Rule 5:10-13. Requests to Unseal Adoption Cases; Procedure

(a) The Surrogate shall accept for filing a post-judgment request to unseal an adoption, which request may be by motion or by notarized letter, and shall forward the request and a proposed order to the court. The court may, if necessary, schedule a hearing to consider the request to unseal the adoption.

(b) The court shall determine whether good cause exists to grant the request to unseal the adoption. The court shall provide to the Surrogate the signed court order denying or granting the request to unseal the adoption.

(c) If the court grants the request to unseal the adoption, the Surrogate shall provide a copy of the order unsealing the adoption to the requesting party and shall make available to the requesting party copies of the documents on file as directed by the court's order. If the Surrogate determines that an adoption did not occur in the county in which the request was received, the Surrogate shall send a letter to the requesting party indicating that there is no record of the adoption in that county and that no further action will be taken on the request.

(d) If the court denies the request to unseal the adoptions, the Surrogate shall provide a copy of the court’s order denying the request to the requesting party and shall include in the sealed court file, if any, a copy of the written request and the order denying the request to unseal the adoption.