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Gov. Robert Bentley and his wife, Dianne. Dianne Bentley filed for divorce in August.
Just days after First Lady Dianne Bentley filed to end her 50-year marriage to Gov. Robert Bentley, Judge Elizabeth Hamner
to the public.
While the media and others are fighting the closure, the question has emerged: Can the average couple have their divorce records sealed, too?
According to Mary Pool, a Montgomery attorney with the firm Bonds & Botes, the decision to seal or unseal is all up to the judge.
"Like the Bentleys, other couples could ask the domestic court to have their divorce records sealed as well but the matter is left at the discretion of the domestic court judge," she said.
The Bentleys asked the records be sealed because the governor's "prominent office in the state of Alabama" makes it in the "parties' best interest that the public not be able to access the record in the divorce action." If the divorce records remained sealed, it means only the Bentleys, their attorneys and court employees would have access to the documents.
Pool said the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled records cannot be sealed unless they constitute a trade secret; are a matter of national security; promote a scandal or defamation; pertain to a "wholly private family matter," such as a divorce; pose a serious threat of harassment, exploitation or physical intrusion; or pose potential harm to a third person who is not included in the litigation.
"The provision the lawyers in the Bentley v. Bentley matter relied upon to have the records sealed was that the case pertains to "wholly private family matters," Pool said.
Sealing divorce records
It's not uncommon for divorce records to be sealed in high-profile cases. Papers ending the four-year marriage between country stars Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton were sealed by an Oklahoma judge, as were documents in the 2009 divorce between reality television personalities Jon and Kate Gosselin.
Sealing divorce records has been more controversial in cases involving political couples.
In 2009, a Nevada judge overseeing the case of Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons tossed out a statute that allowed divorce cases to be sealed on the request of either party. In that case, the governor asked for the records to be sealed while his wife, Dawn, opposed the request.
In 2014, a judge sealed the records of Maryland State Sen. Richard Colburn, only to reverse the decision a week later. Colburn had requested the documents be sealed but his wife, Alma, who alleged the long-time lawmakers was having an affair with an aide, fought the motion.
The couple later settled the matter out of court.