To submit a Trellis Law record removal request, open the specific Trellis docket page that displays your case, click the “Request Redaction” link in the bottom right corner, and fill out the short on-page form. What you get back depends on what you can show. Anyone can ask for a courtesy redaction, which hides your name from logged-out visitors but leaves the record in Trellis’s database. Permanent deletion is different: Trellis will only wipe a record entirely if you upload a court order sealing or expunging it, and the company states it has “no legal obligation” to redact a public court record without one.1Trellis Research. How Do I Redact My Information or Remove My Case Records from Google
Find Every Page That Shows Your Case
The form lives on the docket page itself, so you have to locate your records first. Go to trellis.law/search and search your name or case number.1Trellis Research. How Do I Redact My Information or Remove My Case Records from Google Open each result that concerns you and copy the full URL from your browser’s address bar.
If you have cases in more than one jurisdiction, each one has its own Trellis page, and Trellis requires a separate submission for every URL you want redacted.1Trellis Research. How Do I Redact My Information or Remove My Case Records from Google Make the full list before you start filling anything out. One form per page.
Fill Out the Request Redaction Form
On the docket page, scroll to the bottom right corner and click “Request Redaction.”1Trellis Research. How Do I Redact My Information or Remove My Case Records from Google The Request to Redact/Remove Records Form asks for four things:
- Your name, as it appears on the record or your current legal name.
- An email address where Trellis can send updates.
- A yes-or-no confirmation that the record is about you.
- A short reason — privacy concerns, reputational harm, or that the record has been sealed by a court.
If a filing on Trellis shows personal identifiers that should never have been public in the first place — a full Social Security number, a bank account number, a child’s full name — say so in the reason field. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 limits court filings to the last four digits of a Social Security number or financial account number, only the birth year, and only a minor’s initials, and the duty to redact falls on the party who filed the document.2Legal Information Institute. Rule 5.2 Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court A document that slipped through with those identifiers visible gives you a concrete basis for a courtesy redaction even without a sealing order.
One procedural detail that trips people up: Trellis does not process redaction requests sent by email.1Trellis Research. How Do I Redact My Information or Remove My Case Records from Google The on-page form is the only channel. Writing to support will get you pointed back to it.
Attach a Court Order if You Want Permanent Deletion
The form includes a file upload field for a court order sealing or expunging the record.1Trellis Research. How Do I Redact My Information or Remove My Case Records from Google Upload a scanned certified copy here. Without the order, your request will be handled as a courtesy redaction and the record will stay in the database.
If you already have an expungement or sealing order from years ago, you may just need to find your copy. If you’ve lost it, contact the clerk of the court that issued the order and ask for a new certified copy; courts typically charge a fee for certified documents, with costs varying by jurisdiction.3California Courts | Self Help Guide. How to Get a Copy of a Court Record If you’ve never obtained an order, that’s a separate legal proceeding in the court where the case was filed, with eligibility rules that vary widely by state and depend on the type of case, how it resolved, and how much time has passed. An attorney who handles expungements in that jurisdiction can tell you whether you qualify.
After You Submit
Trellis processes requests in the order received and will email you if something is missing or illegible.1Trellis Research. How Do I Redact My Information or Remove My Case Records from Google The company doesn’t publish a turnaround time, so build in some patience and watch your spam folder.
Once you get confirmation, revisit the original URL. A courtesy redaction should strip your name and block the page for anyone not logged in to a Trellis account. A permanent deletion should return an error page or no results.
Clear the Page from Google and Bing
Search engines can keep showing a cached version of the old page for weeks after Trellis takes action. You can speed that up.
For Google, use the Refresh Outdated Content tool at search.google.com/search-console/remove-outdated-content. Log in with a Google account, paste the URL, and submit. If the page still loads but the content has changed, Google may ask for a word or two from the old snippet that no longer appears on the live page.4Google. Refresh Outdated Content Tool – Search Console Help Approved requests expire after 180 days, by which point search engines have usually re-crawled and updated their index on their own.
For Bing, submit through the Content Removal Tool at bing.com/webmasters/tools/contentremoval.5Bing. How To Permanently Remove a URL or Page from Bing or Copilot The same content sometimes surfaces under multiple URLs, so check for variations and file a separate request for each.4Google. Refresh Outdated Content Tool – Search Console Help
If Trellis Declines Your Request
If Trellis says no and you still want the record down, repeating the same request won’t change the answer. There are three realistic next moves.
Go back to the court. Trellis has said plainly that a sealing or expungement order compels deletion, so getting one is the most direct path if you don’t already have it.
Consider whether the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies. The FCRA governs “consumer reporting agencies,” defined as entities that regularly assemble information about consumers and furnish reports to third parties.6Legal Information Institute. Definition: Consumer Reporting Agency from 15 USC 1681a(f) Whether a court record aggregator qualifies depends on how its data gets used; if employers or landlords rely on it for background screening, FCRA obligations may apply. Willful noncompliance exposes a CRA to statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 per violation plus potential punitive damages and attorney’s fees,7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance and negligent noncompliance can still produce liability for actual damages and attorney’s fees.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681o – Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance Talk to a consumer rights attorney before filing anything.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov or 1-877-FTC-HELP.9Federal Trade Commission. FTC Warns Data Broker Operations of Possible Privacy Violations An individual complaint won’t move your case, but complaints feed a database the agency uses to identify patterns.
Why the CCPA Probably Won’t Force Deletion
California residents sometimes assume the California Consumer Privacy Act can be used to compel removal. It usually can’t here. The CCPA grants a right to request deletion of personal information, but it carves out a broad exemption for publicly available government records, and the California Attorney General’s office defines “publicly available information” to include data from federal, state, or local government records, which covers court filings.10California Attorney General. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Because Trellis sources from public court systems, the exemption likely reaches most records on the platform. The CCPA may still apply to non-public data Trellis collects about you as a website user, such as browsing or account information, but that is a different request and will not take down a case page.