More than a year after Donald Miles and his ex-wife's divorce became final after 24 years of marriage, Miles wanted to keep those records private.
The Plano resident filed a motion last October to seal the divorce records, arguing the records being public would open him up to the possibility of identity theft, financial exposure and damage to his reputation because of details about "the marriage, bar exam, education, employment, disability, and abuse," according to his court filings.
Collin County 401st District Judge George Flint denied that request two months later. Flint wrote that while exceptions can be made to keep family court records private when other court proceedings are presumed public, nothing happening in Miles' divorce was exempt from public disclosure.
"The case at bar is no different than a multitude of divorce actions involving separate and community property divisions and determinations, all of which are generally court records open to the public," Flint wrote.
Miles questioned why seven months later, in the same county, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who's running for the U.S. Senate — and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, got to keep their divorce records private with no children under 18 involved.
"The disparate outcomes in Husband's Motion to Seal Record — denied despite arguments concerning highly sensitive information — and the sealing of records in a purportedly more public case reveal an arbitrary application of legal standards by Texas district courts when protecting sensitive information in divorce proceedings," Miles wrote in a filing with the Dallas-area appeals court.
Miles declined to comment for this story. Miles' wife did not respond to KERA News' request for comment.
The Texas Supreme Court's denial Friday of Miles' request to have his divorce records sealed leaves the issue unanswered in his case — which, according to the lower courts who have considered the case, has its own procedural problems. But the case highlights what family lawyers say is the unpredictability and high standard of proof required to keep even deeply personal court records private.
Presumption of openness
Court filings, like other government records in Texas, are generally presumed to be open to the public. The laws governing civil court procedure state court records can't be sealed unless it can be proved that some specific reasoning outweighs the presumption of openness as well as any potential public health or safety risk that would come with sealing the records.
A party in a case also has to prove that sealing the records is the only way to protect a certain interest, and there is no other alternative, less restrictive way to do it.
Family law cases, however, can be exceptions to those rules.
Sen. Paxton, R-McKinney, said on social media she filed for divorce in July on "biblical grounds" and alleged in court documents the attorney general was unfaithful in their marriage. Soon afterward, she moved to seal the records.
Her attorney Charla Bradshaw wrote in a one-page motion that the documents in the Paxtons' divorce case are exempt from the state's rules on sealing records. The attorney used similar language found in Miles' filing but did not cite specific reasons for her client's motion, according to publicly available records at the time.
"The sealing of the records in this action will not have an adverse effect on the public health or safety, and the records do not involve matters that should be available to the general public," Bradshaw wrote.
Collin County 429th District Judge Jill Renfro Willis — whose husband is Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis, a friend of the attorney general — recused herself from the case. A different judge granted the motion to seal the next day.
Miles appealed the denial of his motion to seal to the Dallas Fifth Court of Appeals. That court rejected his request because he filed his notice of appeal too late. Then he appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which declined to consider his request to make the trial court judge seal his divorce records.
In both filings, Miles pointed to the Paxtons' case as evidence his records could be sealed, too. He also argued he was deprived the right to a hearing over the motion to seal the records.
"The Trial Court's failure to schedule the requested hearing and its denial of sealing, when contrasted with the sealing of Attorney General Ken Paxton's divorce case in the same county, suggests an arbitrary application of rules and law," Miles wrote. "This inconsistent application, particularly concerning sensitive personal and financial data, constitutes an arbitrary exercise of discretion."
Christine Leatherberry, an adjunct family law professor at Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law, said it was Miles' procedural errors alone that likely made him lose his appeals. Miles pursued the appeals pro se, or without an attorney, which can be common in family law cases.
"That can certainly be problematic, because maybe he didn't know the ins and outs of the law pertaining to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 76A, which has to do with open records," Leatherberry said. "Because if you don't know how this rule works, you're not going to have a chance if you're not familiar with the case law and so forth."
Generally, arguments like Miles' — concerns over financial exposure and potential identity theft — are weaker because parties can ask for some documents to be redacted or removed from the case file, said Austin family law attorney Christine Andresen. That's less restrictive than sealing the record entirely.
But like many questions about what a judge might do, Andresen said, the question of whether divorce records will be sealed depends largely on the county and judge. People in the public eye might be able to make a better case to a judge for sealing their records than those who aren't.
"It could be splashed all over, you know, TMZ or some tabloid or whatever," Andresen said. "Whereas it's rare that people look up their next-door neighbor's court records."
It's a discretionary and unpredictable process, Andresen said, but judges across the political spectrum in Texas tend to maintain the state's strong protections around open courtrooms and records.
What that means for the average litigant
Still, Leatherberry — like other family lawyers — said she was surprised the Paxtons successfully sealed their divorce records.
"It is a little bit harder for public figures," she said. "It's a little bit easier to argue that there will be an adverse effect on the general public."
A group of news organizations, including the Texas Newsroom, is challenging the decision to seal on that very basis. They argue the adultery allegations and requests for unequal division of property in the Paxtons' divorce "may bear directly on the conduct of public office, the use of public resources, and the financial interests of public servants," according to a court filing last month.
While the details of a divorce can be particularly embarrassing and damaging to a person's reputation, that's the case for most lawsuits where a plaintiff makes allegations of wrongdoing, said Dayla Pepi, the head of the St. Mary's University School of Law family law clinic — but that doesn't mean every civil court record can be kept private.
Avenues for sealing divorce records do still exist, especially when children are involved. And even when divorce records are public, Pepi said, the law prevents litigants from including specific details too early in the case, and the filings aren't always readily available anyway.
"You have to go down to the courthouse, you have to pay for parking, you have to do all of that, you have to pay for the copies, all of those things, right?" Pepi said. "And very few people have that level of interest in things."
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA's law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
Copyright 2025 KERA