Frequent Questions on Sealing or Expungement

Depending on the nature of the underlying offense, I charge a flat fee which includes all court costs and related expenses. If the case is outside of the Central Florida area and a hearing is required there is an additional travel fee.

In Florida, sealing and Expungement of your criminal records are two similar, but separate processes.

Sealing of criminal records results in all of the criminal history records related to a criminal case being made confidential and exempt from disclosure to the public.

Expungement of criminal records results in the destruction of all physical records related to your criminal case held by a criminal justice agency and the court file being made confidential and exempt from disclosure to the public.

The primary distinction between sealed and expunged criminal records, is that sealed records are retained by the courts and law enforcement agencies who possess them and they are prohibited from divulging the history of the arrest to the public. On the other hand, expungement requires law enforcement to physically destroy their criminal records and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Court maintain a sealed record of the arrest history.

By law, only a case that was completely dismissed can be expunged.

If you entered a plea of guilty or no contest and adjudication of guilt was withheld, the law only allows you to have your records sealed. Then, after ten years of staying out of trouble, you may apply to have your record expunged.

Under Florida law, a person you can lawfully deny the existence of sealed or expunged criminal history records subject to limited exceptions.

Most importantly, information regarding the criminal offense is removed from the Criminal Justice Information System so that it doesn't come up on any background checks.

When a criminal history record is sealed or expunged, all electronic and physical records possessed by law enforcement are either destroyed (expunged) or made non-public (sealed) and the record maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the court are sealed and made non-public. The records maintained by FDLE and the court are confidential under Florida law and can only be disclosed under limited circumstances

Once sealed or expunged, a criminal justice agency is prohibited from revealing the criminal history or that it was sealed or expunged. It is a first degree misdemeanor to divulge the information.

Generally, you can only seal or expunge criminal history related to one criminal episode. So if you have been arrested multiple times in different criminal cases, you will only be able to seal or expunge the criminal history related to one of those arrests.

You can seal or expunge multiple charges if they stem from the same criminal episode.

Felony offenses are eligible to be sealed or expunged.

In Florida, it can take up to six months to complete the process of sealing or expunging criminal records.

Sealing and Expungement is a mutli-step process that can take up to six months depending on how quickly the various agencies respond.

1. For expungements, the prosecutor must first issue a Written Certified Statement of Eligibility to Expunge.
2. Then an Application for a Certificate of Eligibility to Seal or Expunge must be submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
3. Upon issuance of a Certificate of Eligibility to seal or expunge, an Affidavit in Support of a Petition to Seal or Expunge must be executed.
4. Then a petition, the affidavit, and the Certificate of Eligibility must be submitted to the prosecutor, the arresting law enforcement agency, and the court.
5. If no objection is received, the petition will usually be granted without a hearing. If an objection is received, an evidentiary hearing must be scheduled.
6. If the petition is granted, the court will enter an order to seal or expunge the criminal records.
7. The Clerk of Court will then transmit the order to the prosecutor, the arresting agency, any other agency having criminal records related to your case, and FDLE.
8. Once processed, FDLE will issue a notice confirming they have complied with the order to seal or