Public Divorce Records – More Public Than Ever!

It is not always in the best interest of all concerned to make divorce records public. Find out the top five reasons why.

Public divorce records are now online courtesy of the majority of US states that have published their court records on the Internet. And federal courts have followed suit. The one exception is the State of New York where divorce records are sealed for a hundred years.

Divorce records are part of court files and are, therefore, generally regarded as public documents. But some states tend to favor sealing divorce case files, especially when the divorce involves young children and proceedings contain explicit accusations by either spouse.

Although court records are now mostly available online, a number of motions to suppress details from the public have been successful, as in the case of the Jennifer Aniston-Brad Pitt divorce.

Billionaire businessman Ron Burkle has also, so far, succeeded in keeping his divorce records concealed from the public.

5 Reasons for Suppressing Public Divorce Records

The reasons many fight to seal or suppress public divorce records include:

1. Identity theft if financial data gets out (a number of states publish online records without these).
2. The desire of corporations to guard confidential data when their chiefs divorce.
3. The need for parents involved in a divorce to protect their young children.
4. The unnecessary damage to public reputation.
5. Needless damage to current business and personal relationships.

How successful have these efforts been? In 2004 alone, 90% of the cases handled by 1,600 AAML (American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers) members involved records that were successfully sealed. Around half were tried in closed courtrooms.

Since most states do not automatically seal divorce records, lawyers there have to be more creative if they want to suppress details of a case from the public.

California courts, for instance, let divorcing couples opt for private judges, who are actually retired and are compensated by the hour (up to $650 per hour!). The Michael Jackson-Debbie Rowe case made use of such a judge.

Although these court proceedings are supposed to be “public”, they are held in office buildings with tight security. And while rulings are filed in court, the spouses are able to hide details of the final settlement from the public.

Check out if the divorce records you want to find are sealed or open to the public. Start your search at RecordsSiteReviews' public divorce records section.
 
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