Rule 1930.1.Form of Caption. Confidential Information and Confidential Documents. Certification.

Official Note: See Pa.R.C.P. No. 1915.10(b)(3).

Comment. Applicable authority includes but is not limited to statute, procedural rule, or court order. The Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (Policy) can be found on the website of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania at https://www.pacourts.us/public-records. Sec- tions 7.0(D) and 8.0(D) of the Policy provide that the certification shall be in substantially the fol- lowing form: I certify that this filing complies with the provisions of the Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania that require filing con- fidential information and documents differently than non-confidential information and documents. The Confidential Information Form and the Confidential Document Form can be found at https://www.pacourts.us/public-records. Explanatory Comment—2021 Subdivision (a)(1) requires that the parties’ full names are used in a domestic relations case caption unless the court determines it necessary to protect the child’s identity by initializing the case caption in a custody action based on sensitive facts in the case and the child’s best interest. Generally, a child custody case does not include sensitive information or egregious facts that would cause embarrass- ment to a child and necessitate exceptional privacy measures; however, in the unusual circumstance that a custody action has egregious facts that may cause an issue for the child, the trial court would have the discretion to initialize the caption in order to maintain the child’s privacy interests. Subdivision (a)(2) provides the exception to the general rule in subdivision (a)(1) for a custody action in which the court deems that the child could be adversely affected by the sensitive nature of the facts in the record. In a custody case in which the trial court determines the child’s best interest requires an initialized caption, Pa.R.C.P. No. 1915-10(b)(4) requires that additional privacy safeguards are in the written custody order or opinion entered by the court. The rule’s requirement that a case caption use the parties’ full names does not alter a party’s or an attorney’s responsibilities under the Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial Sys- tem of Pennsylvania and subdivision (b).