Asked and Answered

Accessing juvenile court records

June 14, 2009

Question

I need to find a law to access juvenile court records. Could you help me?

Answer

Generally speaking, juvenile court records are confidential except as to certain law enforcement and court personnel, or the parents and guardian of the minor. Other persons can get access to documents only with permission of the court. You would have to file a petition to do this. You haven’t disclosed your relationship to the records or at issue or the nature of the litigation in which you are involved, but I would suggest you have your attorneys in the litigation file appropriate petitions with the court.

Asked & Answered posts should not be relied on as legal advice, and FAC makes no guarantees about their completeness or accuracy. All posts carry a date of publication that readers should take note of in assessing their usefulness, given that laws and interpretations of them may change over time. Posts predating Jan. 1, 2023, that discuss the California Public Records Act may contain statute numbers no longer in use. Please see this page for a table showing how the California Public Records Act has been renumbered.