Account information that does not include email content, such as identifying information, may be released in connection with a valid civil subpoena.

Valid Civil Subpoena Process (for account holder information or information sufficient to identify an account holder only):

AOL, its records, and its Custodian of Records are located in Loudoun County, Virginia. AOL 's headquarters are in the State of New York. AOL accepts subpoenas that are properly issued pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 and applicable state laws.

For all properly issued subpoenas, service should be made upon our registered agent:

Corporation Service Company
11 South 12th Street
Post Office Box 1463
Richmond , Virginia 23218

Upon receipt of a valid subpoena, it is AOL 's policy to promptly send notification to the account holder whose information is sought. AOL will not produce the subpoenaed account holder information until 10 days after the account holder has been notified, so that the account holder whose information is sought will have adequate opportunity take appropriate legal action, should the account holder wish to do so. AOL will issue invoices for the costs associated with subpoena compliance. We charge $125.00 per hour for research and administrative costs, $14.00 per overnight mail and 25 cents per copy.  AOL will invoice the subpoenaing party prior to production, and payment must be made prior to the production of the subpoenaed information.

Account holder E-mail and Content

AOL will not release the content of account holder e-mail until AOL has sent notification to the account holder and, in all but the rarest of cases,  only with the valid consent of the account holder. Our authorization form can be found here. As noted above, because free email accounts cannot be properly verified through address and payment information, AOL will not release email content of free AOL accounts, even to the account holder.

Pursuant to the Stored Wire and Electronic Communications Act (Stored Communications Act), 18 U.S.C. §2701 et seq ., AOL will not release an account holder's e-mail content even with a properly issued subpoena or a court order. See, In re Subpoena Duces Tecum to AOL ,LLC , 550 F. Supp. 2d 606 (E.D.Va. 2008) (A civil discovery subpoena is not an exception to the provisions of the Privacy Act that would allow an internet service provider to disclose a Account holder's email. The exception for production pursuant to court order does not apply to civil discovery matters.); Flagg v. City of Detroit , 2008 WL 3895470 (E.D. Mich. 2008) (“[The Stored Communications Act] lacks any language that explicitly authorizes a service provider to divulge the contents of a communication pursuant to subpoena or court order.”).

Moreover, in its ordinary course of business, AOL retains no active account holder email that is not also accessible by that account holder. Therefore, if a party is seeking account holder email, the most efficient way to access that information is through the account holder.

AOL will issue invoices for the costs associated with subpoena compliance. We charge $125.00 per hour for research and administrative costs, $14.00 per Federal Express and 25 cents per copy.  AOL will invoice the subpoenaing party prior to production, and payment must be made prior to the production of the subpoenaed information

Frequently Asked questions

I am an account holder and would like AOL to send me copies of all of my emails.

If you are the account holder, AOL does not have access to any information that you are not able to access yourself. Moreover, if you signed up for a free AOL account, we cannot verify your identity through address and payment information and therefore cannot provide you with your email.

I am an AOL account holder and I deleted some email accidentally. Can AOL send me my deleted mail?

 AOL does not retain backups of account holder email. AOL does not have access to any information that you are not able to access yourself.

I am an attorney representing a party to a lawsuit. We want AOL to send us all of the opposing party's email related to certain key words and plan to send AOL a subpoena.

AOL does not retain any email other than what the account holder can access. Moreover, pursuant to the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §2701 et seq., AOL will only release the content of any email from a paid AOL account with valid account holder consent.

AOL will not release the content of email even with a civil subpoena or court order, except under very limited circumstances. We would advise that you pursue the information that you seek through other channels ( e.g., secure account holder consent and/or serve the party with a proper discovery request). Moreover, AOL does not have the resources to search account holder email by keywords.

I am an attorney representing a party to a lawsuit and I need to find out who owns a particular email account.

Because you are seeking identification information, and not email content, AOL will release this information to you pursuant to a valid subpoena in accordance with our policy, above. However, AOL will only do so ten days after the account holder has been sent notification, so that the account holder whose information is sought will have adequate opportunity to take appropriate legal action should the account holder wish to do so.