Arkansas Code Annotated
Ark. Code Ann. § 16-13-222 (2026)
Private hearings by circuit courts
✓ current as of May 2026
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- The circuit courts of the various judicial districts of the state shall hear the case or matter in privacy, upon application of all litigants to a divorce action, proceeding for alimony or separate maintenance, proceeding touching the maintenance or custody of children, proceeding for annulment of marriage, adoption proceeding, or any other proceeding pertaining to domestic relations.
- To this end, circuit judges are empowered to exclude from any such hearing and from the courtroom all individuals other than the litigants, their counsel, and the officers of the court.
- A circuit judge, upon his or her own initiative, may hear such cases and matters in chambers or in privacy where he or she deems it in the best interests of the parties and the best interests of society.
History. Acts 2003, No. 1185, § 79.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1
case, 2014–2014 · leading case: In re Amends. to the Ark. R. Civ. P., 2014 Ark. 119 (Ark. 2014).
In re Amends. to the Ark. R. Civ. P., 2014 Ark. 119 (Ark. 2014). “All trials and hearings shall be public except as otherwise provided by law, such as, for example, Ark. Code Ann. § 16-13-222 . Addition to Reporter’s Notes, 2014 Amendment: Rule 77(b) prescribes that all trials and hearings are to be public except as otherwise provided by law.”
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