How does sealing my record help me?
Sealing your record is important if you care about your
present and future employment and privacy. A criminal arrest
record, even if you were found not guilty, can affect in many ways: make it difficult to get the job you want, getting into schools you want,
housing (apts, condos, community associations), get loans, grants, get a
certain professional license, security clearances, in personal relationships,
or affect you in other situations where someone is judging you based on what
they see in a criminal background check or what you put down about your
criminal history in an application.
If you have ever been arrested, or were a defendant in a criminal case,
the record of your arrest (arrest form, police, corrections, and court records, etc.)
is a public record and available to anyone for any reason. This means anyone can go
into the police and/or Court file and read everything about your case. Sealing your
record means that the record (police and corrections records and court files) is physically
sealed by the clerk of the court, any other agencies having information about your case,
and is then no longer available for public access. Furthermore, giving out any information
about the fact that you sealed your record or about the charges you sealed is illegal and
is a 1st degree misdemeanor. Best of all,
after your record is sealed, you may LEGALLY DENY OR FAIL TO ACKNOWLEDGE that you were
ever arrested for the charge(s) which were sealed.
Florida law gives you a second chance!
Florida law allows you to seal your non-judicial (police and correction records) and judicial records (court case file and State Attorney files) if you:
- Have never applied for a criminal record sealing or expunction before;
- If you haven't been convicted of a crime, misdemeanor (including criminal traffic cases such as DUI, reckless driving, and driving while license suspended), criminal ordinance or felony;
- Are not under any type of Court Supervision;
- And you did not receive a withhold of adjudication if the charge you want to seal is one of the charges listed in the "EXCEPTIONS" section of this website.
Sealing the record means that the police, corrections, State Attorney, and Court records are sealed and not available to the general public. Furthermore, information regarding the arrest and court case is not available if a criminal background check is conducted. **
**There are exceptions however as to what charges are sealable and when you MUST divulge that you had your record sealed. In most cases, in applications for employment and in other situations where you are asked if you have ever been arrested, you can LEGALLY state that you never were! See the EXCEPTIONS section to see if the charge(s) that you want sealed qualify for sealing and in what type of situations you must divulge that you had your record sealed.
Do I meet the basic requirements?
Once your your court case is closed, Florida law allows you to seal your non-judicial (police records) and judicial records (court case file), but you have to meet these four basic criteria:
- you have never had a record sealed or expunged before;
- if you never have been convicted (Adjudicated) of a misdemeanor, criminal ordinance violation or a felony;
- are not under court supervision (not on probation, community control, or any other court mandated program);
- you didn't receive a withhold of adjudication IF the charge you want to seal is one of the charges listed in the EXCEPTIONS section of this website.
KNOW THE TERMS:
- Adjudication or Adjudication of guilt:
- Being adjudicated guilty means that you were convicted by the court, you may be out of luck. However, if you were unrepresented by a lawyer and didn't waive your right to one, there may be a chance to overturn (vacate) your conviction if not too much time has passed. Please see the previously convicted page for more information.
- Withhold of adjudication or adjudication withheld:
- Not a conviction. If you meet the basic requirements AND if your crime isn't one of crimes for which there is an exception, you may be able to seal your record as long as your offense isn't one of the "exceptions" See the EXCEPTIONS PAGE to see if your offense is listed there. If it is, then you are out of luck if you received a withhold of adjudication for the offense. However, if the case was dismissed, dropped, not filed by the state attorney or you were found not guilty then it can be sealed or expunged.
- Nolle Prosse:
- Means that the State dropped the charges against you. This is good, you may be able to expunge your record.
- Dismissal:
- If the Court or State Attorney dismissed the charges, you are in good shape. You may be able to expunge your record.
- No Action or No File:
- The State decided not to file charges against you. Also known as a "no file" in other parts of the State. This is good, you may expunge your record.
- Not Guilty:
- Congratulations. You may expunge your record.
- Non-Judical Records:
- These are police records (arrest form, incident reports, and any other reports generated by the police, the department of corrections, and other non-court state agencies like the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles).
- Judicial Records:
- These are records created by the Court and the State Attorney's Office.
- CJIS:
- Known as the Criminal Justice Information System. This is the public database which anyone can go into to check on someone's criminal history. Some counties have online access and some do not. This is however a public database and anyone can go to the courthouse for access.
- Disposition:
- This merely means how the case was disposed of or how the court closed it out.
- Cerified Disposition:
- This is a printout from the clerk of court showing in writing how the case closed out. Once stamped with the clerk's stamp and signed by the clerk it becomes certified and as good as an original from the court file.
Frequently Asked Questions
- CAN I SEAL MY ENTIRE RECORD?
- Wouldn't that be great!? Sorry, you can only seal A charge from one incident or MULTIPLE charges if all the charges stem from THE SAME incident.
- Example 1: on June 1, 2000 you were arrested for theft and possession of marijuana at the same time, assuming you qualify, you can seal them both, because they stem from the same incident.
- Example 2: Let's say you were arrested for possession of marijuana on June 1, 2000 and police came back later on June 15, 2000 and arrested you for petit theft for something unrelated. These two arrests are considered two separate incidences, assuming you qualify, you can only seal one, either the possession of marijuana or the theft.
- I WAS ARRESTED BY MISTAKE (MISTAKEN IDENTITY), WHAT CAN I DO?
- You do not have to use your one time statutory privilege to seal or expunge a mistaken arrest. A mistaken arrest can be sealed administratively and you can save your one time seal or expunge privilege should you ever need it in the future.
- I WAS CHARGED WITH A FELONY, CAN THAT BE SEALED?
- Yes, both misdemeanors and felonies are sealable. Juvenile records are also sealable.
- I HAD MULTIPLE CHARGES IN ONE ARREST, CAN I SEAL THEM ALL?
- Yes, you can seal multiple charges if they stem from the same incident. If you have multiple charges that you were arrested for on different days, but the charges stem from the same incident, that may also be sealed. If you have any questions about sealing multiple charges give us a call, or email us your question, we will gladly answer all your questions for free.
- WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEALING AND EXPUNGING?
- Sealing your record means that your record (police, state attorney, other agencies, and court records) are physically sealed and put away in a vault so that no one without court order may have access to them. Your information regarding the charge is removed from the Criminal Information Justice System (CJIS) and the record won't show up in any background check relating to you. After 10 years of having your record sealed, you may ask the Court to expunge (destroy) the record. If you took a plea and received a withhold of adjudication you can only seal your record assuming you qualify.
- Expunging a record means that the record which is expunged is physically destroyed. Only one copy of your record is retained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and that copy is not viewable by anyone without Court order. No agency is allowed to say that you even had a record sealed or expunged or the person divulging the information may be charged with a first degree misdemeanor. Also, information regarding the charge expunged is removed from CJIS (Criminal Justice Information System) so that it doesn't come up on any background checks.
- WHY CAN'T I JUST EXPUNGE MY RECORD INSTEAD OF SEALING IT?
- You can only have your record immediately expunged if you were: arrested but never charged by the State Attorney (referred to as a "no action" or "no file"), the State Attorney later nolle prossed (dismissed) the case, or the Court dismissed the case. You can apply to have your record expunged after is has been sealed for 10 years.
- DO I HAVE TO APPEAR IN COURT?
- In most cases - NO. Your appearance in court is rarely necessary so you won't have to take any time from your busy schedule to attend court. One of our attorneys will appear in court on your behalf. Only in extremely rare cases will a judge request for you to appear.
- HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO SEAL MY RECORD?
- There are several hoops to jump through and red tape to cut through (don't worry, we'll do the jumping and the cutting for you). On average it takes 5 to 7 months on average to complete a record sealing depending on the backlog of the various agencies that must be dealt with.
- WHAT IS EXPECTED OF ME IN THIS PROCESS?
- Not much. We have refined this process to make this experience as easy as possible for our clients. There will be no office visits required. We routinely handle cases for clients all over the state, out of state, and even clients living overseas who were arrested in Florida. We handle your case via email, regular mail, and phone. Our office will prepare the required documents, monitor your FDLE application, deal with the appropriate agencies and the court, make any legal arguments on your behalf, and attend the final hearing on your motion if required by the court
- All you need to do is:
-
- take the fingerprint card we send you and get fingerprinted at any local police station (this costs $5-$15) and;
- have two (2) documents we send you notarized. Send the fingerprint card and the two documents back to us and we'll take care of the rest.
- HOW DO I GET STARTED?
- IN PERSON: Most of our clients choose to deal with us over email, U.S. Mail, and the internet. We've set up our website questionnaire to ensure we obtain all the information we need to work your case. However, if you wish to come in person, please call us for an appointment to come in and give us your information, sign two documents (we'll notarize them for you), and provide your payment. We'll give you a fingerprint card to take with you. Get yourself fingerprinted, send it back to us and we'll take it from there.
- BY INTERNET AND MAIL:If you want to do this completely by mail you have that choice also. Complete the questionnaire from the QUESTIONNAIRE page. Once we have your information, we'll send you a fingerprint card and 2 pre-prepared documents for you to sign and have notarized. Send those back to us and we'll take care of the rest! If you don't wish to pay by credit/debit card online, print out your completed questionnaire and mail it to us with your check or money order. Do not send cash in the mail.
Have a question? Not sure if you qualify? Call us for a free consultation or email us with your question or click on the free consultation button. We'll get back to you as soon as possible!
Have a question? Not sure if you qualify? Call us for a free consultation or email us with your question or click on the free consultation button. We'll get back to you as soon as possible. |
