The Access to Public Records Act (Indiana Code 5-14-3) and Indiana Supreme Court rules determine the public availability of records maintained by a court or court agency. The Rules on Access to Court Records explain which court records are public and which records are confidential.
In general, court cases and their records are public, and the court does not need your consent to make your court cases or records available online.
Whoever files the documents in a court case is responsible for following the Rules on Access to Court Records and the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure to ensure confidential cases and documents do not appear online. All of the cases at mycase.in.gov are public, and the documents available in those cases were marked public by the people who filed them.
If you believe a court case or document should not be available to the public, Access to Court Records Rules 6 and 7 outline the procedures you may follow to ask the court to remove it from public access. In addition, the Indiana General Assembly has provided statutory procedures that may allow certain people in specific situations to ask a court to remove a record from public access:
- Juvenile records - Indiana Code 31-39-8-1
- Infractions - Indiana Code 34-28-5-15
- Misdemeanors and felonies - Indiana Code 35-38-9
- Sealing judicial records for public interest reasons - Indiana Code 5-14-3-5.5
If you wish to follow any of the above procedures, which may be complex, you should consider seeking help from a lawyer.
- The Indiana Rules of Court, including the Access to Court Records Rules and Trial Rules are available at courts.in.gov/publications/rules
- The Access to Public Records Act and other laws listed above are available at iga.in.gov
