Sealing Court Records - How Difficult?

[Amadeus]

So, I had my name legally changed about a year ago.  Like, completely changed it.  First, middle, last.  Part of it was I hated my birth name.  Part of it was because I wanted to get it out of the way.  A big part is because my older brother is absolutely mental.  Supposedly he doesn't know I did this, but I can't tell if my mother is lying, because she told me over a Facebook PM that she didn't tell him because "didn't think he needed to know".  Which is true.  Because I don't want him anywhere near me.

So I'm wondering, how difficult is it to get court records sealed?  Because I'm thinking, I'd like to do that.  I think it might be useful after I get my gender marker fixed, to prevent some awkward questions from potential employers or whatever later.  But mostly, I don't want my brother to be able to find me.  I'm looking to emigrate, that's how ->-bleeped-<-ed up he is and how must I distrust him.

Any thoughts?

[FTMax]

First, sorry to hear your brother is a nutcase.

Constitutionally speaking, people have a right of access to courts and court records. But courts are able to use discretion to balance that right with the need for individual privacy, especially in civil matters. This is a helpful guide, but full of a lot of legalese:

http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/Sealing_Guide.pdf/$file/Sealing_Guide.pdf

My thinking is that it would depend on the court where the name change order originated. If you can articulate why you need the record sealed and demonstrate why it is in your best interest, I can't see why they wouldn't. Especially since it relates to your personal safety. If you have any kind of documentation about your brother, that would be helpful to present.

[LordKAT]

Sometimes you can have your bc impounded and a new one made making the old one pretty much inaccessable.

[spacerace]

Don't count on it - especially for a name change. In many states, they even make people publish their name change in a newspaper to announce it.

They don't want people to use it to hide, so they most likely would need some sorta of overwhelming reason to do it.

Personal safety is a good reason, but they would need demonstrated evidence of it..legal evidence...and if you are just avoiding your brother without any sort of documented case history of it involving police intervention, where he caused you harm or was making repeated threats, I don't see a judge doing anything about it. Even then probably not - he is your brother. It is pretty easy to think of ways he could find out your name if he wanted to...reasonably there is no reason for a judge to do this just for you to avoid him finding out your new name.

If it was easy, every trans person could make an argument for safety and sealing the record, independent of crazy family members.

[Jessica Merriman]

I agree with Spacerace, you have to show cause of impending harm or it is a no go. It can be quite expensive as well because an attorney will be required to file it and argue in court. You can't just seal things because you want it sealed. At least in my State that is how it goes./

[Ayden]

Spacerace said what I was going to say. It can be very difficult to have legal records sealed. If you have to option to speak with a lawyer I would say that would be your best bet. I know lawyers aren't the most fun people to talk to and they can be expensive but there are lawyers who will give you advice as a consultation.

[tgchar21]

Sometimes you can have your bc impounded and a new one made making the old one pretty much inaccessable.

That is a factor only if you were born in a state where birth certificates are considered public record. In some states only certain people are allowed to obtain a person's BC to begin with (with some exceptions for BCs from so long ago the people would almost certainly be dead, done for genealogical purposes).

As a side-note, if your goal is to seal your records so that you don't have to disclose your former name to employers, whether or not your records are sealed is pretty much irrelevant. The factor there is whether or not they need to know the name to properly verify information such as your work history, academic credentials, criminal history, etc. asked for on the application.

[Amadeus]

Evidence?  Oh, I can pull up some evidence.  The emails where he threatened to burn down my mother's house with both us in it, not to mention his untreated PTSD and his felony assault and battery charges from 2010...  Yeah, I can prove he's a psycho.

I figure it can't hurt to try.  I mean, I had my name changed from something, well, effeminate to something many would consider masculine.  Judge never batted an eye.  Yes, I had to have it announced in the paper.  But Bro doesn't read newspapers, at least not the legal notices.  And that was in March 2013.

Thanks everyone!