Do sealed records ever become automatically unsealed after a certain length of time has passed?

Question

I think I read somewhere that sealed records become unsealed after 99 years...when all the parties that they directly affect are dead and gone. Although this might not help me get copies of original documents, it might help my descendents. Anyone know about this?

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

well that could be possible but then what good is that if you are dead and cannot retrieve your stuff. but the thing is you can petition the court where your records are and get them.s ometimes your adopted parents can say no. if they are alive but they shouldn't say that. i can get mine and i will this time when i get up to michigan and go there. its just about 50 they say you pay and can get them. i know its going to say what was goingo n in court. i know my dad wasn't there and that is all and i know he didn't want to really but he did. so what i know the entire story but i feel i need my sealed records because they are mine.

Answer 3

You are half right.

Clinton passed a law, I'll look it up, but there are exceptions. Some sealed/top secret documents do go back to Lincoln's assasination.

Seems Bush changed it, Quel Suprise!

Executive Order 13292

Also check out the Freedom of Information Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_...

"Between 1995 and 1999, President Clinton issued executive directives (and amendments to the directives) that allowed the release of previously classified national security documents more than 25 years old and of historical interest, as part of the FOIA. This release of information allowed many previously publicly unknown details about the "Cold War" and other historical events to be discussed openly"

Answer 4

Some states release the records after 99 years....

what a load of c**p in my opinion. Yeah we search our whole lives for information they'll give our children once we're dead.

Answer 5

Not in the US.  In most states they deny adoptees their civil rights by keeping these facts secret from them.  There is no expiration date.

Answer 6

Some of those records could be sealed only to everyone els but  the person whose records they are. or become unsealed when the person turns a certain age. or commits a crime involving a sexual based charge. molesting a child or something like that     ( thats just one example I have dealt with )

Answer 7

I hope so, at least then my own descendents will be able to reclaim the ancestry that is rightfully theirs . . .

Answer 8

You are thinking of the 1994 draft of the Uniform Adoption Act (UAA) which is a proposed bill that, if enacted, would seal records for 99 years, allowing no access.  It would also legislate other anti-adoptee and anti-natural parent laws such as making it a felony for natural relatives to search for each other if an adoption occurred.  Here is a link to the text of the UAA:

http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/archives/ul...

The UAA is, not surprisingly, pushed by the NCFA (National Council for Adoption) which is a front organization that speaks for and is highly financed by several adoption agencies that do not want records to be opened.  The NCFA stands firmly against open records for adopted adult citizens, and regularly fights against any proposed legislation to give adopted citizens equal rights.

At this point, all states have differing laws regarding access to adopted persons' birth records.  Six states allow adopted citizens to access copies of the own birth records without restriction, just like their non-adopted counterparts can do, thus establishing equal rights and treatment under the law for all.

Of interest is that by law, if an adoption fails (the adoptive parents "give back" the child,) the records do unseal.  The original birth certificate (the one documenting the factual circumstances of the child's birth) is then to be reestablished as the child's legal birth certificate.