Templates
A FOIA Request Letter That Works
A records request is a form letter with a statute behind it. The difference between one answered in three weeks and one that dies in a queue is almost entirely in the wording.
Five things make a request work. Everything else is decoration.
- Name the statute. Federal FOIA for federal agencies; the state act by name and citation for anything else. It signals you know the deadline exists.
- Describe records, not questions. Agencies are not obliged to answer questions or create documents. They are obliged to produce records that exist.
- Bound it. Date range, custodian, subject. An unbounded request invites a “too burdensome” refusal.
- Deal with fees before they do. State your limit or ask for a waiver.
- Demand a format. Ask for electronic copies. Paper is slower and they charge per page for it.
The template
[Date]
Records Access Officer
[Agency name and address]
Re: Request under [statute name and citation]
Dear Records Access Officer,
Under [the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 / the state act and cite], I request copies of the following records:
1. [Specific record type], created or received between [date] and [date], concerning [subject].
2. [Second category, separately numbered.]
I request these records in electronic form, delivered by email to the address below.
If any portion is withheld, please release all reasonably segregable portions and provide an index identifying each withheld record, the exemption claimed, and the basis for it.
I agree to pay reasonable duplication fees up to $[amount]. Please contact me before incurring costs beyond that figure. [Fee waiver paragraph, if applicable.]
Please confirm receipt and provide a determination within the [number] days required by [statute].
Sincerely,
[Name, address, email, telephone]
Name the right custodian
Send it to the office that holds the record, not the agency’s general address. Police reports go to the department’s records division; payroll goes to finance or HR; permits go to building.
A misdirected request is not a denial — it is a delay, and in most states the clock does not start until the right officer has it.
Ask for records, not answers
Wrong: “How many complaints were filed against Officer Smith?”
Right: “All citizen complaint records naming Officer J. Smith, badge 214, received between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2024.”
The first can be refused because no such document exists. The second identifies documents that do.
Number your categories
Separate numbered items let an agency release part while it considers the rest, and they force a specific answer per item. A single run-on paragraph gets a single blanket response.
It also matters on appeal — you can point at item 3 and say it was never addressed.
Handle fees in advance
Most laws allow duplication charges but not search time for a non-commercial requester, and many have a free allowance before charging starts.
Stating a dollar limit does two things: it prevents an ambush invoice, and it removes the agency’s ability to stall by waiting for you to agree to a fee.
Fee waivers are for requests in the public interest. If you are working a case for a client, you are unlikely to qualify — ask for the statutory free allowance instead and pay the rest.
Ask for the exemption log
The sentence asking for an index of withheld records and the exemption claimed is the most useful line in the letter.
Agencies that would casually redact a whole page become noticeably more careful when they have to write down which exemption justified it, because that is the document you will attach to the appeal.
Send it so you can prove you sent it
Email where the agency accepts it, and keep the sent message. Post where they insist, and use certified mail.
The date of receipt starts the clock, and the clock is your only leverage.
What to do when nothing comes back
Do not send a polite reminder. Send a dated follow-up that states when the request was received, what the statutory deadline was, and that the deadline has passed. In many states silence past the deadline is a constructive denial that you can appeal immediately — which is a much stronger position than waiting.
See appealing a denial.
Go deeper
The Ultimate FOIA Course
Sixty minutes on the parts of FOIA most investigators never use — police reports, dispatcher logs, complaints filed with public bodies such as libraries, and the lesser-known techniques that get results. Real examples of requests that worked. $49.99. There is also The FOIA Advantage if you would rather read it.
See the course