Expunging and Sealing Criminal Records

Question 1

Has your criminal record been sealed and you would like it expunged? Check out this video about expunging and sealing criminal records in Orlando.

Question:

My criminal record has been sealed; can I now expunge it?

Answer

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.

Question:

If my criminal record is expunged, do I ever have to admit that I have a prior arrest or conviction?

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.

Question:

Can previously sealed criminal records ever be unsealed?

Answer:

We’ve had clients come in the past – in fact, a month ago we had a sit down with a client who asked about now that I’ve gotten our record sealed, can it ever be unsealed, or is it sealed forever? This was an important question we could tell that he was asking me. He wanted to make sure that since we went through the process, we spent the time and the money and the resources to get that sealed for the client, is it going to stay sealed forever? The short answer is it depends. It really depends on what the need is. In very rare events and only under a court order can that record ever be unsealed, so generally, for day-to-day operations, for his day-to-day living we told our client that he shouldn’t have to worry about the record ever just being unsealed for some unforeseen or unknown reason or just for some reason – commercially maybe a company’s trying to gather records from people who’ve had convictions. That can’t happen.

Once those records are under seal, they cannot be unsealed unless there is a court order, so if that time comes, what will happen is they will – whoever wants it unsealed for whatever reason will have to file a petition with the court, and they’ll have to notify our client of this petition, and then we can challenge that, but even in that event, it will only be unsealed for the very limited reason of whatever that petition is for. Let’s say that a client applied to work at a law enforcement agency or some other agency where that information would be important, then that record could be unsealed, but general day-to-day, that’s not going to happen. we told him rest assured that once it’s sealed, it is going to stay sealed unless a court order is put in place unsealing it for limited purposes. If you have any other questions about your record sealing or your record expungement and whether or not they will stay sealed or expunged, please contact the Victory Law Firm.

Answer

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.

Question:

Can previously sealed criminal records ever be unsealed?

Answer:

We’ve had clients come in the past – in fact, a month ago we had a sit down with a client who asked about now that I’ve gotten our record sealed, can it ever be unsealed, or is it sealed forever? This was an important question we could tell that he was asking me. He wanted to make sure that since we went through the process, we spent the time and the money and the resources to get that sealed for the client, is it going to stay sealed forever? The short answer is it depends. It really depends on what the need is. In very rare events and only under a court order can that record ever be unsealed, so generally, for day-to-day operations, for his day-to-day living we told our client that he shouldn’t have to worry about the record ever just being unsealed for some unforeseen or unknown reason or just for some reason – commercially maybe a company’s trying to gather records from people who’ve had convictions. That can’t happen.

Once those records are under seal, they cannot be unsealed unless there is a court order, so if that time comes, what will happen is they will – whoever wants it unsealed for whatever reason will have to file a petition with the court, and they’ll have to notify our client of this petition, and then we can challenge that, but even in that event, it will only be unsealed for the very limited reason of whatever that petition is for. Let’s say that a client applied to work at a law enforcement agency or some other agency where that information would be important, then that record could be unsealed, but general day-to-day, that’s not going to happen. we told him rest assured that once it’s sealed, it is going to stay sealed unless a court order is put in place unsealing it for limited purposes. If you have any other questions about your record sealing or your record expungement and whether or not they will stay sealed or expunged, please contact the Victory Law Firm.

Answer

Answer:

We’ve had clients come in the past – in fact, a month ago we had a sit down with a client who asked about now that I’ve gotten our record sealed, can it ever be unsealed, or is it sealed forever? This was an important question we could tell that he was asking me. He wanted to make sure that since we went through the process, we spent the time and the money and the resources to get that sealed for the client, is it going to stay sealed forever? The short answer is it depends. It really depends on what the need is. In very rare events and only under a court order can that record ever be unsealed, so generally, for day-to-day operations, for his day-to-day living we told our client that he shouldn’t have to worry about the record ever just being unsealed for some unforeseen or unknown reason or just for some reason – commercially maybe a company’s trying to gather records from people who’ve had convictions. That can’t happen.

Once those records are under seal, they cannot be unsealed unless there is a court order, so if that time comes, what will happen is they will – whoever wants it unsealed for whatever reason will have to file a petition with the court, and they’ll have to notify our client of this petition, and then we can challenge that, but even in that event, it will only be unsealed for the very limited reason of whatever that petition is for. Let’s say that a client applied to work at a law enforcement agency or some other agency where that information would be important, then that record could be unsealed, but general day-to-day, that’s not going to happen. we told him rest assured that once it’s sealed, it is going to stay sealed unless a court order is put in place unsealing it for limited purposes. If you have any other questions about your record sealing or your record expungement and whether or not they will stay sealed or expunged, please contact the Victory Law Firm.

Question 2

Question:

If my criminal record is expunged, do I ever have to admit that I have a prior arrest or conviction?

Question 3

Question:

Can previously sealed criminal records ever be unsealed?

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Expunging and Sealing Criminal Records

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