Section 7-11.—Judgments on the Merits— Stripping and Retention

Once judgment has been rendered on the merits in a civil, family, or juvenile case — other than land title actions or cases already covered by the destruction rule for withdrawals and dismissals — the file may be stripped and destroyed under the schedule in this section. Discovery requests, responses, and objections may be stripped once the appeal period ends. When a file is stripped, the clerk destroys everything except the core papers: the complaint and its amendments, orders of notice, appearances, officers’ returns, military affidavits, cross or third-party complaints, responsive pleadings, memoranda of decision, the judgment file or notation of judgment, and executions issued and returned.

After the stripping date, or sooner if local storage is not available, the remaining file may move to the records center or another designated storage area for the rest of its retention period. Family cases involving dissolution of marriage or civil union, legal separation, or annulment may, by agreement with the state library, transfer there once the retention period ends. The schedule in subsection (d) sets both a stripping date and a retention date by case type, with periods that range from a few years up to permanent retention, generally running from the date judgment is rendered, except that receivership and injunctive relief actions run from the date the receivership or injunction ends.