Hi Tim
My view is that yes, the retention clock resets once you re-open a closed case, and restarts when you close it again. However, you need to consider whether the records from the original closed case can be protected and not amended themselves, and only new records can be added to the case, or whether by re-opening the case you effectively "undeclare" the records.
If you undeclare the original records, then the records integrity changes if they are subsequently amended, therefore a new retention period must be applied. If you keep the original records protected, then you could say that a new case has been opened even if the matter is the same - and have 2 retention periods apply - but then the case itself would be in two sections, and the case integrity would fail.
Hope that helps.
Kind regards
Madi McAllister FIRMS
Information Governance and Records Management Officer
Information Governance
London Borough Of Merton
-----Original Message-----
From: The Information and Records Management Society mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tim Cotgreave
Sent: 25 July 2017 10:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re-setting retention periods
All,
I am currently leading a review of our internal retention schedule and a question has arisen that I would be keen to get your views on.
I work for a law firm and therefore the question is relating to matter files specifically and the closure of such once the case has ended (although this could easily extend to any other records types so any non-matter related thoughts would also be greatly appreciated).
More often than not, a matter file is opened, closed and then archived with an appropriate retention period. The matter then remains archived until its retention date has been reached (assume standard case files are 6 years) and is then destroyed.
However, in some instances a matter may be re-opened several years into its retention period due to continued work on the case and if so the matter file will come out of its archived state and its status changed back to 'LIVE'
My question is - once the matter is re-closed, should the retention period automatically be re-set to zero and therefore a further 6 years applied to the record? (and would this necessarily apply in all instances?)
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