The Trial Court Record Retention Schedule was originally published in March 1982 and updated in September 1991. While the former addressed only the retention of administrative records, the latter added retention requirements for case papers, testimony, and trial exhibits. Certain changes and refinements to records retention requirements have been incorporated into this revision of the Schedule.
Procedural steps remain the same for retaining, sampling, and destroying cases.
If an administrative record generated by your court is not listed in the Schedule, then the retention period should be the same as for a listed record that performs the same or similar function. Different case types may have varying restrictions and retention periods. The audit period stated refers to the time period after the clearance of the audit. Judicial Archives - Managed by the Supreme Judicial Court and located at the State Archives in Boston, it preserves court records of historical significance. Only the legal custodian may provide certified copies of original records.