What Hillsborough County sends me
The requests that come most often from this part of Florida:
- Powers of attorney for property in Spain, Cuba and Latin America.
- Deeds and property documents for the county Clerk.
- Corporate resolutions and banking certifications.
- Affidavits for courts and agencies.
- Agricultural and equipment paperwork.
Worth knowing in Hillsborough County
Documents recorded here go to the Hillsborough Clerk of the Circuit Court, which catches people out in Plant City, because the town is in Hillsborough even though it feels like Polk's neighbour.
Plant City is also the one place where the county line matters to me personally, since my travel area stops at Polk, so a Plant City signing is handled online.
The county's Spanish-speaking community goes back generations, and a good share of the documents I see here are bilingual or bound for Spain and Cuba.
How an online session works
You book a time, and I send a secure link, usually for the same day or the next, and the platform then checks your identification and asks a few questions drawn from public records, before we meet on video, where I confirm you understand what you are signing and that nobody is pressuring you.
You sign electronically, I complete the notarial certificate, and you download the finished document with its seal and audit trail, all of which normally takes about fifteen minutes.
What you need
- A phone, tablet or computer with a camera and microphone.
- A current, government-issued photo ID.
- The document, complete and unsigned.
- Confirmation from the office receiving it that they accept an electronic notarization.
In person, honestly
I am based in Lakeland and travel inside Polk County, so I do not drive to Hillsborough County for a signing, so if your document has to be signed on paper in front of a notary, look for a mobile notary there, and if it can be done online, we can start today.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you travel to Hillsborough County?
- No, I travel inside Polk County only, and everything else is done in an online session, which is valid across Florida and carries the same legal weight as signing in person.
- Is an online notarization valid here?
- Yes, Florida authorized remote online notarization in 2020, and a document notarized this way has the same effect as one notarized across a desk, though the office receiving it can still ask for paper.
- Plant City is close to Lakeland — do you travel there?
- No, my travel area is Polk County, and Plant City is in Hillsborough, so it is handled in an online session.
- Where do Hillsborough deeds get recorded?
- With the Hillsborough Clerk of the Circuit Court, where the documentary stamp tax is also paid.