Can Deferred Adjudication Be Expunged in Texas?

In Texas, deferred adjudication generally cannot be expunged. The Code of Criminal Procedure bars expunction whenever a person received court-ordered community supervision, and deferred adjudication is community supervision under Chapter 42A.¹ The one exception is a Class C misdemeanor. For anything above that, the remedy Texas offers is an order of nondisclosure, which seals the record from the public rather than erasing it.

Why the Expunction Statute Blocks Most Deferred Cases

Article 55.01 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lays out who qualifies for expunction: people acquitted, people whose charges were dismissed, people never charged before limitations ran, and people who completed a pretrial intervention program. The statute then closes the door with an explicit exclusion. A person is not entitled to expunction if there was “court-ordered community supervision under Chapter 42A for the offense.”²

That language captures deferred adjudication directly. You plead guilty or no contest, the judge defers a finding of guilt, and you serve a term of supervision. If you complete it, the case is dismissed. The dismissal is real, but it does not undo the fact that supervision happened. And it is the supervision, not the outcome, that the statute uses to disqualify you. A lot of people read “dismissed” and assume the record can be wiped. It usually cannot.

The Class C Misdemeanor Exception

Class C misdemeanors are the narrow opening. These are fine-only offenses: minor traffic matters, disorderly conduct, petty theft at the lowest level. Article 55.01 carves out an exception that allows expunction even when the person received community supervision, so long as the offense was a Class C misdemeanor.² If you successfully completed deferred adjudication on a Class C and the case was dismissed, you can petition for expunction and have the record destroyed.

For Class B misdemeanors, Class A misdemeanors, and all felonies, expunction after deferred adjudication is not available. Nondisclosure is the path.

Nondisclosure: What It Actually Does

Chapter 411 of the Government Code gives Texas courts the authority to issue orders of nondisclosure. A nondisclosure order seals your criminal history from public access. Private employers, landlords, and the general public cannot see it on standard background checks. Law enforcement and certain government agencies keep their access, but for most everyday purposes the record disappears.³

The distinction from expunction matters. Expunction destroys the record. Nondisclosure hides it. After a nondisclosure order the Texas Department of Public Safety seals the record and notifies the relevant state and federal agencies, but the file still exists and stays reachable by the entities that keep access.⁴

How Long You Have to Wait

Section 411.0725 of the Government Code sets three waiting-period tiers after your discharge and dismissal:

Most misdemeanors: no waiting period. You can petition as soon as the case is discharged and dismissed.
Certain higher-risk misdemeanors: two years. This covers offenses under Chapters 20, 21, 22, 25, 42, 43, or 46 of the Penal Code, which include kidnapping, sexual offenses, assault, protective order violations, disorderly conduct, prostitution-related offenses, and weapons charges.
Felonies: five years after discharge and dismissal.

Every tier also requires that you meet the eligibility conditions of Section 411.074 during both the supervision period and the waiting period.³

First-Offense DWI and Boating While Intoxicated

First-offense misdemeanor DWI and boating-while-intoxicated cases follow a separate rule under Section 411.0726. You must wait two years after discharge and dismissal. You cannot have any prior criminal history beyond fine-only traffic offenses. And the court cannot grant the order if the offense involved a collision with another person.⁵

Staying Clean Through the Wait

The waiting period is not just about the calendar. Throughout supervision and the waiting period, you cannot pick up a new conviction or new deferred adjudication for anything other than a fine-only traffic offense. A new case in that window ends your eligibility.⁶

Offenses That Can Never Be Sealed

Some offenses are permanently off the table for nondisclosure, no matter how much time passes or how cleanly you finished supervision. Section 411.074 bars nondisclosure for anyone placed on deferred adjudication for, or with a prior conviction or deferred adjudication for, any of the following:

Sex offenses requiring registration under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
Aggravated kidnapping under Section 20.04 of the Penal Code
Murder and capital murder under Sections 19.02 and 19.03
Human trafficking under Sections 20A.02 and 20A.03
Injury to a child, elderly person, or disabled person under Sections 22.04 and 22.041
Violating a protective order under Sections 25.07 and 25.072
Stalking under Section 42.072
Any offense involving family violence as defined by Section 71.004 of the Family Code

The family violence bar is broader than the others. It is not tied to a specific Penal Code section. Any offense the court finds involved family violence is ineligible, including a misdemeanor assault that would otherwise fit within the standard nondisclosure rules.⁶

Filing the Petition

You file the petition in the same court that placed you on deferred adjudication. The petition sets out the offense, the case number, the dates of supervision, and the facts that show you have met the eligibility requirements and waited the required time. Texas charges a $28 statutory nondisclosure fee on top of the county’s regular civil filing fee.⁷ Total cost depends on the county but generally runs a few hundred dollars once civil fees are added in.

Once filed, the court notifies the prosecutor, who can oppose. The judge then decides whether you have met the statutory requirements and whether the order is “in the best interest of justice.”³ That second finding is discretionary. Meeting the technical checklist does not guarantee the order. Felony petitions tend to draw closer scrutiny from prosecutors and judges.

Who Can Still See a Sealed Record

A nondisclosure order blocks public access, but law enforcement and a defined list of government entities keep the ability to see the sealed record. The Texas Judicial Branch notes that certain agencies “will still have access to the information, although the information is sealed.”⁴ Law enforcement, state licensing boards, and the regulatory agencies listed in Government Code Section 411.0765 fall within that group.

For most people the practical effect covers the main concern: a private employer or landlord running a standard background check will not see the record. Professional licensing (nursing, teaching, law enforcement) and government positions that require a deeper review are the exceptions where the sealed record can still surface.

Federal Databases Are a Separate Problem

Neither expunction nor nondisclosure controls what shows up at the federal level. Federal databases like the FBI’s National Crime Information Center often retain arrest and case information after a state seals or expunges the record, because updates from the states do not always propagate promptly or completely. Three areas where that matters:

Security clearances. The SF-86 form requires disclosure of criminal history “regardless of whether the record in your case has been sealed, expunged, or otherwise stricken from the court record.” The only carveout is for certain federal drug convictions expunged under 21 U.S.C. § 844 or 18 U.S.C. § 3607. Leaving a sealed state case off the SF-86 can be treated as deliberate falsification.
Immigration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services queries the NCIC and the Interstate Identification Index when reviewing green card, naturalization, and other applications. A sealed or expunged state record may still appear.
Federal employment. Federal agencies running their own background investigations are not bound by Texas nondisclosure orders and can pull the record from federal systems.

What Expunction Gives You If You Qualify

When you do qualify for expunction, whether through a Class C misdemeanor deferred case or another eligible route, Article 55.03 of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives the order strong effect. Once the expunction is final, you can deny the arrest ever happened. You can also deny that the expunction order exists.⁸ On a job application, a rental application, or almost any other form, you can lawfully answer no.

The one exception is testimony under oath in a criminal proceeding. There you cannot flatly deny the arrest. You can only say that the matter has been expunged.⁸

A nondisclosure order does not carry the same right to deny. It prevents public access, and private background check companies are generally prohibited from reporting sealed records under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act’s accuracy requirements. But the right to say the arrest never happened comes only with a full expunction.

1
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure CRIM P Art 42A.102 – Eligibility for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision
2
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure CRIM P Art 55.01 – Right to Expunction
3
State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.0725 – Procedure for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision; Felonies and Certain Misdemeanors
4
Texas Judicial Branch. An Overview of Orders of Nondisclosure
5
State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.0726 – Procedure for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision; Certain Driving While Intoxicated and Boating While Intoxicated Misdemeanors
6
State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.074 – Required Conditions for Receiving an Order of Nondisclosure
7
Texas Judicial Branch. County-Level Court Civil Filing Fees
8
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.03 – Effect of Expunction