To file a document under seal in California, you bring a noticed motion to seal under California Rules of Court 2.550 and 2.551, prepare both a public redacted version and a confidential unredacted version of the material, lodge the confidential version separately with the court, and serve the public papers on every party that has appeared. The filing fee is $60, and the judge must make specific factual findings under a five-part test before any record can be sealed.
One thing to rule out first. This procedure is for sealing documents inside a court case. If you are trying to seal an arrest that did not lead to a conviction or clear a conviction from your record, those are separate petitions under Penal Code 851.911California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 851.91 and Penal Code 1203.4,2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1203.4 with their own forms and standards.
What You Have to Prove
A judge cannot seal a record just because the parties agree. Rule 2.551 says so directly: the court must not permit a record to be filed under seal based solely on the agreement or stipulation of the parties.3Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 2.551 – Procedures for Filing Records Under Seal The court has to run your request through the five-element test in Rule 2.550, and you have to show all five:
- An overriding interest exists that outweighs the public’s right to see the record. Trade secrets, sensitive personal information, and safety concerns are typical examples.
- That overriding interest supports sealing the specific record in front of the court, not sealing in the abstract.
- A substantial probability of harm exists if the record stays public. Speculation or ordinary embarrassment is not enough.
- The request is narrowly tailored to the confidential material, not to whole documents when only a portion is sensitive.
- No less restrictive alternative would work. If targeted redactions would protect the information, the court will order redaction instead.
The judge has to state specific factual findings supporting each element. When only part of a document is sealed, the non-confidential portions stay in the public file.4Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 2.550 – Sealed Records
The Documents You Prepare
You build two parallel sets. A public set goes into the court file, and a confidential set gets lodged separately with the court. Rule 2.551 requires the motion to be accompanied by a memorandum of points and authorities and a declaration containing facts sufficient to justify sealing.3Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 2.551 – Procedures for Filing Records Under Seal The full package:
- A motion to seal that identifies exactly which records you want sealed and why.
- A memorandum of points and authorities walking through each element of the five-part test and showing how your facts satisfy it.
- A declaration under penalty of perjury presenting the evidence for sealing, such as the nature of the trade secret or the specific safety threat involved.
- A redacted public version of the document, with sensitive portions blacked out. The cover must read “Public—Redacts materials from conditionally sealed record.”
- An unredacted confidential version, labeled “May Not Be Examined Without Court Order—Contains material from conditionally sealed record.”
- A proposed order for the judge to sign.
The cover-page labels are not optional. Rule 2.551 specifies the exact wording, and getting it wrong risks putting confidential material into the public file by accident.
How to Lodge the Confidential Version
The unredacted document is not filed in the ordinary sense. You “lodge” it, meaning you submit it to the court in a form the clerk holds without placing it in the public file. It sits conditionally under seal until the judge rules.
On paper, the unredacted document goes into a sealed envelope or container clearly labeled “CONDITIONALLY UNDER SEAL.” A cover sheet has to accompany it with all the caption information required under Rule 2.111 and a statement that the enclosed record is subject to a pending motion to seal. The clerk stamps the cover sheet with the date received and holds the document without filing it.3Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 2.551 – Procedures for Filing Records Under Seal
For electronic submissions, the labeling and cover-sheet requirements are the same, and the transmission has to preserve confidentiality. Most California superior courts using e-filing have a dedicated upload category for lodged or conditionally sealed documents. Check your local court’s e-filing guide before you submit. Uploading to the wrong queue can push your confidential material into public view.
Service and Timing
You serve the public motion papers on every party that has appeared in the case. You do not serve the confidential lodged version. Rule 2.551 does not set its own timeline for how far ahead of the hearing you must file, so standard California motion practice applies. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 1005, moving papers must be served and filed at least 16 court days before the hearing, opposition papers are due nine court days before, and reply papers five court days before.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1005 Service by mail adds days.
The filing fee for a motion requiring a hearing in California Superior Court is $60.6Judicial Branch of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Fee waivers are available if you cannot afford it. If the motion to seal is filed alongside another motion that already carries a filing fee, ask the clerk whether the $60 applies separately.
What Happens After the Judge Rules
The judge may decide the motion on the papers or set it for oral argument. If you meet all five elements, the judge signs the proposed order and the clerk officially files the lodged document under seal. Sealed material is kept separate from the public case file and cannot be accessed without a court order.4Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 2.550 – Sealed Records
The order has to state the specific facts supporting the findings and can only direct sealing of the pages or portions that actually need protection. An order broader than the findings justify is vulnerable on appeal. Sealing is also not necessarily permanent. If circumstances change, any party, or a non-party such as a journalist, can move to unseal.
If the Motion Is Denied
Under Rule 2.551(b)(6), a denial starts a ten-day clock, and you have two choices:
- Notify the court within ten days that you want the lodged document filed unsealed. The clerk unseals it and places it in the public file.
- Do nothing, and the clerk will return the paper document to you or permanently delete an electronically lodged document. The material never becomes part of the record.
Miss the deadline and you lose the choice. The clerk acts automatically. This matters most when the same document is evidence you need in the case. You may have to weigh its evidentiary value against making it public.
When the Other Side Triggers Your Deadline
You will not always be the one starting the process. Rule 2.551(b)(3) covers the situation where an opposing party wants to file discovery documents covered by a confidentiality agreement or protective order but does not intend to seek sealing. That party lodges the unredacted documents, files redacted versions publicly, and gives you written notice that the full documents will become public unless you act.
You then have ten days to file your own motion to seal. If you do nothing, the clerk moves the unredacted documents into the public file. People are caught off guard by this regularly. A protective order that kept documents confidential during discovery does not automatically keep them confidential once they are filed with the court. The “good cause” standard for a discovery protective order is lower than the “overriding interest” standard for sealing, so a protective order in place does not guarantee a sealing motion will succeed.
Practical Mistakes That Sink Motions
The narrower your request, the better your chances. Judges are more receptive to sealing three pages of a financial declaration than an entire brief. If targeted redactions would solve the problem, propose them in your papers as an alternative. It shows the court you have thought about proportionality and gives the judge a middle option instead of a binary choice.
Your declaration is where motions succeed or fail. Vague assertions that disclosure “could be harmful” rarely persuade. Describe the specific harm with enough detail that the judge can make the required findings. For a trade secret, explain what it is, why it has economic value, and what you have done to keep it confidential. For a safety concern, describe the threat with specificity.
Watch your redactions. Changing font color to white in Word is not redacting. Neither are comment boxes or shape overlays in a PDF editor. Those methods leave the underlying text retrievable. For a digital document, replace the sensitive text with “[REDACTED]” in the source file, strip the metadata, and generate a clean PDF. For scanned documents, physically cut out or cover the text with fully opaque tape before scanning. Doing this wrong can expose the very information the motion was meant to protect.