Florida Expungement: Eligibility, FDLE Certificate, and Court Petition

To expunge a record in Florida, you need to clear the state’s eligibility rules, obtain a Certificate of Eligibility from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and then file a petition in the circuit court where the arrest happened. The full process usually takes four to six months and costs at least $115 to $140 in mandatory fees, not counting any attorney you hire.

Who Qualifies

Florida’s rules are strict, and missing any one of them ends the analysis. To be eligible for expungement, you must meet all of the following:¹

The case you want expunged ended without a conviction. Charges were dropped, dismissed, nolle prosequi’d by the prosecutor, or ended in acquittal. If a judge withheld adjudication, you need sealing instead (explained below).
You have never been adjudicated guilty of any criminal offense in Florida or any other state. One prior conviction, however minor, disqualifies you.
You have no disqualifying juvenile adjudications. Delinquency findings for any felony or for certain listed misdemeanors (including assault, battery, carrying a concealed weapon, petit theft, indecent exposure, arson, child neglect, and animal cruelty) knock you out.
You have completed any probation, community service, or other court-ordered supervision tied to the arrest.
You have not used your one-time sealing or expungement already. Florida allows one court-ordered seal or expunge per lifetime.
The offense itself is eligible. Certain serious offenses listed in Florida Statute 943.0584, such as murder, sexual battery, kidnapping, carjacking, and drug trafficking, cannot be expunged even when charges were dismissed.

There is one narrow exception to the one-time rule. If you previously had a record sealed and at least 10 years have passed, you can apply for a new Certificate of Eligibility and petition to convert the sealed record to an expungement, so long as the underlying offense is otherwise eligible.¹

Sealing Is a Different Remedy

Sealing and expungement are separate levels of relief, and the outcome of your case decides which one you can pursue. Sealing keeps your record confidential — hidden from public view and most background checks, though still visible to law enforcement, the Department of Children and Families, and certain licensing boards. It is the correct option when a judge withheld adjudication of guilt.²

Expungement goes further. Every criminal justice agency holding a copy of the record must physically destroy it. FDLE keeps one confidential copy releasable only by court order, and the record is exempt from Florida’s public records law.³ If you filed for expungement when only sealing was available, your petition will fail.

Step 1: Apply for a Certificate of Eligibility From FDLE

No circuit judge will act on an expungement petition without a Certificate of Eligibility from FDLE confirming you meet the statutory requirements.³ Your application package must include:

The FDLE application form, signed by the State Attorney’s Office in the circuit where the arrest took place. That signature certifies the case outcome.
A certified disposition from the clerk of court in the county where the case was handled, confirming the dismissal, nolle prosequi, or acquittal.
A completed fingerprint card taken and signed by an authorized law enforcement or criminal justice agency.
A $75 nonrefundable processing fee, payable to FDLE by money order, cashier’s check, or personal check.⁴

FDLE’s typical processing time is about 12 weeks from the date it receives a complete application.⁵ Incomplete packets get returned without processing, which restarts the clock. The most common holdup is a missing or incorrect State Attorney signature, so verify that piece before you mail anything.

Step 2: File the Petition in Circuit Court

Once FDLE issues your certificate, you have 12 months to file. Miss that window and the certificate expires; you have to reapply and pay the $75 fee again.²

File the petition in the circuit court that had jurisdiction over the original arrest, which is generally the county where you were arrested. The petition must include:¹

The FDLE Certificate of Eligibility.
A sworn statement affirming you meet all eligibility requirements and have no other seal or expunge petition pending in any court.

Lying on that sworn statement is a third-degree felony, so read it carefully before signing.¹ You also have to serve a copy of the completed petition on the State Attorney’s Office and the original arresting agency. Both may file responses, and the state attorney sometimes objects.

The court charges a filing fee that varies by county, usually in the range of $40 to $65. The FDLE certificate confirms statutory eligibility, but the ultimate decision belongs to the judge, who can deny the petition even when every technical requirement is met.

Step 3: After the Court Grants the Order

When a judge signs the expungement order, the clerk of court certifies copies and sends them to the State Attorney’s Office and the arresting agency. The arresting agency forwards the order to every other agency it shared the record with, and FDLE forwards it to the FBI so the arrest is removed from national databases.³

Every agency holding a copy must physically destroy or obliterate it. The only exception is FDLE, which retains one confidential copy accessible solely by court order. An agency may keep a brief notation confirming it complied with the order, but the underlying record itself must be gone.

Costs and Timeline

Plan on at least $115 to $140 in mandatory fees: the $75 FDLE processing fee plus the circuit court filing fee.⁴ Attorney’s fees for a straightforward expungement typically range from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars, depending on complexity. Add small fees for fingerprinting and for the certified disposition from the clerk.

On timing, FDLE’s eligibility review runs about 12 weeks.⁵ The court phase — filing, serving the state attorney and arresting agency, and getting a hearing — adds one to three months in most circuits. Four to six months is realistic when everything goes smoothly. A state attorney objection or an incomplete FDLE application can push it well beyond that.

When You Still Have to Disclose an Expunged Record

The main practical benefit of expungement is that you can lawfully deny the arrest ever happened on most job and housing applications. That right has real exceptions. Florida law requires you to disclose an expunged record when you are:³

Applying for a job with a criminal justice agency, including law enforcement, corrections, and prosecutors’ offices.
Facing criminal prosecution as a defendant.
Seeking admission to the Florida Bar.
Applying for employment or licensure with the Department of Children and Families, the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Department of Health, the Department of Elderly Affairs, the Department of Juvenile Justice, or a contractor position with direct contact with children, the elderly, or people with disabilities.
Seeking employment or licensure with the Department of Education, any school district, a charter or private school, or an entity that licenses child care facilities.
Applying for an insurance license through the Division of Insurance Agent and Agency Services.
Seeking appointment as a guardian under Florida law.
Filing another petition to seal or expunge a different record.

The list is broad enough that anyone building a career in education, health care, child care, insurance, or law enforcement should expect the expunged record to surface anyway. In those fields, expungement cleans up your public record but does not give you the right to pretend the arrest never happened.

Mugshots and Private Background Databases

An expungement order binds government agencies. It has no authority over private companies. FDLE explicitly warns that mugshot websites, commercial background check services, and similar databases are not subject to expungement orders.⁶ If your booking photo or arrest information was scraped and republished before the order was entered, it can still show up in online searches.

Removal from those sites is on you. Some companies comply voluntarily, others do not. Firms that qualify as consumer reporting agencies under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act have separate legal obligations about reporting accuracy, which can give you leverage, but FDLE cannot force a private company to delete anything.

A Note for Non-Citizens

A Florida expungement does not carry the same weight for immigration purposes. Federal immigration authorities do not recognize state-level expungements as removing an arrest or conviction.⁷ USCIS can still see and weigh the underlying record when it evaluates visa applications, green card petitions, or naturalization requests, and you are still required to disclose the record on immigration forms. Talk to an immigration attorney before assuming expungement will solve a federal problem.

A Faster Path if the Arrest Was a Mistake

If you were arrested by mistake or contrary to law, Florida Statute 943.0581 lets FDLE administratively expunge the nonjudicial record of a wrongful arrest without going through the court petition process.⁸ The application needs an endorsement from the head of the arresting agency or the state attorney in that circuit, meaning the agency has to agree the arrest should not have happened. The law enforcement agency itself can also start an administrative expungement when it determines an arrest was made in error. Without that endorsement, you are back to the court-ordered process laid out above.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Section 943.0585
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Section 943.059
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes Section 943.0585
4
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Applying for a Certificate of Eligibility for Court-Ordered Sealing or Expungement
5
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Seal and Expunge Process
6
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Seal and Expunge Frequently Asked Questions
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part F Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors
8
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Section 943.0581