COLUMBUS, Neb.—Fall cleaning often includes a tedious sorting of a growing collection of tax records, receipts, bank statements and other records. Then comes the decision about which to file and which to toss.
For the Platte County Court, the mountain of records includes nearly 6,000 new files the court generates each year. The state mandates some of those records be kept for 100 years.
Darla Schiefelbein, magistrate of the Platte County Court, recently received approval from the Platte County Board to spend $1,381.50 for five new file cabinets.
Schiefelbein hopes the expenditure suffices for about the next five years worth of records storage. The new files will fill some of the precious space left in the second-floor offices of the county court. On the fourth floor of the courthouse, the county court’s files line the hallway, fill another room and the cells of the old Platte County Jail.
The crunch for storage results from the criteria set by the Nebraska Supreme Court for records retention and can be more clearly understood when the county court’s mandates are examined.
Probate or estate case files could contain a variety of documents including petitions, wills, letters appointing a personal representative, guardian or conservator, bonds, oaths, inventories, appraisals, affidavits of publication, claims against the estate, pleadings and orders of the court.
The law requires the original probate record to be retained permanently or converted to microfilm. Records not microfilmed may be transferred to the state archives after being held at the county for 100 years.
“Counties are allowed to put records on microfilm,” Schiefelbein said. “The problem is that not many counties have the equipment to do that. We are scanning some things now electronically but we are still required by the state to print and retain hard copies of all those documents.”
Schiefelbein said juvenile case files are generally held for 10 years past the age of majority, which is 19 in the state of Nebraska. It’s not uncommon for a juvenile record to be generated when a child is very young as in the case of abuse. That record would then grow through the child’s life and be held until they reach 29 years of age.
Criminal and civil case files are retained for 15 years with some exceptions for certain civil case files.
“The reason criminal case files are held so long is for the purpose of determining sentence enhancement,” Schiefelbein said. “If an individual is charged with DUI, for instance, and it’s discovered through the record that they had previous offenses, that could come into play with sentencing if they are found guilty of that same or similar offense.”
Some files can be quickly closed while others remain open and close at hand for years to facilitate the addition of new components such as receipts for fines paid in a criminal or civil case.
“We get into old files a lot these days because of the popularity of genealogy searches and just the normal course of business,” Schiefelbein said.”
The fourth floor of the Platte County Courthouse, which previously served as the county jail, was remodeled in 2004 to make it a more suitable space for records storage. File cabinets line the hallways and fill the spaces previously used as prison cells.
Schiefelbein said she was able to send a large number of the oldest records to the state records management division during the course of the remodeling work.
Schiefelbein said the county court got its first computer systems in 1998.
“Our intention and hope is to go paperless as soon as the state allows it,” she said. “Some credit companies can E-file their new cases with us now, but even when they do that we’re still required to print out a copy of those files.”
———
On the Web:
Records Management Division: .
———
Information from: Columbus Telegram,
