Expunging and Sealing Criminal Records

Answer:

This is a question that we get often from clients that have had records sealed. Just two weeks ago, we were speaking to someone about their prior record sealing and whether or not they could now get it expunged. The client had asked us since I’ve had my record sealed previously, can we now go ahead and get that extra step of getting it expunged. Florida law dictates all of that. Florida law sets forth what a person can do and what they cannot do when it comes to record sealing and record expungement.

Now, typically record expungement is only allowed for certain offenses and certain resolutions. For the most part, it’s only allowed for persons who have certain – who have been accused of a certain type of crime and the crime has been dismissed, they’ve been acquitted, or they’ve been arrested, and the prosecuting authority never charged that crime. Under those circumstances, a person can have their record expunged. We know we’ve been talking about record sealing and record expungement, so the key difference between the two is a record expungement is the actual, physical record that is held by whatever agency is actually physical destroyed as opposed to a record sealing where the record – the actual physical record is just sealed away and put away so that no one can see it, so it just goes one step further than the record sealing, but only under limited circumstances can a record be expunged.

Now, there is a special exception that we did discuss with this client. After you’ve had your record sealed for ten years in Florida, then you can petition to have your record expunged. This is assuming that you otherwise meet the qualifications for having your record expunged and sealed and that you have no other things that will prevent you from doing so. Generally, no, you can’t have your record expunged if it’s sealed unless it is beyond the ten years, but only speaking with an experienced attorney and having an experienced attorney answer these particular questions for you will give you the peace of mind, will be able to answer your questions on whether or not you can expunge your record once it is already sealed. If you have any other questions about a record sealing or expungement in Orlando, Florida, please contact the Victory Law Firm.