In Texas, a criminal conviction stays on your criminal record forever. A criminal conviction can negatively impact your ability to gain admission to college or graduate programs, secure employment, acquire professional licenses, rent an apartment, apply for loans, and vote. For these reasons and others, you may wish to have your criminal record sealed or “expunged.” Fortunately, depending on the type of offense you committed and whether you were subsequently convicted of the offense, you may be eligible for an expunction or Texas Order of Nondisclosure.
Expunction Definition and Expunged Records in Texas
Expungement in Texas essentially destroys all the records and files stemming from an arrest, including any documents related to the arrest, the district attorney’s file, the charged instrument, and any trial transcripts. In addition, state agencies are not permitted to provide any information related to the expunged arrest to private companies that gather criminal data for private background checks. Moreover, a person who has been granted an expunction may deny the occurrence of the arrest and the existence of the expunction order.
How to Expunge Your Record?
While obtaining an expunction can be extremely complicated in some instances, an expunction is generally available to anyone who has been:
- wrongfully accused of a crime;
- charged with a crime and later acquitted at trial; or
- charged with a crime, and the charge was later dismissed.
What is a Texas Order of Nondisclosure?
In Texas, if you are not eligible to receive an expunction, you may still be able to petition the court and receive an order of nondisclosure. Unlike an expunction where an arrest record is completely destroyed, an order of nondisclosure simply limits the State’s ability to provide information contained in your arrest record to the general public. A Texas order of nondisclosure allows a person to withhold information that he or she was involved in a criminal proceeding when seeking employment, applying to college or graduate programs, and more.
Texas Non Disclosure Eligibility
While the Texas nondisclosure laws contain many restrictions and exceptions, an order of nondisclosure is generally available to anyone who has plead guilty or no contest to a criminal offense, been placed on deferred adjudication community supervision, and successfully received a discharge and dismissal of the charge.
Typically, a person charged with a misdemeanor may be eligible to petition the court for an order of nondisclosure either immediately after receiving a discharge or dismissal or 2 years after receiving a discharge and dismissal depending upon what offense he or she was initially charged with. A person charged with a felony may be eligible to petition the court for a non-disclosure order after 5 years after receiving a discharge and dismissal.
As noted above, a person charged with certain offenses such as murder, sexual assault, and family violence offenses are not eligible to file a petition for nondisclosure. Please contact expungement lawyer, Mark O’Bryan, to learn more and determine whether or not you may be eligible for an expunction or Texas nondisclosure order.