Seal & Expunge Criminal Records — Florida

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Legally reviewed by Tonmiel Rodriguez, Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer — last reviewed June 2026.

Your case is over. Maybe the charges were dismissed. Maybe you completed PTI or probation years ago. But every time you apply for a job, a professional license, an apartment, or a college program, that arrest keeps showing up and costs you the opportunity. Florida law gives you a tool to change that. Sealing and expunction are legal processes that restrict or eliminate public access to your criminal record. I’m Tonmiel Rodriguez, a Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer in Polk County. I have helped clients seal and expunge records throughout the 10th Judicial Circuit, and I understand how the FDLE application process works and where it tends to get complicated.

What Is the Difference Between Sealing and Expunction in Florida?

These two remedies are often confused, and the difference matters. Sealing (§ 943.059, Florida Statutes) restricts public access to your record — it becomes invisible to most employers and the general public, but it still exists in law enforcement and certain government databases. Expunction (§ 943.0585, Florida Statutes) is more complete: the records are physically destroyed or obliterated by each agency that holds them. After expunction, the record is removed from public access and you can lawfully deny the arrest in most situations.

Feature	Sealing (§ 943.059)	Expunction (§ 943.0585)
Record destroyed?	No — restricted, not destroyed	Yes — physically obliterated
Visible to employers?	No (general public)	No
Visible to law enforcement?	Yes	Retained by FDLE only
Can you deny the arrest?	Yes, with limited exceptions	Yes, with limited exceptions
Requires withhold or dismissal?	Withhold of adjudication	Dismissal (or charge never filed)
Once-in-a-lifetime limit?	Yes	Yes

If your case was dismissed or the charge was never filed, you can likely expunge. If your case resulted in a withhold of adjudication (no formal conviction), you can likely seal. If you received a formal conviction — adjudication of guilt — you are generally not eligible for either, with narrow exceptions for certain juvenile records and human trafficking victims.

What Is Expunction Under Florida § 943.0585?

Section 943.0585 governs expunction of criminal history records in Florida. To qualify, you must meet all of the following:

• The charge was dismissed, nolle prossed, or the State never filed charges (no-information)
• You have not previously obtained a sealing or expunction in Florida
• You have no prior criminal convictions (adjudications of guilt) for any offense, under any name, in any jurisdiction
• You have not been adjudicated guilty of, or had adjudication withheld for, the offense you want expunged in any prior proceeding
• The offense is not in the list of ineligible offenses under § 943.0585(2)(a)

Ineligible offenses for expunction include: domestic violence offenses (as defined in § 741.28), sexual battery, child abuse, lewdness or indecent exposure, carjacking, home invasion robbery, stalking, human trafficking, and various other specified violent or sexual offenses. If your arrest was for one of these charges — even if the case was dismissed — you cannot expunge that record.

What Is Sealing Under Florida § 943.059?

Section 943.059 governs sealing. The eligibility requirements are similar to expunction with one key difference: instead of requiring a dismissal, sealing requires that adjudication was withheld — you pled guilty or no contest but the judge did not formally enter a conviction. The same ineligible offense list under § 943.059(2)(a) applies. The same once-in-a-lifetime limit applies. And critically: if you seal a record, you cannot later expunge it (with limited exceptions). If you expunge a record, that’s it — nothing further is needed.

After sealing, you can legally deny the arrest or charge in most circumstances — with exceptions. You must disclose a sealed record when applying for law enforcement or corrections employment, when being considered for admission to the Florida Bar, when applying for employment with the Department of Children and Families, and in certain other enumerated situations. These exceptions are significant for clients in regulated fields, and I discuss them in every sealing consultation.

How Does the FDLE Application Process Work for Sealing and Expunction?

How Do You Obtain a Certificate of Eligibility from FDLE?

Before anything can be filed in court, you must obtain a Certificate of Eligibility from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. This is the hardest step and the one most people get wrong. The FDLE application requires: a completed form (available at fdle.state.fl.us), a $75 processing fee, a certified copy of the final disposition of the case, a set of fingerprint cards taken by a certified fingerprint technician (not self-submitted), and a sworn statement attesting to your eligibility. FDLE reviews your criminal history against the eligibility requirements and either issues the certificate or denies it with a written explanation.

FDLE processing typically takes 12 weeks. Applications are frequently rejected for minor errors — wrong case number on the disposition, fingerprint cards that are rejected as unreadable, missing documentation, or a prior record that FDLE finds even when the applicant believed their record was clean. I handle the FDLE application process for clients to minimize rejections and delays.

How Do You File the Petition in Circuit Court?

Once the Certificate of Eligibility is issued, you file a Petition to Seal or Expunge in the circuit court where the case was heard. In Polk County, that is the Polk County Circuit Court in Bartow. The petition is served on the State Attorney’s Office. The SAO reviews the petition and can object, though in practice objections are uncommon in straightforward cases. If no objection is filed, the court typically enters an order granting the petition.

What Happens After the Court Order Is Entered?

Once the court grants the petition, the order is sent to every agency that holds a record of the arrest or charge — the arresting agency, the jail, the State Attorney’s Office, FDLE, FCIC/NCIC databases, and any other entity listed on the disposition. Each agency must comply with the order within a specified time. Sealing agencies restrict access; expunging agencies destroy or obliterate the records. FDLE retains a single sealed or expunged record in its own database for law enforcement purposes — that’s the “retained by FDLE” entry in the comparison table above. The process from Order to full compliance by all agencies takes 60-90 days on average.

How Long Does It Take to Seal or Expunge a Record in Florida?

• FDLE application preparation: 1-2 weeks (gathering documents, fingerprinting)
• FDLE processing time: 10-14 weeks (standard)
• Court petition filing to order: 4-8 weeks (Polk County)
• Agency compliance after order: 60-90 days
• Total estimated timeline: 6-9 months from start to finish

Start early. The FDLE process is slow, and background check companies don’t stop running your record while you wait. Every week the application is delayed is another week the arrest is visible.

Which Records Are Affected by a Florida Seal or Expunction Order?

A successful sealing or expunction affects: the original arrest record, booking records at the jail, court records, FDLE’s FCIC database, FBI NCIC records (if FDLE notifies FBI), and records held by the State Attorney’s Office. It does not automatically affect: private background check databases (Checkr, Sterling, LexisNexis Accurint), news articles that may have published your arrest, or records held by out-of-state agencies in some circumstances. How those private databases respond is covered in the section below on what the record looks like after an order.

Frequently Asked Questions — Florida Seal and Expunge

Can I Seal or Expunge a Felony Conviction in Florida?

A formal felony conviction — where adjudication of guilt was entered — cannot be sealed or expunged in Florida under general law. If you received a withhold of adjudication on a felony charge (and the offense is not on the ineligible list), you may be eligible to seal. If the felony charge was dismissed, you may be eligible to expunge. The distinction between “convicted” and “adjudication withheld” is why I fight so hard to preserve withholds in plea negotiations — it determines eligibility for the rest of your life.

Can I Seal My Record While Still on Probation?

No. You must successfully complete any court-ordered probation, community control, or other supervisory sentence before you are eligible to seal or expunge. The FDLE will check your supervision status and deny the application if you are still under sentence. Wait until the certificate of completion is issued, then begin the process.

Can I Seal or Expunge Multiple Arrests in Florida?

No. Florida law permits only one sealing and one expunction in a lifetime. You can seal one record or expunge one record — not multiple. If you have multiple arrests, you must choose which one to address. This is a significant decision that deserves careful thought, and I discuss the long-term implications of that choice with every client in this situation.

Does Sealing My Record Help with Immigration Issues?

Sealing and expunction affect Florida state records, but federal immigration databases and federal criminal history records operate independently. A sealed or expunged Florida record does not automatically erase the arrest from federal databases used in immigration proceedings. If immigration is a concern, consult with an immigration attorney in addition to criminal defense counsel. I am not an immigration attorney, and I make this limitation explicit to every client for whom immigration may be implicated.

What Are All the Florida Record Relief Pathways?

Florida law offers more than one way to clear a criminal record. The right pathway depends on what happened in your case, how old the record is, and your individual history. The pages below break down each option in detail — what it does, who qualifies, and how the process works.

Why Does It Matter That Your Attorney Is Board Certified in Criminal Trial Law?

“This is the highest level of recognition by The Florida Bar for the competency and experience of a lawyer practicing criminal trial law.”

— The Florida Bar

The Florida Bar’s Board Certification program in Criminal Trial Law is the highest level of recognition the Bar provides for criminal defense expertise. Fewer than 300 attorneys in Florida hold this certification. It requires a minimum number of jury trials, peer reviews, written examination, and continuing education in criminal trial law specifically. It is not a marketing designation — it is a tested credential.

Why does this matter for sealing and expungement? Because while the process looks administrative, it is still legal. FDLE rejections can be contested. State Attorney objections require hearings. The ineligibility list under § 943.0584 has nuances that matter when the offense description doesn’t match cleanly. And the decision about which pathway to pursue — sealing, expungement, administrative, self-defense, trafficking victim — requires accurate legal analysis, not generic internet research.

I have tried over 75 jury trials in the 10th Circuit. I know the prosecutors in Polk, Highlands, and Hardee Counties. I know how petitions are reviewed and what objections look like in practice. When I tell a client they qualify, that assessment is based on a full review of their record — not an optimistic approximation.

What Does the Record Look Like After a Florida Seal or Expunge Order?

This is a question every client asks, and the honest answer requires distinguishing between different database types.

FDLE / FCIC: Updated promptly after receiving the court order. Background checks querying FDLE return no result. This is the authoritative Florida record and covers most employment and housing background checks.

FBI / NCIC: FDLE notifies the FBI, and in most cases the FBI updates its records. However, the FBI is not bound by Florida law. Federal employer background checks and security clearance investigations access FBI databases directly.

Private consumer background check companies: Companies like Checkr, HireRight, Sterling, LexisNexis, and TransUnion maintain their own historical databases. They are required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act to update records upon receiving notice of a seal or expunge order. In practice, update timelines vary. I advise clients on follow-up steps after the order is entered to accelerate these updates.

News and internet sources: A Florida seal or expunge order does not remove news articles, mugshot websites, or social media posts about an arrest. These require separate action — often demand letters to website operators. I can advise on this process separately.

What Are the Most Common Mistakes People Make When Trying to Seal or Expunge Their Own Record?

Every week I hear from clients who tried to handle the sealing or expungement process themselves and ran into problems. These are the most common mistakes that set the process back:

• Choosing the wrong pathway. Sealing when you qualify for expungement, or vice versa. This matters because expungement provides stronger relief — specifically, the legal right to deny the arrest. If your case was dismissed, do not settle for sealing. The eligibility analysis determines this.
• Filing the FDLE application with incorrect or incomplete documentation. FDLE rejects applications for wrong case numbers, missing dispositions, and fingerprint card issues. Each rejection means starting the 12-week processing clock over. Getting the documentation right the first time saves months.
• Not knowing about a prior record. A conviction from 15 years ago in another county — one the client barely remembers — disqualifies the application. FDLE runs a full criminal history check under every name variation. Clients are sometimes surprised by what FDLE finds. Knowing your full record before applying is essential.
• Applying before probation is fully terminated. FDLE checks supervision status directly. Even if probation ended months ago, the official termination date in the system must reflect it. Applying too early results in denial and requires restarting the process.
• Missing the 12-month certificate window. The Certificate of Eligibility issued by FDLE is valid for 12 months. If the court petition is not filed within that window, the certificate expires and the entire FDLE application must be submitted again. Timing matters.

These mistakes are avoidable with proper preparation. I review the full case and record history before filing anything with FDLE, specifically to catch these issues before they cost a client months of additional delay.

How Does Florida Automatic Sealing Under § 943.0595 Differ From Court-Ordered Sealing?

Florida’s automatic sealing law (§ 943.0595) is a newer addition to the record relief framework. When charges are dismissed, not filed, or result in acquittal, the clerk of court transmits the disposition to FDLE, which automatically seals the arrest record. No application is required. No FDLE fee. No court petition.

The limitations are important to understand. Automatic sealing under § 943.0595 applies to FDLE records — it does not automatically affect local law enforcement records, jail booking records, or private background check databases in the same way court-ordered sealing does. It also does not give you the legal right to deny the arrest (that right comes with expungement, not sealing). And it has no bearing on the once-in-a-lifetime limits that apply to court-ordered relief.

For many clients, automatic sealing provides a baseline level of protection that already exists — and the question is whether to pursue court-ordered expungement on top of it for the stronger protection of physical record destruction and the legal right to deny the arrest.

What Should You Bring to a Consultation About Sealing or Expunging Your Record?

The more information you bring to a consultation, the more precise and useful the analysis will be. Ideally, bring: the case number and county for every arrest you want to address; any documentation you have about the case disposition (court notices, dismissal orders, condition-of-probation forms); information about any probation or supervision and when it ended; and any prior history you are aware of — including out-of-county arrests, juvenile history, or cases in other states.

If you do not have this documentation, that is fine. I can locate it. But having it accelerates the analysis and gets us to the answer — whether you qualify, which pathway fits your situation, and what the process looks like — much faster. Most sealing and expungement consultations take less than 30 minutes once we have the basic relevant case information in front of us. Schedule one today at (863) 774-4556 or through the contact page.

Not sure which pathway applies to your case? That is exactly what a consultation is for. I will review your full record, identify every option available to you under Florida law, and tell you exactly what it takes to get there.