Briefs & Comments,
The Supreme Court has not addressed whether probate records are presumptively open, but lower courts have extended a presumption of access. For example, the court in In re Estate of Campbell, 106 P.3d 1096, 1105 (2005) held that “[a]lthough we have never expressly held that probate proceedings are accompanied by a presumption of openness, the reasons underlying openness in the criminal context … are equally compelling in the civil context, including probate proceedings.” And the court in Copley Press, Inc. v. Superior Court, 63 Cal. App. 4th 367, 376 (1998) agreed, finding that ”[p]robate proceedings … are not closed proceedings.”
B. Probate
Overview
Georgia
In the Georgia probate courts, the records of probate proceedings are presumptively open unless the harm otherwise resulting to the privacy of a person clearly outweighs the public interest. Ga. Unif. Prob. Ct. R. 17.2 (2008). See Sharpton v. Hall, 296 Ga. App. 251 (2009) (holding that the probate court did not abuse its discretion in unsealing records of guardianship and allowing estate administrator access to them). Any order of limitation entered by the court must specify the part of the file to which access is limited, the nature, and duration of the limitation, and the reason for limitation. Ga. Unif. Prob. Ct. R. 17.1 (2008). See In Re: Motion of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, 271 Ga. 436, 438 (1999) (“In an order sealing a court record, a trial court must set forth factual findings that explain how a privacy invasion that may be suffered by a party or parties seeking to seal a record differs from the type of privacy invasion that is suffered by all parties in civil suits. Otherwise, the trial court is not justified in closing the record from public scrutiny.”).
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