Rule 109 - Privacy Protection for Filings Made With the Court(a) REDACTED FILINGS. Unless the court orders otherwise, a party or nonparty must redact, in an electronic or paper filing with the court, an individual's social-security number and driver's license number and a financial account number, except that a party or nonparty making the filing may include the following: (1) the acronym "SSN" where the individual's social-security number would have been included;(2) the acronym "DLN" where the individual's driver's license number would have been included; and(3) the last 4 digits of the financial account number.(b) EXEMPTION FROM THE REDACTION REQUIREMENT. The redaction requirement does not apply to a testamentary writing.(c) ADDITIONAL UNREDACTED FILING UNDER SEAL. (1)Motion to File an Unredacted Copy Under Seal. Except as provided in Rule 109(c)(2), a person who makes a redacted filing and wishes to file an additional unredacted copy must file a motion to file an unredacted copy under seal. If granted, the court must retain the unredacted copy as part of the record.(2)Separate Form for Inventory or Accounting. A person who makes a redacted filing that includes an inventory or accounting, which identifies, contains, or refers to a financial account number, must file under seal a separate form prescribed by the Register of Wills, which lists each account, the financial institution at which the account is maintained, and the full account number. This separate form will be maintained by the court under seal and may be unsealed only by court order on a showing of good cause.(d) RESPONSIBILITY TO REDACT. The responsibility for redacting personal identifiers or financial account numbers rests solely with the person or entity making the filing.Adopted by Order dated March 4, 2022, effective 8/22/2022.COMMENT
This rule addresses the concern about access to, and dissemination of, private information in the court's public records to the detriment of individuals whose privacy is compromised simply because their otherwise private information is contained in court filings. The risk of invasion of privacy is heightened where the court's public records are made available through the internet. Although this rule does not expressly prohibit all use of personal identifiers and other private information, such as home addresses, it is the policy of the court that parties not include home addresses and other private information in any court filings unless it is necessary to the matter being litigated or is otherwise expressly required by statute or other rules of the court, including civil rules made applicable to Probate Division proceedings by Rule 101(d).