privacy

Sealed divorce records

This is always an interesting question: the right to seal divorce records. A recent AJC article (click “story” for it) illustrates how the public clamors for details, especially when the party is running for office. A very similar situation unfolded a few years ago when the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives had his divorce case sealed.

But what about less famous people? Should the public have a right to know the details of the average divorce? When children will be dropped off? How much money each side gets? Why not keep those things private? I do not think the public’s right or need to know should outweigh an individual’s ability to keep these matters private. Just because a relationship ends, why do the financial details become private? Married couples can keep their information private. Just because a relationship ends, is publicity another form of punishment we should heap upon people already suffering the end of a relationship they once thought was forever? For me the answer is clear. Why not allow some privacy? Absent some major need to know (examples are hard to find), I say keep it private.