Hancock County Court of Common Pleas, General & Domestic Relations Divisions Sealing & Redaction Procedures

Civil cases

Petitioners must remove personal and private information from filed materials and submit it on a non-public disclosure form kept separately and opened only by court order.

D. The individual filing the petition for a CQE (Petitioner) is responsible for removing personal and private information, such as the Petitioner’s social security number, from the petition, any exhibits or addenda attached to the petition, or from documents later filed in the proceeding. Personal and private information must be submitted on a Disclosure of Personal Identifier form, which is a non-public record. The information will be kept in a separate envelope within the case file and appropriately marked as containing personal and private information, and opened only upon an order of the Court.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 10, 2026

Civil cases

CQE investigation materials are confidential, must be kept sealed, and may be opened only by court order; sealed materials must remain sealed if transmitted for appellate review.

K. All investigation-related documents and information gathered by the Adult Probation Department and the Court in its consideration of the petition for a CQE, shall be deemed confidential and not a public record. Such documents and information shall be treated with the same level of confidentiality as a pre sentencing report and shall be kept sealed and transmitted in a sealed condition to the court of appeals in the event of appellate review, and shall not be opened except upon an order of the Court.

Criminal cases

A motion to file documents under seal must be filed and served electronically, while the documents themselves must be filed with the clerk in paper form.

A motion to file documents under seal shall be filed and served electronically. However, the documents to be filed under seal shall be filed with the clerk of courts in paper form.

Forms and affidavits containing personal information must be directed to the Family File under DR Rule 2.26.

Forms/affidavits containing personal information shall be directed to the Family File in accordance with DR Rule 2.26.

The filing party must omit personal identifiers from documents filed with the Clerk.

The filing party is responsible for omitting personal identifiers from documents filed with the Clerk of Courts.

Checked and corrected to match the court's document on Oct 10, 2026

The Court may order confidential documents filed under seal by the Clerk, and those documents are inaccessible without a court order.

H. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Rule, the Court may order certain confidential documents to be filed under seal by the Clerk. Such documents shall not be accessible to any person without a court order.

We could not confirm this summary. Read the court's wording below.

A motion to file documents under seal shall be filed and served electronically. However, the documents to be filed under seal shall be filed with the clerk of courts in paper form.