California Rules of Court Sealing & Redaction Procedures

Court may seal ex parte communications and findings if good cause to protect conservatee/ward from harm.

If the court dispenses with disclosure to any party or attorney, it must make written findings in support of its determination of good cause, and preserve the communication received and any response made by the court. The court may place its findings and the preserved communication under seal or otherwise secure their confidentiality.

Confidential Guardian Screening Forms are confidential and must be maintained as such by the clerk.

The Confidential Guardian Screening Form and the information contained on the form are confidential. The clerk must maintain these forms in a manner that will protect and preserve their confidentiality.

Guardianship status reports are confidential, available only to served parties/attorneys and intervened tribes.

Except as provided in paragraph 2, the clerk must make a status report submitted under Probate Code section 1513.2 available only to persons served in the guardianship proceedings or their attorneys. If the ward is an Indian child and the child’s tribe has intervened in the proceeding, the clerk must also make the status report available to the representative designated by the child’s tribe.

Confidential Conservator Screening Form, GC-312, and their contents are confidential; clerk must maintain them confidentially.

The Confidential Conservator Screening Form, the Confidential Supplemental Information statement, and the information contained on these forms are confidential. The clerk must maintain these forms in a manner that will protect and preserve their confidentiality.

Certifications and supporting documents under rule 7.1105 must be kept confidential and not filed in the case file.

The certifications required by this rule and any supporting documentation or information submitted to the court must be maintained confidentially by the court. They must not be filed or lodged in a case file.

All documents in CARE Act proceedings are confidential, with access restricted to specified parties without court order.

All documents filed and all evaluations, reports, and other documents submitted to the court in CARE Act proceedings are confidential, notwithstanding disclosure of their contents during a CARE Act hearing. No person other than the respondent, the respondent’s counsel, the county behavioral health director or the director’s designee, counsel for the director or the director’s designee, and, with the respondent’s express consent given in writing or orally in court, the respondent’s supporter may inspect or copy the case records without a court order.

Clerk must label paper sealed records or securely store and identify electronic sealed records under section 5976.5(e).

If the court grants the motion and the sealed record is in paper format, the clerk must place on the envelope or container of the record a label prominently stating “SEALED BY ORDER OF THE COURT ON (DATE).” If the sealed record is in electronic form, the clerk must file the court’s order, maintain the record ordered sealed in a secure manner, and clearly identify the record as sealed by court order on a specified date.

Motions to seal under section 5976.5(e) are exempt from California Rules of Court 2.550 and 2.551.

Rules 2.550 and 2.551 do not apply to motions to seal records under section 5976.5(e).