Criminal Record After Expungement

Answer:

If your criminal record is expunged or sealed, do you have to admit that you’ve had a prior arrest or conviction? This is the main reason why clients come to us— to have their records sealed or expunged here in Orlando, Florida. They ask us once I get this record sealed or expunged, do I have to talk about it? Do I have to divulge this information? Most of these clients come to us because they’ve had issues getting work, trying to buy a home, rent an apartment. These issues can crop up in any numerous scenarios. Maybe they’ve had a relationship go bad because someone looked them up and saw that they had this accusation or this crime on their record, so they come to us concerned because they need this fixed, and they need to move on with their lives.

Once you’ve had a record sealed or expunged, by Florida law, you can willfully deny without consequence that you have ever had that arrest or conviction. This is with the general understanding that if the particular employment – for example if you want to try to be a law enforcement office or an attorney, then at that point, they must be disclosed. There are certain disclosure requirements that are set by Florida statute, which an experienced attorney will be able to walk you through. They’re only in very limited circumstances. If you want to get security clearance, if you want to work in specialized employments, if you want to work with – certain areas with children, very specific things you’re going to have to disclose a record that is sealed or expunged, but generally for the most part no, you can willfully deny that without consequence.

If you have any questions about that, you bring in your application, you talk to your attorney, you ask them can I willfully deny this, can I say no. It really depends on the place of employment, but for the most part you are more than legally allowable to deny that and go forward with your life. This has helped many clients do that, and they can get the jobs that they want, they can rent the apartments they want, and they can continue moving forward after having resolved their criminal case. If you have any other questions about how a record sealing or expungement may affect you, please contact the Victory Law Firm.