:

• Are at least 18 years old and competent to contract;


• Are not currently married under Florida law;


• Are not currently a partner in a domestic partnership relationship or a member of civil union with anyone else;


• Are not blood relatives, where one is a direct ascendant or direct descendant of the other (such as a son, daughter, parent, or grandparent), or a sister, brother, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew;


• Consent to the domestic partnership and to registering the domestic partnership without force, duress, or fraud;


• Agree to be jointly responsible in the support of the domestic partnership;


• Expressly declares his or her desire and intent to designate their domestic partner as their healthcare surrogate and agent to direct disposition of their body for funeral and burial; and


• Consider himself or herself as being in a committed domestic relationship with the other domestic partner, and consider himself or herself to be a member of the immediate family of the other domestic partner.

A number of Leon County citizens live in a committed family relationship, outside the bounds of legally recognized marriage, and are often denied certain rights and benefits. The 2010 U.S. Census reported that 7,535 of Leon County's households were unmarried partner households, which equates to 6.8% of the County's households, and 15.6% of the County's "couple households" (i.e., husband/wife and unmarried partner households).

Adoption of the proposed Domestic Partnership Registry Ordinance affords adult couples, who are not married under Florida law, the ability to register their committed domestic partnership relationship and to be extended certain legal rights with respect to healthcare decisions, funeral and burial decisions, preneed guardian designations, participation in the education of a child, notification in emergencies, and, when appropriate, healthcare and correctional facilities visitations.

The registered domestic partners will receive a Certificate of Registration, and the original, recorded DPR Affidavit. Additionally, each partner will be receiving a laminated card recognizing the registered domestic partnership in Leon County. The registration affidavit will be recorded in the Official Records of Leon County, and may be viewed online via a searchable database accessible through the County Clerk's website.

As of May 1, 2013, domestic partners may register their partnership in Leon County.

A copy of Leon County Ordinance No. 13-09, which established the Domestic Partnership Registry, may be viewed online at the Leon County Clerk of Courts' website here

Leon County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller's Official Records Division. Office locations are 1276 Metropolitan Boulevard, #101, or at the county courthouse at 301 S. Monroe Street, #100. Click here for our current hours of operation. A recording fee of $50 is required and must be remitted at the time of application by cash, credit card, or check (made payable to the Leon County Clerk of Courts).

No. Please consult an attorney for any legal issues regarding domestic partnerships.