Under certain conditions, you may be eligible to have your criminal record sealed or expunged in Florida. The public (including private employers) cannot see your criminal record if it is sealed, but most government entities can. Without a court order, not even a government entity can examine or access criminal records if they have been expunged.
In many circumstances, you are not required to reveal an arrest if your records have been sealed or expunged.
If you have ever been found guilty of a crime in Florida, you cannot have your record expunged or sealed, regardless of how long ago the conviction occurred or where it occurred (out-of-state convictions also make you ineligible).
A request to have your Florida criminal records expunged (or sealed) must be filed in the court where you were arrested or convicted. According to Florida statutes, a sealing or expungement can fully erase the event from your record. An expungement seals and eliminates the arrest charges and case records. The records are sealed, making them inaccessible to the public.
We take care of your case from beginning to end, from basic research through court representation. The vast majority of the time, you are not required to appear in court. In Florida, there is a variety of post-conviction relief options.
Both sealing and expunging a criminal history record provide you the option of denying that you were ever arrested. These records are no longer accessible to the public in both cases. Criminal records that have been expunged are literally destroyed. The public is not allowed to see sealed records.
A distinction must also be made between sealing and expunging a Florida criminal record:
Sealing prevents the majority of people from seeing the information; documents are rendered confidential but not deleted.
Allows for the physical destruction of the incident's public records as if it never happened, although fingerprints and DNA are not destroyed. Even if a record is sealed, it can still be accessed by law enforcement, the judicial system, or when trying to buy a firearm or work for an organization that helps the elderly or children.
If you pled guilty to a criminal offense and adjudication was withheld, your record can be sealed; but, if you were adjudicated guilty (convicted), your record cannot be sealed or expunged.
On average, it takes five to seven months to accomplish a Florida record sealing or expungement. The length of time is determined by several factors:
Once your record is expunged in Florida, you will become eligible to apply for your dream job, the apartment, certification, or licensing you want, and will finally be able to claim your life back. Firms in Florida can charge an upwards of $2000 for an expungement. At Erase The Case, we have flat fee of $1000, but if you start today you can save 25% off. We offer the best pricing and plans, and will take care of the entire process in less than half the time. With our state attorneys, we will ensure all necessary forms have been completed and the process has been expedited. You can find yourself back at square one if you don't seek competent legal advice. This isn't something you want to leave to a novice.
Although you can try to seal or expunge your record without contacting an experienced lawyer, doing so may save you energy, money, and stress. We make every effort to complete the process as swiftly as feasible.
In Florida, there are several options for sealing and expunging criminal records, including:
An administrative expungement is granted when an arrest is made as a result of a mistake or error, such as:
Adult criminal records can be expunged if they meet the following criteria:
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (F.D.L.E.) makes mistakes from time to time, and a person with no criminal history could end up with something on their record. If this is the case, we can begin the process of expunging the record.
Florida's Expungement & Sealing Law
