Which kinds of court files are private and which are public record in California?

[spengler]

Is it against the law to share family law documents or criminal case documents with people who have nothing to do with the case? Are child support orders, custody agreements, and parental restraining orders private documents or public records?

What about criminal court files? I'm not talking about case info you can look up on the internet, but the actual hard copies for the court proceedings of a criminal case. If someone were to show my court documents to people (not lawyers or law enforcement, but their friends) is there anything I can do about it?

[ji]

I have a copy of the family court case file of Marcia Clark when she file for a divorce from Gordon Clark during the OJ Simpson trial. Gordon Clark was a stay at home dad, working from home as a architect. She felt that him not having an advance decree and working for a large corporation was demeaning to the children, so she file for divorce, custody, and child support plus the cost of nannies to care for the children during how 100+ hour work weeks.

In February of 1994, she filed for an increase in the child support stating that she needed the money due to the cost of hair care, makeup, clothes, and shoes needed to appear on TV during the trial. She earned $150,000 a year to his $40,000.

[lathrop]

Normally, only files involving minors are sealed.

All others are a matter of public record.

[brenn15]

Court records are all public record unless specifically sealed.