Court record retention schedules are the rules that tell a court how long to keep your case file before destroying it. Federal courts follow a single nationwide schedule published in the Guide to Judiciary Policy; each state sets its own through the state supreme court or an administrative office of the courts. Timelines range from about five years for a federal misdemeanor paper file to permanent status for felony convictions, probate, adoption, and property cases. The clerk has no discretion to deviate: if the schedule says 10 years, the file isn’t shredded at 7 or kept until 20.
Federal Retention Timelines
The federal judiciary’s Records Disposition Schedule, most recently revised in March 2026, sorts every case file into permanent (eventually transferred to the National Archives) or temporary (destroyed after a set period). Electronic records are kept significantly longer than paper in nearly every category.
Criminal Cases
Cases that went to trial, involved national security or treason, resulted in a death sentence, or were filed before 1970 are permanent. Paper transfers to NARA 15 years after the case closes; electronic versions transfer at 30 years.
Temporary criminal files follow a tiered system based on the sentence:
- Sentences of 15 years or less: paper destroyed after 15 years, electronic after 30.
- Sentences between 15 and 30 years: paper destroyed after 30 years, electronic after 30.
- Life sentences or sentences over 30 years: paper and electronic both destroyed after 75 years.
- Misdemeanor and petty offenses handled by magistrate judges: paper destroyed after just 5 years, electronic after 30.
That last line is the sharpest gap in the whole schedule. A federal misdemeanor paper file may be gone within five years while the electronic version survives for three decades.
Civil Cases
Permanent civil categories include class actions, multi-district litigation, cases that went to trial, civil rights claims, patent cases, antitrust suits, habeas corpus petitions, any file from 1969 or earlier, and anything a court official or NARA tags as historically significant. These transfer to NARA at 15 years (paper) or 30 years (electronic). Everything else in the civil docket is temporary and destroyed on the same 15/30-year schedule.
Bankruptcy Cases
Permanent bankruptcy files include cases under Chapter 7, 9, 11, and 12, cases from 1940 or earlier, cases with historical value, and a statistical sample of non-trial files. Same 15/30 transfer timeline. Temporary bankruptcy files are destroyed on the civil schedule: 15 years paper, 30 years electronic.
All of these timelines come from the Guide to Judiciary Policy, Volume 10, Chapter 6, Appendix 6B.1United States Courts. Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 10, Ch. 6, Appx. 6B: Records Disposition Schedule 2
State Retention Timelines
State courts handle the bulk of American litigation, and their schedules vary. No two states are identical, but patterns repeat.
General civil case files, such as contract disputes and personal injury suits, are commonly retained for about 10 years after final judgment, with some states shorter and some longer. Small claims cases often run five to seven years. State-level felonies that resulted in serious prison sentences are typically kept permanently or for very long periods, so a conviction can still be defended if a post-conviction challenge arrives decades later. Misdemeanors generally sit around a decade, with the actual range running from five to fifteen years; prior convictions matter at sentencing, which keeps the files relevant longer than people expect.
Traffic infractions and minor ordinance violations have the shortest lives, often three to five years, because the volume is enormous and the records rarely matter again.
Family law records are at the other extreme. Adoption files and custody orders are classified as permanent in many jurisdictions because they establish legal relationships, parental rights, and inheritance lines that matter across generations. Divorce decrees may be kept permanently as part of the court minutes in some states and for fixed periods in others.
What Gets Kept Permanently
Some records are never destroyed. Probate files, including original wills and estate distributions, are kept indefinitely in most jurisdictions. Real estate litigation and cases affecting property title fall into the same category because chains of ownership have to be verifiable for generations. Felony cases with severe sentences also receive permanent treatment at both the state and federal level.
Permanent records don’t stay at the courthouse forever. Federal files move to a NARA facility. States typically operate their own archival repositories, sometimes through a state library or historical commission. The records remain accessible for legal verification, historical research, and genealogy.
Paper Versus Electronic
The shift from paper to electronic filing has created a lasting split in what still exists. The federal schedule illustrates it plainly: a temporary civil file on paper is destroyed at 15 years; the electronic version at 30. The same gap runs through almost every federal category.
State courts are at various stages of this transition. Most have adopted electronic filing, but technical standards and migration timelines differ. If you need an older state record, don’t assume it has been digitized. Many pre-2000 case files still exist only on paper or microfilm, and some were already destroyed under older retention schedules that predated electronic preservation.
Expungement Is Not the Same as Destruction
These two processes get confused constantly, and the difference matters. Scheduled destruction happens automatically. The clerk follows the schedule, destroys the file at the end of its retention period, and logs the disposal. No petition, no judge, no order.
Expungement is a legal proceeding you have to initiate. You petition the court, a judge reviews eligibility, and if the order is granted the record is removed from public access. In many jurisdictions, expungement doesn’t actually destroy the record. The physical file is sealed in an envelope and stored separately, inaccessible to the public but still in existence. It is destroyed later, when the underlying retention period expires. Expungement also doesn’t automatically clear records held by law enforcement agencies, which operate under their own schedules.
The timing cuts both ways. If you’re eligible for expungement but the retention period hasn’t run, the record still exists and can appear in background checks until you act. If the retention period expires first, the court file is gone, but law enforcement databases and court indexes may still reference the case.
How to Get a Record Before It’s Gone
If you know you’ll need a court record, get a certified copy now while the file is still active. Retrieving an archived record is slower, more expensive, and sometimes impossible if the retention period has already run.
Federal Records
Active federal case files are available through PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). The system charges $0.10 per page, capped at $3.00 per document. Court opinions are always free. If your fees total $30 or less in a quarter, they’re waived entirely.2PACER. PACER Pricing: How Fees Work Courts can grant additional fee exemptions to people who can’t afford access, pro bono attorneys, academic researchers, and nonprofit organizations.
For closed federal cases transferred to a records center or the National Archives, you order copies directly from NARA using a request form specific to the case type (bankruptcy, civil, criminal, or appellate), submitted online or by mail.3National Archives. Obtaining Copies of Court Records in the Federal Records Centers NARA no longer offers on-site review of court case files at its Federal Records Centers; in-person viewing has to happen at the federal court office that holds the file.
State Records
Access varies widely. Many state systems now offer electronic access through statewide portals, with fees and features that differ by state. For records that predate electronic filing or have moved to off-site storage, contact the clerk of court directly. Retrieval fees for archived state records can run from negligible to $85 or more depending on jurisdiction and the effort to locate the file. Certified copies cost more than plain copies.
If You Think the Record May Already Be Destroyed
Courts are required to keep a destruction log for every batch of records they eliminate, identifying case numbers, the date of disposal, and the authority under which the files were removed. If you request a record and it isn’t there, the clerk’s office should be able to confirm when and under what authority the file was destroyed. That confirmation is sometimes useful on its own, for example when another agency or a lender wants proof that nothing exists.
Finding Your Jurisdiction’s Schedule
Federal retention rules are centralized in the Guide to Judiciary Policy, Volume 10, Chapter 6, publicly available on the U.S. Courts website.1United States Courts. Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 10, Ch. 6, Appx. 6B: Records Disposition Schedule 2
Each state publishes its own schedule, usually through the administrative office of the courts or under the authority of the state supreme court. Searching the state’s name along with “judicial record retention schedule” will typically turn up the document, posted as a PDF under administrative rules or court management. If you can’t find it, call the clerk of court in the relevant county. Clerk’s office staff can tell you whether a specific file from a specific year still exists, whether it has moved to off-site storage, and what it would cost to retrieve. For older files that may already be gone, they can check the destruction log and confirm.