Access to Court Records

Court offices regularly receive a wide range of requests from the public, media, lawyers and others seeking access to court records. To help manage these requests, the Courts have developed guidelines that summarize how court officials will respond to the most commonly encountered access requests.

There are a wide range of requests for court records received by the courts every day. They differ in their nature and the records involved. It would be impossible to anticipate all of the types of requests. The guidelines summarize how court officials can be expected to respond to the most commonly encountered access requests.

The access guidelines are also intended to help communicate to the media and the public the approach that will be taken on access matters in specific situations. They serve as an informative and educative tool for those wishing to better understand how the court system operates and how it implements the open access principle. While they provide administrative direction in situations where there is no court order in place, the guidelines do not have the force of law and are subject to the decisions of individual judges and courts.