Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County Sealing & Redaction Procedures
21 rules from official source documents
Procedures for filing sealed or redacted documents, including required motions and formats.
CRITICALCivil cases
Every Live Birth Certificate filed for a minor child must be treated as confidential.
Pursuant to Florida Rules of Judicial Administration, Rule 2.425 any filed Live Birth Certificate for the minor child(ren) shall be deemed confidential.
CRITICALCivil cases
The second page containing the parties' Social Security numbers must be kept confidential from public disclosure.
PURSUANT TO S.61.13(10), F.S., THE SECOND PAGE OF THIS DOCUMENT, CONTAINING SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OF THE PARTIES, SHALL BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.
CRITICALCivil cases
The clerk must keep the personal-information page separate from the file and confidential.
******CLERK: PLEASE KEEP THIS PAGE SEPARATE FROM FILE AND KEEP CONFIDENTIAL******
CRITICAL
The Clerk of Court must maintain the 23 categories of documents identified by Rule 2.420(d)(1) as confidential.
Rule 2.420(d)(1) sets forth the 23 categories of documents that the Clerk of Court must maintain as confidential.
CRITICAL
Documents covered by Rule 2.420(c) are confidential and exempt from public viewing.
Rule 2.420(c) sets forth the types of documents that are confidential and exempt from public view.
CRITICAL
The news media must be afforded an opportunity to be heard before the court rules on closing a courtroom.
The Florida Supreme Court has stated that the news media has been the public surrogate on the issue of courtroom closure and must be given an opportunity to be heard prior to a court’s ruling on closure.
CRITICAL
Rule 2.420 must be followed before making a court record confidential or sealed.
Florida Rule of General Practice & Judicial Administration 2.420 is the rule of procedure governing the confidentiality of court records and must be followed prior to making a record confidential and thus inaccessible by the public (i.e. sealed).
CRITICAL
Bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, health information, and similar confidential information must be removed from evidentiary documents provided to the court.
If you wish to introduce evidence at a hearing, confidential information (such as Bank Account Numbers, Social Security Numbers, Health Information, etc.) must be removed from documents provided to the Court as required by Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration (floridabar.org) Rule 2.420 Rule 2.425 and 15th Judicial Circuit Admin. 2.303-1/23*.
CRITICAL
Circuit civil, county civil, and small-claims filers are responsible for ensuring confidential information is redacted or identified for redaction.
Redaction of Confidential Information — As of July 1, 2021 all filers of circuit civil, county civil, and small claims court documents are now solely responsible for ensuring that confidential information is redacted or is identified for redaction.
CRITICALCivil cases
Counsel should invoke the sealing process for private or sensitive information before it becomes publicly available in the court record.
If necessary, counsel should invoke the process of sealing private or sensitive information before the record becomes available as a public record.
CRITICALCivil cases
The parties were directed to file all written responses to each other’s discovery requests under seal by the following day.
Consequently, I directed the parties to file, under seal, all their written responses to each other’s discovery requests by the following day.
CRITICALCivil cases
Any court filing that discloses or communicates confidential or highly confidential information must be filed under seal.
Any pleading, brief, memorandum, motion, letter, affidavit, exhibit, or other document filed with the Court that discloses, summarizes, describes, characterizes, or otherwise communicates Confidential Information or Highly Confidential Information must be filed with the Court under seal.
CRITICAL
All filers must ensure that confidential information in circuit civil, county civil, and small claims documents is redacted or identified for redaction.
Redaction of Confidential Information. As of July 1, 2021. All filers of circuit civil, county civil, and small claims court documents are now solely responsible for ensuring that confidential information is redacted or is identified for redaction.
CRITICAL
Agreed record redactions must be blacked out, while proposed redactions requiring a Court ruling must be highlighted.
All agreed redactions are to be blacked out from records; any proposed redactions on which the Court will be asked to rule are to be highlighted.
CRITICALCivil cases
All but the last four digits of a driver's license or identification number must be redacted before filing.
YOU MUST redact (whiteout or blackout) all but the last four digits of your driver license /identification number. Fla. Rule Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin 2.425(a)(4)(C).
CRITICAL
All but the last four digits of a driver license or identification number must be redacted using whiteout or blackout.
YOU MUST redact (whiteout or blackout) all but the last four digits of your driver license /identification number. Fla. Rule Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin 2.425(a)(4)(C).
CRITICAL
Confidential information must be removed from documents provided to the Court before evidentiary use.
If you wish to introduce evidence at a hearing, confidential information (such as Bank Account Numbers, Social Security Numbers, Health Information, etc.) must be removed from documents provided to the Court as required by Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration (floridabar.org) Rule 2.420 Rule 2.425 and 15th Judicial Circuit Administrative Order 2.303-1/23* (PDF).
WARNING
The Clerk will redact specified sensitive information so it does not appear in documents accessible to the general public.
Sensitive Information (month and day of birth/names of minors) will be redacted by the Clerk and will not appear in a document accessible by the general public.
WARNING
A filer may file a Motion to Determine Confidentiality of Court Records to seek treatment as confidential for information outside the 23 categories identified in Rule 2.420(d)(1).
Rule 2.420(d)(3) sets forth the ability of a filer of a document to file a “Motion to Determine Confidentiality of Court Records” when the filer seeks to have information not contained within the 23 categories of documents treated as confidential and exempt from public view.
WARNING
Unless the Court schedules argument otherwise, proposed record redactions are to be addressed at the pre-trial status conference.
Unless otherwise scheduled by the Court, argument on any proposed redactions of records shall be heard at the pre-trial status conference.
INFOCivil cases
A producing party may redact privileged, protected, personal data, data-protection, and other legally authorized information from produced documents and information.
Any Producing Party may redact from the documents and information it produces any matter that the Producing Party claims is subject to attorney-client privilege, work product immunity, a legal prohibition against disclosure, or any other privilege or immunity. The following information may also be redacted: i. personal identifying information, personal data, sensitive personal data, or other data a party believes in good faith to be subject to federal, state, or foreign data protection laws; and v. such other redactions as may now or hereafter be provided for by law or permitted by Order of this Court.
How does Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County handle sealed or redacted filings?
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County: Every Live Birth Certificate filed for a minor child must be treated as confidential.
Judge Carolyn Bell: Bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, health information, and similar confidential information must be removed from evidentiary documents provided to the court.
Judge Caryn Siperstein: Counsel should invoke the sealing process for private or sensitive information before it becomes publicly available in the court record.
18 more rules answer this question.
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Courtesy Copy Requirements
When and how to deliver courtesy copies to chambers, including triggers, timing, and formatting.
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Electronic filing requirements, permitted filing channels, EFSP portals, and exceptions.
Filing Timing and Cure Windows
Filing cutoffs, deemed-filed rules, rejection handling, cure periods, and outage procedures.