Rule 13.Public Access to Proceedings and Records

Rule 13's first sentence sets the default and the rest of the rule makes it hard to displace.

Presumptively open

Family court proceedings are presumptively open to the public. The court may close the courtroom and exclude the public for three purposes: to promote amicable settlement of the issues, to protect the best interests of a minor child, or to protect the parties from physical or emotional harm.

The test

Closure requires findings on the record of all three of:

• a compelling interest in closure that outweighs the public interest in attending;
• no alternatives to closure that will protect that interest; and
• the closure is no broader than necessary.

That is the constitutional shape of a closure test, and the second element does most of the work — if anything short of closing the room would protect the interest, the room stays open.

Two procedural points

A motion by an interested person must be filed and served not later than two days before the hearing. But the court, on its own or on a party's motion, may close the courtroom if unforeseen circumstances arise requiring it.

And subsection (d) forecloses the easy route: a stipulation to close the courtroom does not alone constitute justification for closure. Agreement between the parties does not settle a question that belongs to the public.

Records

Court records are maintained and disclosed under Rule 123 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, Rule 7 of the Arizona Rules of Protective Order Procedure, and Rule 43.1 of these rules. Beyond those, the court may find that the confidentiality or privacy interests of the parties, their minor children, or another person outweigh the public interest in disclosure, and may then close a record, deem it confidential, or otherwise limit access. Rule 17 governs sealing and redaction.