Removing the link between personal identifying information and dismissed criminal court case or denied request for civil protective order or civil stalking injunction

Generally, cases are public records. This means anyone could find cases under your name or date of birth. A limited number of case types allow you to ask to remove the link between your cases and your name and date of birth. This is available to:

• A defendant in a criminal case that has been dismissed
• A respondent in a civil protective order or a civil stalking injunction against them that was denied

You can ask to remove the link by filing a Motion to Remove Link Between Personal Identifying Information and Dismissed Criminal Court Case or Denied Request for Civil Protective Order or Civil Stalking Injunction. If the request is granted, anyone who searches the courts' online records by your name or date of birth will not find the record for the de-linked case.

This is not the same thing as asking for a criminal case to be expunged or a civil case to be sealed. The case record still exists, and can be found by case number, or in a civil protective order or a stalking injunction, by the petitioner's name or date of birth.

Utah Code 77-40a-105

Requirements

The court can grant the request if three requirements are met:

• The criminal case was dismissed, or the civil request for protective order or stalking injunction was denied, more than 30 days ago;
• An appeal has not been filed; and
• The case did not include any domestic violence charges. (Utah Code 77-36-1)

Will the motion be decided by a judge or commissioner?

Judges may rule on all motions in all types of cases. However, in Judicial Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4, commissioners are assigned to hear protective order cases (and other case types). Motions decided by a judge and motions decided by a commissioner follow different procedures.

If you are not sure whether your case is assigned to a judge or commissioner, find out. Call the court, or look at the caption of the complaint or petition. If a commissioner's name has been listed in the caption, the motion likely will be decided by a commissioner.

Motions decided by a judge are governed by URCP 7. File the motion and send a copy to the other parties in the case. Then wait 14 days. Then you can file a Request to Submit for Decision and a proposed order and send a copy to the other parties in the case. See our page Service for details on how to send the papers.

Motions decided by a commissioner are governed by URCP 101.File the motion with a Notice of Hearing and send copies to the other parties in the case. The court will then schedule the hearing – be sure to attend. See our page Service for details on how to send the papers.

Filing a motion can be more complicated than this. See our Motions web page for more information.

Forms

Forms for Motions Decided by a Judge

• Motion to Remove Link Between Personal Identifying Information - PDF | Word
• Request to Submit for Decision - PDF | Word
  (filed after all documents have been filed, or the time has passed for the prosecutor or other party to respond)
• Order on Motion to Remove Link - PDF | Word

Forms for Motions Decided by a Commissioner

• Motion to Remove Link - PDF | Word
• Request to Submit for Decision - PDF | Word
  (filed after all documents have been filed, or the time has passed for the prosecutor or other party to respond)
• Order on Motion to Remove Link - PDF | Word

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