Rule 401.Records

All records of Protection from Abuse proceedings are open, unless in the court's discretion there is sufficient reason to close the records.

This is the sharpest departure in the rulebook. Rule 90.1 makes every other file in this court private, and Rule 303 keeps support records closed even though support hearings are public. Here both the hearing and the file are open.

Three practical reasons sit behind it. A protective order is enforced by police officers, who must be able to confirm that it exists and read its terms. It is recognised and enforced in other states, which requires a record that can be produced. And a person subject to one is under restrictions that carry consequences — on firearms, on employment — which the law does not usually impose in secret.

The discretion to close is the safety valve, and Rule 90.1's separate protection for a party's residential and employment addresses is unaffected: an open record is not the same as a published address.