Florida apostille requests start with the Secretary of State

A Florida apostille takes two steps. First, get the right paper from the office that keeps it. Then send it to the Florida Department of State. The Secretary of State is Florida’s apostille authority, and the Division of Corporations handles the mail.

The first paper must be right. Florida wants an original certified record or a proper notarized original, not a copy that only looks formal. Birth, death, marriage, court, school, and company papers each start in their own way. A record from another state or the federal government goes back to that government instead.

Use the state’s accepted-documents page before you mail anything. Match the paper type, then check the fee, payment form, return envelope, and destination country. An apostille cannot fix the wrong record or missing notary words.

The order matters: get the proper Florida paper, then ask the state to certify it for use abroad. That is faster than mailing the same formal-looking copy twice.