Record sealing is the commonly known practice of taking records – either from an actual court case or from interviews or other testimony – and making them unavailable for public access. While this does not guarantee that the records will never be viewed, it is a way to make sure that casual prying eyes and curious onlookers cannot have access to sensitive data without first making a request and receiving approval.
For records to be re-opened at a later date, express permission must be granted in the form of a search warrant or another type of legally binding release of information. This means that you are protected to a certain extent, especially from people who may want to do you hard by sharing information that would be damaging to your reputation or career.
It is important to note that there are still a few states that actually permanently destroy records that have been sealed. While this is of benefit to people in many cases, it can also make it difficult to go back at a later date to re-open an investigation or close out a case, if information needed was in those sealed and destroyed records.
Some of the most commonly sealed records include:
* Birth records (as with closed adoptions)
* State or federal cases that involve trade or state secrets
* Information in witness protection cases
* Information linked to juvenile offenses
If you are looking for record sealing in Las Vegas, there are a few things you need to know:
* You cannot personally request that information in your case will be sealed. You need to have legal counsel act on your behalf to petition that the records be sealed. In many cases this is not a quick process, as the request may take time to receive adequate approval.
* After a case, specific items of interest – including personal identification numbers and data or items used as exhibits of proof in the case – can be sealed upon specific request; personal id numbers are often sealed automatically, so you will want to be sure to have your legal counsel check to be sure that occurred.
* There are different laws and requirements involved for personal sealed records and corporate or business sealed records – a skilled lawyer will know those differences and will be able to advise you of your rights depending on the unique situation of your case.
