The statute sorts records into categories, each with its own waiting period. An arrest or charge that did not end in conviction can be expunged after a short period, generally about a year, with no filing fee. A misdemeanor, or a felony reduced to one, can be expunged several years after the conviction. A Level 6 or Class D felony has a longer period, again counted from the conviction. More serious felonies wait longer still, counted from completion of the sentence, and the most serious of them require the prosecutor’s written consent and leave the decision to the judge. In every category you must have paid all fines, fees, and restitution and have no pending charges or new convictions. Sex offenses, official misconduct, and homicide can never be expunged.
For convictions, Indiana allows one expungement petition in a lifetime. Every conviction you want sealed must be included, and petitions in different counties must be filed within the same one-year window. If a conviction is left out, or the petition is filed before a later conviction becomes eligible, that record stays public forever. This is where people who file on their own most often go wrong, and it is why timing and grouping are the first things we work through with you.
For arrests and lower-level convictions the records are sealed: the court file, the BMV record, and the police criminal history are removed from public view, and you are treated as if the matter never occurred. For more serious felonies the records stay public but are marked expunged. Either way, Indiana law makes it unlawful for an employer or landlord to ask about an expunged record or discriminate because of one, and you may answer “no” when asked whether you have been convicted. For many convictions expungement also restores civil rights, including, in some cases, the right to possess a firearm under state law.
Expungement is an Indiana remedy. It does not reach federal records, other states, or private background-check databases that fail to update, though those can be made to correct. Certain licensing boards, law enforcement employers, and federal agencies can still see the record, and a domestic violence conviction expunged in Indiana may still bar firearm possession under federal law.
The petition is filed in the county where the conviction occurred, with a filing fee for conviction expungements. The prosecutor is served and has a set period to object. If there is no objection and the petition meets the statute, the court must grant it for the lower categories without a hearing. If the prosecutor objects, or the case is in a discretionary category, the court holds a hearing, and that is where a prepared presentation of who you are today makes the difference. The order then goes to every agency that holds the record.
Jobs that were closed for years open up. Apartment applications stop being rejected. Professional licenses, from nursing to real estate to trucking, become reachable. Custody evaluators stop seeing a record from a different decade. The people who come to us for expungement have usually moved on long ago and want the paperwork to catch up.
Gather whatever you have: case numbers, dates, the counties involved. We pull the rest. The consultation is free and calls are confidential. If you are not yet eligible, we will tell you when you will be and what to avoid in the meantime. And if a new charge is what brought you here, do not talk to police without a lawyer; the fastest path to a clean record is never getting a conviction in the first place.
Call either office or send a message; it is free and confidential. Bring the charging information, any paperwork from the jail or the court, and the date of your first hearing. We tell you what the charge actually means, what the realistic outcomes are, and what it will cost, in writing, before you decide anything. Until you have talked to a lawyer, do not talk to the police. More about how we handle criminal cases.
A Chicago-area native who worked in telecommunications and held two jobs to support his family before law school, Jason founded the firm in 2010 on a no-nonsense, plain-spoken approach to solving clients’ problems.
It depends on the category. Arrests without a conviction have a short wait, misdemeanors several years from the conviction, lower-level felonies longer, and serious felonies longer still, counted from completion of the sentence. We calculate your dates from the actual records.
Many can. Level 6 and Class D felonies are eligible after their waiting period, and more serious felonies with a longer wait and, for some, the prosecutor’s consent. Sex offenses, homicide, and a few other categories are excluded.
Generally no. Indiana law treats you as if the conviction never occurred for most purposes, and it is unlawful for an employer to ask about or discriminate based on an expunged record. Some licensing and federal contexts are exceptions.
For many expunged convictions, yes, under Indiana law. Federal law is separate and still bars possession after certain convictions, particularly misdemeanor domestic violence. We answer this specifically before filing.
The consultation is free and confidential. We will tell you what you are facing and what can be done about it.