Unsealing Court Records

From time to time, especially in high profile divorce cases, the court file is sealed so that the public cannot obtain this private information. Generally speaking, without requesting that your divorce file be sealed, anyone can walk into the courthouse and get copies of your pleadings, including your financial records and any settlement agreement you may have reached. More often than not, the Courts allow the court files of high profile celebrities to be sealed so that this private information isn't splashed all over the pages of US Weekly or The National Inquirer. This is usually to protect the celebrities, but also to protect their children. Well, Britney Spears is in the headlines again, but this time, its not because of her own actions. Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon set a September 14 hearing date for lawyers from celebrity magazine People and local television station KNBC to argue that the Spears v. Federline court records should be made public. Why they believe they should be made public is beyond me, other than the fact that if they are made public, People stands to sell a lot of magazines. In my opinion, unless there is some reason that release of these records will protect the parties' children, they should remain sealed and out of the papers.

If you would like to read the story this blog is based upon, see: http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN1444972720070814