Is an old conviction in the way of a job or an apartment? Learn how you can clear it.
How Record Clearing Works: Expungement and Sealing by State
Learn the three routes states use (automatic under a Clean Slate law in 15 jurisdictions, a petition after a waiting period, or an agency request), where your wait starts, and the filing fees published in 9 states. Then choose your state in the free check below and add the year your sentence ended.
Quick answer
15 jurisdictions are on the Clean Slate Initiative's list of laws that clear some records automatically; outside those laws, the relief cells in this dataset describe a petition, application, motion or request filed after a waiting period, and Alaska and Hawaii record no general relief for adult convictions. Your wait depends on your state and the offense: Missouri sets 1 year for a misdemeanor and 3 for a felony (RSMo 610.140), while Virginia's petition route sets 7 and 10 (Code of Virginia 19.2-392.12). The felony cell reads not available in 5 states, and among the statutes read for this guide filing fees can run from none in Virginia to $175 in North Carolina (G.S. 15A-145.5), while the CCRC summaries list up to $195 in Kansas, $250 in South Carolina and a $50 filing fee plus a $250 expungement fee in Kentucky. Each rule was checked on October 14, 2026.
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Choose your state, the kind of conviction, the years since your sentence ended and whether there was a later conviction to learn the recorded rule, the waiting period, the Clean Slate status and the filing fee, each with its source.
By the Legal Cost by State Editorial Team·Last updated and source-checked October 14, 2026
What to do next
1
Find the date your sentence ended
It is on the judgment or the court's docket, and the waiting period runs from it in many of the states that set one; some count from the conviction instead, and the cell names the event.
2
Check the Clean Slate list in the routes section
In the 15 jurisdictions on it, automatic clearing covers some records without you filing anything, after the wait those laws set.
3
Run the free check for the recorded route, wait and fee
Then read the statute linked for the forms the court or agency names; the check quotes the cell and does not decide your record.
The state chart's relief column names each state's route; these are the main kinds, with a state that uses each.
Automatic relief
A state agency or court clears qualifying records without a filing, once the waiting period passes. The Clean Slate Initiative lists 15 jurisdictions with such a law, from Pennsylvania in 2018 to Missouri in 2026; New York, for one, seals a misdemeanor automatically 3 years after sentencing or release (CPL 160.57).
A petition or application to the court
You file in the court that handled the case, and the court rules on it: Missouri expunges by petition (RSMo 610.140), and Michigan sets a conviction aside by application (MCL 780.621).
A request to an agency
Massachusetts seals a record by request to the Commissioner of Probation rather than by court order (M.G.L. c. 276, s. 100A).
A certificate first, then the petition
Florida requires a certificate of eligibility from its Department of Law Enforcement, with a $75 processing fee, before a court will seal or expunge (Fla. Stat. 943.0585). Utah's route also starts with a certificate of eligibility from its Bureau of Criminal Identification, per the CCRC summary.
An order at sentencing
Wisconsin expunges only when the sentencing court orders it for an offender under 25, and the expungement takes effect when the sentence is completed (Wis. Stat. 973.015).
Learn the event each wait counts from and how states split it by offense class.
43 rows carry a misdemeanor wait and 45 a felony wait, and each cell names the event the years run from. Kentucky, Louisiana and the District of Columbia count from the completion of the sentence. Illinois counts 2 years for a misdemeanor and 3 for a felony from the end of the last sentence (20 ILCS 2630/5.2). North Dakota counts conviction-free years, and Pennsylvania 7 conviction-free years for qualifying misdemeanors (18 Pa.C.S. 9122.1). Iowa counts 8 years from the conviction itself, per the CCRC summary.
Several states split the wait by offense class. Arizona sets 3 years for a class 1 misdemeanor and 2 for a class 2 or 3, and 5 or 10 years for felonies depending on the class (A.R.S. 13-911). Washington sets 3 years for a misdemeanor (5 for domestic violence), 5 for a class C felony and 10 for a class B, and does not vacate a class A felony (RCW 9.96.060, 9.94A.640). In Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi and Wisconsin, the misdemeanor cell reads none: relief follows the end of the sentence, court supervision or, in Wisconsin, an order already made at sentencing.
Learn the common exclusions, DUI first among them, and the once-only limits.
Relief statutes exclude some offenses (42 states have a recorded exclusion). Impaired driving is a frequent carve-out: 12 of the 23 states with a recorded DUI rule do not clear a DUI conviction, Ohio (R.C. 2953.32) and Virginia (Va. Code 19.2-392.12) among them.
Some statutes work the other way and list what is eligible: Maryland expunges only the convictions named in its statute (Md. Crim. Proc. 10-110). Others limit how often relief is used, such as Iowa's single misdemeanor once per lifetime and Tennessee's one-time expungement of up to two convictions, both per the CCRC summaries.
Learn the filing fees the statutes and summaries state.
Only 9 states have a fee in this dataset, 5 of them from the statute. Ohio's application fee is $50, with a local court fee of up to $50 more, waived on a poverty affidavit (R.C. 2953.32). North Carolina's statute sets $175 (G.S. 15A-145.5), Virginia's statute bars court fees or costs on a sealing petition (Va. Code 19.2-392.12), and Arizona's sealing statute names no court filing fee (A.R.S. 13-911). Florida's $75 pays for the certificate of eligibility, not the court filing.
Fees for Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee come from the CCRC summaries; for the other states no fee is recorded, which is a gap, not a zero.
Learn what a sealed or annulled record can still be used for.
Clearing changes who can see a record, and the statutes say what remains. Arizona seals a DUI, but a sealed DUI still counts as a prior for a later DUI sentence (A.R.S. 13-911). New Hampshire annuls a DUI 10 years after the conviction and keeps the record for later DUI sentencing (RSA 265-A:21). In Wisconsin the Department of Transportation driving record of a conviction is never expunged, even where the court record is (Wis. Stat. 973.015). New Mexico's expungement limits public access to the record, per the CCRC summary.
Learn where each rule comes from and when it was checked.
Every rule above is a cell of the 51-row expungement dataset, read from the statute or from the CCRC state summaries and the Clean Slate Initiative, both marked secondary in the Sources list.
Every rule was checked on October 14, 2026, and the next full review is due April 14, 2027. Whether your record meets your state's rule turns on the statute and the court, and this page does not assess it.
Until a state law clears or seals it. The wait before that can happen differs: Missouri allows a petition 1 year after a misdemeanor (RSMo 610.140), Massachusetts seals after 3 years (c. 276, s. 100A), and Virginia's petition route sets 7 years (19.2-392.12).
Until it is cleared, where the state allows that at all. Missouri's wait is 3 years, Massachusetts's 7, New York's 8 for automatic sealing, and North Carolina's 10 for one nonviolent felony (G.S. 15A-145.5). In 5 states the felony cell reads not available: Iowa, Maine, Montana, South Dakota and Texas.
In the 15 Clean Slate jurisdictions, for the records their laws cover and after the wait those laws set. Elsewhere, the relief cells describe a petition, application, motion or request.
It depends on your route. Court petitions and applications are decided by a judge, Massachusetts handles sealing by request to the Commissioner of Probation, and automatic Clean Slate relief needs no filing for the records it covers.
9 states have a fee recorded: among the statutes, from none in Virginia to $175 in North Carolina; per the CCRC summaries, Kansas up to $195, Kentucky a $50 filing fee plus a $250 expungement fee for a felony, South Carolina $250 (no fee for non-convictions) and Tennessee $100, which may be waived. Elsewhere no fee is recorded, a gap rather than a zero.
A document from the state's criminal records agency confirming that the record meets the statute's conditions before the court considers it; Florida (Fla. Stat. 943.0585) and Utah require one.
Not always: Arizona and New Hampshire keep a cleared DUI for later DUI sentencing, and Wisconsin keeps the driving record.
Alaska and Hawaii record no general relief for adult convictions, per the CCRC summaries; Alaska offers a set-aside without sealing after a suspended imposition of sentence.
Information on this page reflects laws and published figures as of October 14, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice, and not a prediction for any matter. Rules and fees change; check the court or agency page linked for each figure.
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