COURT ORDERED SEALING/EXPUNCTION

FLORIDA STATUTES 943.045, 943.0581, 943.0585, & 943.059

The process of sealing or expunging your criminal record is not something that can be done overnight.  Essentially, it involves two separate phases.  Before we can file your petition to expunge or seal your criminal history record with the court, we must apply to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for a certificate of eligibility for sealing or expunction. The application for the certificate of eligibility must include: A money order, cashier’s check, or certified check for $75.00 made payable to: Florida Department of Law Enforcement.   

The second phase of the process is done in the court that handled your case.  We must file our petition for sealing or expunction, along with the Certificate of Eligibility, and then the court must review our request and make the final decision.  The whole process can take as little as a few months or as much as a year.

The FDLE processing fee is nonrefundable, regardless of the results of the certificate review. A fee waiver may be granted by the Executive Director of the Department upon submission of a written request and in his determination that the waiver is in the best interests of criminal justice.

We must also obtain a legible set of fingerprints recorded on an FBI Applicant Card (FD-258). The fingerprinting must be done by a law enforcement agency.

The following requirements must be met before the Department will issue you a Certificate of Eligibility. 1.  You have never previously been adjudicated guilty of a criminal offense or comparable ordinance violation.

2.  You have not been adjudicated guilty of any of the charges stemming from the arrest or alleged criminal activity to which the petition pertains.

3.  You have never secured a prior sealing or expunction of a criminal history record under 943.059, 943.585, former s.893.14, former s.910.33, or former s.943.058, or from an jurisdiction outside the state. You are eligible for such a sealing or expunction to the best of your knowledge or belief and do not have any other petition to expunge or any petition to seal pending before any court. No sealing or expunction of criminal history records that relate to certain violations where the defendant was found guilty or pled guilty (without regard to whether adjudication was withheld) is allowed.

Those "no sealing/expunction" violations are: 

Chapter 794 (Sexual Battery)
F.S. 800.04 (Lewd, lascivious, or indecent assault or act upon or in the presence of a child), F.S. 817.034 (Florida Communications Fraud Act),
F.S. 827.071 (Sexual Performance by a Child),
Chapter 893.135 (Trafficking in controlled substances and/or conspiracy to engage in trafficking in controlled substances),
Or
Any violations enumerated in F.S. 907.041 ("dangerous crimes") or any attempted violation of them:
-Arson
-Aggravated Assault
-Aggravated Battery
-Illegal Use of Explosives
-Child Abuse or Aggravated Child Abuse
-Kidnapping
-Abuse of an Elderly Person or Disabled
-Manslaughter
-Adult, or Aggravated Abuse of an Elderly Person or Disabled Adult
-Robbery
-Homicide
-Hijacking
-Sexual Battery
-Carjacking
-Stalking and Aggravated Stalking
-Lewd, lascivious, or indecent assault or act upon on/in presence of a child under the age of 16 years.
-Sexual activity with a child who is 12 years of age or older but less than 18 years of age, by or at solicitation of person in familial or custodial authority.
-Burglary of a dwelling
-Act of Domestic Violence as defined in Florida Statutes 741.28
-Attempting or Conspiring to commit any such crime; and Home-Invasion Robbery

You MAY NOT get your record expunged if you have been convicted of any of the above offenses, including any jury verdict of guilty, or plea of guilty or no contest.   You MAY get the arrest expunged if the case was dropped, abandoned or declined by the State Attorney.