Record Sealing and Expungement FAQ
1. What does it mean to seal my record?
A record is sealed when a Judge orders each government agency that has a record of your offense to remove them from public access and to permanently seal your record from the public view.
- Typically these are:
- Police Department- The police report of your offense is sealed and cannot be viewed or released to anyone.
- Prosecutor’s Office-The Judge orders the prosecutors office to seal their file of your offense and remove it from public access. Once ordered it can only be viewed by a limited number of people under limited circumstances.
- Clerk of Court-The Clerk of Court keeps a public record of everyone who has ever been charged with a criminal offense. ANYONE can get access to your criminal history by logging on to the Clerk’s website or going to the Clerk’s office and asking to see your file! An order to seal your record will remove your file from the criminal record system resulting in a search that says “No record on file”. Your actually file has also been removed from public view and cannot be seen by the general public.
2. Why would I need to seal my record?
Nowadays we are subjected to background checks everywhere:
- Job applications
- Professional licenses
- Applying to college or schools
- Job promotions
- Renting an apartment
- Volunteering at schools, church, community centers, youth leagues or organizations etc.
Many times our clients come to us with an application in hand wanting to know how to answer a question on the application. Often a parent will have a school volunteer application they need to complete to go on a child’s field trip but they do not know how to answer the questions about their past. Usually it is a question about something that happened 20 or 30 years ago! Unfortunately we must tell them that they must admit to their past mistake on the application because it is still on their criminal history and it will be discovered during the required background check that will be conducted before they will be allowed to participate in the activity.
3. The charges where dropped, do I still need to seal my record?
Yes, a record of your charge still exists, open to the public view. Potential employers, school authorities, human resources departments and landlords do not understand the codes that show the charges where dismissed or dropped. They typical see only the title of the charge against you NOT that the case was dropped or you where found to be innocent or not guilty.
4. But the Judge said he was not finding me guilty isn’t that the same thing?
No, your case can be resolved in any number of manners, all of which will result in you still having a record of the allegations against you open to the public view.
5. But I wasn’t even arrested; do I still have a record?
Yes, even if you or only received a summons to go to court but where never taken to jail, a record of the charge against you is still in the public record. The police agency also has a police report and the prosecutor’s office has a file on your charges EVEN IF YOU NEVER WENT TO COURT ON THE CHARGE!
6. What if my charges were dropped, dismissed or deferred, doesn’t that make them go away?
Absolutely not, this is a common misunderstanding. Many people mistakenly assume if the charges where dropped then the record is automatically sealed or cleared. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! Once a charge is made against you by any police agency whether they take you to jail or not the charges remain on your record permanently until you ask the court to seal them or remove them.
7. How long does it take to seal my record?
It varies by county and by how backed up the State system is but typically it takes at least 4-6 months to complete the process.
8. Can’t I just wait and have my record sealed when I need to?
This is another common mistake. People assume they can just go to a lawyer and have the record sealed that day or week. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. It typically takes as long as 4-6 months to have a record sealed. The State of Florida will run a background check to see if you are eligible to have your records sealed and this takes several months. More importantly; people sometimes wait to seal their record and then get charged with another offense that requires a mandatory finding of guilt. Once found guilty of one offense you are forever barred from sealing any offense on your record. These mandatory adjudication offenses include traffic charges like DUI.
9. How much does it cost?
Before our client spends any money to seal their record we carefully screen all of their records to determine if they are eligible to be sealed, FREE OF CHARGE. If eligible, the costs vary based upon the filing fees charged by the various counties. Our fees are always affordable and we will often work with you to assist you with payment.
10. Will I have to go to court?
In many cases no, we will go on your behalf. In some instances the county or the Judge will require you to come to court but we will be with you to handle all matters and speak to the Judge for you.
11. But it happened a long time ago. Is it still on my record?
Yes, a criminal record will stay with you in full public view for the rest of your life unless you have it sealed or expunged.
12. Once my record has been sealed do I have to admit anything ever happened?
In most cases NO, sealing your record allows you to legally deny that you were ever accused or charged with a crime even if you had to go to court, paid a fine or completed a probation sentence.
- This applies to;
- Job applications
- Court testimony
- Apartment searches
- Background checks
- College and school application
- Many professional license applications
Under certain circumstances it may still be necessary for you to acknowledge your past history even after it has been sealed. Examples of these include:
- Applying to be a lawyer or judge
- Applying to be a teacher or to work with children
- Applying for jobs in law enforcement
Typically most of these types of jobs will suggest that you have your record sealed BEFORE you apply for a job to prevent public access to you criminal history and to allow you to control who you give access to your past history, NOT the other way around!
13. Can I seal my whole past criminal history?
NO, this is very important to understand. A person is only allowed to seal a criminal record of one past criminal episode. This means if you where charged with one crime 10 years ago and another last year you would only be able to seal one of these past incidents. Therefore, it is important to understand which record is more important to seal and which will have a greater negative impact on your future if the public has access to this information.
14. What is expungement?
Expunging a record means to actually physically destroy the record. Agencies with a record of your criminal offense are ordered by the Judge to destroy any record of your charges including police reports, files, photos, statements etc. You record will be removed from public view and no record of it will appear on the Clerk’s website or computer data base.
15. Can every record be expunged?
No, only under certain circumstances can a record be expunged. Your charges have to have been resolved in a specific manner, or often it requires a waiting period of several years before a record can be ordered expunged and therefore destroyed.
16. Can I do it myself?
If you are comfortable filing pleadings with the Court and Clerk’s office and affidavits with the prosecutor’s office and background checks with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and judicial orders with all of the above AND representing yourself before the Judge in open court, you might be able to get it done correctly, eventually. However it has been our experience that many of our clients come to us after having tried to “do it themselves” only to have created a mess which requires more time and expense to correct their mistakes than it would have had they come to us in the first place.
More importantly; many people spend a great deal of money only to learn that they are NOT even eligible to have their records sealed in the first place. With our experience and training we are able to provide FREE OF CHARGE a careful screening of all potential clients BEFORE they spend any money whatsoever to have their record sealed.
Call Tetreault and Roe today for a free consultation to determine if you can;
Put your past behind you and get on with the rest of your life!!
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