Shelton, Lambert Divorce Records Sealed, Possibly Illegally

When Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert's divorce was finalized on July 20, the judge sealed the records -- which may have violated Oklahoma state law.

Last year, Oklahoma legislators passed a new law that, according to the Oklahoman, allows judges to seal civil, divorce and other court records that are normally public only if there is a compelling privacy-related reason that outweighs public interest. The judge must make the sealing order public and is only allowed to seal the pieces of the case that need to be kept confidential. The law went into effect in November.

In Shelton and Lambert's divorce, the judge sealed all of the paperwork and did not make the sealing order public.

"There's some shenanigans going on," former state Rep. Aaron Stiles, an attorney who wrote the law, tells the newspaper. "Oh, yeah, they're definitely not following the law on it. I can't imagine a scenario where you would ever seal an entire civil or divorce case."

Another attorney, Irven Box, says that he believes that Shelton and Lambert's divorce records were sealed as a favor because of the two artists' celebrity statuses, adding, "There were a lot of irregularities in that divorce."

Box did not provide further details as to the irregularities, but an online docket sheet -- the only piece of the divorce paperwork that is still public -- shows that a judge who will soon be retiring handled the case, and that the case was ruled on outside of Shelton and Lambert's home county.

"I'm sure that every Oklahoman getting a divorce would like to have their records sealed ... but they don't," Box adds.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert’s Divorce Records Sealed, Possibly Illegally