Guide How to remove court records from Google

Start at the sites holding your case, not at Google. Google won't pull a page that's still live, so the search result only moves after the site that published it moves first. Work them one at a time, in the order below. Every request in this guide is free, every one is a separate form, and no site here is bound by another one's decision, so a win at one changes nothing at the next.

What you actually get

De-indexed, not deleted, and the four sites don't land in the same place. CourtListener blocks the page from search engines and it stays live at its URL, where anyone holding the link still reaches it. Justia is the same: blocked from search results, the page still live at its address. Trellis cuts off public and logged-out access and asks the engines not to index it, so a logged-out stranger holding the link doesn't get in. UniCourt redacts your name off its page. Full deletion takes a court order, and all four say so in writing.

What you have to send

For a de-index, the URLs and almost nothing else. CourtListener asks only for links to the pages: no ID, no docket number, no fee. Justia wants the links, a required comment, your name and your email. Trellis wants your name, your email, whether the record is about you, and a written reason. UniCourt is the exception: a long form, documentary proof, and it only takes requests from a party, a guardian or fiduciary of a party, or an attorney for one.

What stops it

Not having a sealing or expungement order is what kills most requests here. Without one, CourtListener, Justia and Trellis will de-index at most, and Google won't remove a live page on a court or aggregator site. UniCourt's grounds are narrower still, and simply not wanting to be online isn't one of them. A state privacy deletion demand also gets refused: Justia says public court records are exempt from the CCPA.

First, write down every URL

Search your exact case caption in quotation marks, then search your own name, and list every result that carries the case. That list is your work order. Every site is a separate request, so a removal from one changes nothing anywhere else.

You'll be filling in each form yourself, from a browser. Several of these sites block automated submissions outright. Batch where the site allows it: CourtListener takes a list of links in one message, while Trellis and UniCourt want one submission per URL.

CourtListener: the de-index request

Go to CourtListener's removal contact form, pick Case Removal Request, and paste in the link to every page you want blocked. That's the whole requirement. Their removal policy says they'll generally block search engines from indexing those pages, and one request covers both the opinion page and the docket page attached to it.

Send it yourself, from a browser. The form sits behind an anti-bot challenge, so nothing can submit it for you in bulk. It's also free, so don't pay anyone to send it for you.

Don't wait on a date, because they don't publish one. The policy warns outright that search engines may not drop your case from their results for many months, if at all. Deletion is a separate ask: it takes a court order that specifically names Free Law Project, and an order aimed at the court clerk isn't enough.

Trellis: click Request Redaction on the page itself

Trellis's removal page reads as though a sealing order is mandatory. It isn't. Their own support page says the order is optional and that they redact names and limit access to logged-out users as a courtesy.

Get there the right way or the form breaks. Find your case in the search on trellis.law, open the docket page, and click the Request Redaction link at the bottom right of that page. Trellis won't process a request sent by email, so that button is the only way in.

It asks for your name, your email, whether the record is about you, and a written explanation of why you want it redacted. Once processed, Trellis removes public and logged-out access to the record and asks search engines not to index it. It's free, they say so themselves, and every separate Trellis URL needs its own submission.

Justia: send the form, then check the result

Open Justia's support portal and check the box for submitting a request to block a Justia link, such as a court docket or opinion, from search engines. Paste the URLs you want blocked, fill the required comments field, and give your name and email. No ID, no docket number, no court order.

Then check the result yourself, because the confirmation isn't the outcome. Justia's block list for its docket site is a public file at dockets.justia.com/robots.txt. It ran to 94 blocked pages in October 2020, was emptied that same month, and carries none today. Search your case caption again 30 days after you send the request, and if the Justia page is still sitting in the results, send it again.

Full removal is a different ask. Justia's own page says it won't fully remove items without a court order sealing the record or designating it for removal from the public record, and it points you at the court. Both routes are discretionary, with no service level and no appeal, and Justia states plainly that it has no control over how long the links take to come out of the search engines.

UniCourt: the long form, and the one with a clock

UniCourt's public records redaction request is free to submit, process and appeal. The gate is who you are: they only consider requests from a party to the record, a legal guardian or fiduciary of a party, or an attorney representing one, and an attorney has to give a bar number and bar state. Reputation firms aren't on that list.

Have your details ready, because the form wants all of them: the exact UniCourt URL, your relationship to the record, full mailing address, phone, country and state of residence, email plus a confirmation, and whether a court has sealed or expunged the case. Then verify the email link within 14 days and pick the party name to redact, or the request stalls there.

Your reason has to map to one of their four grounds: sealed or expunged by court order, increased risk of physical harm, identity theft, or a record concerning a minor. An unsupported assertion is not evidence, and that's where requests die, so attach the conformed order, the police report, or whatever documents your claim. They typically decide within 30 days, de-indexing generally takes about 30 more, and an appeal has to be filed within 30 days of the decision with new substance.

Google, last, and only on a page that changed

Wait until the site has actually changed the page. Google's Refresh Outdated Content tool won't remove a page that still exists and hasn't changed, and content still on the page is one of its listed denial reasons. You'll need to be signed in to a Google account to open it. Come back to it once a site has pulled the page or redacted your name off it.

Don't burn time on the wrong form. Results about you covers your phone number, home address, email, Social Security, passport and driver's license numbers, not the content of a case, and Google says it won't remove contact details from government or educational sites or from newspapers.

If you do hold an order, it goes through Google's legal removal process, and it has to be directed at the site publishing the page, not at Google, which doesn't accept service of process through its web forms. Each court-order submission needs every URL, the exact offending text at each one, and the section of the order that mandates removal. Google may display a link to a Lumen notice, which includes your court order, in place of the removed result.

If nothing moves, and what this won't fix

Put a date 30 days out and re-run the same searches, then run them again at 90 days. Work whatever's new, re-send to anyone who never answered, and keep the list, because a page you already cleared can come back.

None of this seals or expunges the court's own record. The case file stays exactly where it is, and what changes is what a stranger typing your name into a search box finds. If you want the record itself sealed, that's a motion in the court that heard the case, and it's a different job from this one.

Doing it yourself costs time rather than money. Every one of these requests is free, and the price is the running: a separate form per site, one submission per URL on two of them, a 14-day verification window you can miss, roughly 60 days before a UniCourt redaction clears search, and a list you have to keep chasing after that.

We'll work every form we're allowed to file.

Court Record Removal is $199, one time. One fee covers every site we can reach, worked in the right order, plus twelve months of re-checking and re-submission on anything that comes back. UniCourt won't take a request from a reputation firm, so that one you sign and submit yourself, or it goes through your attorney of record.

Have us do it.

Everything above, filed for you, chased for you, and reported back. One flat fee.

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Written by Drew Chapin, who ran all of this on his own name first.