To get a DWI sealed in Texas, you file a petition for an order of nondisclosure with the court that handled your case, after you meet strict eligibility rules and wait out a statutory period that runs from two to five years depending on your sentence. The order does not erase the conviction. It blocks courts, clerks, prosecutors, and law enforcement from releasing the record to the public, which keeps it off most private background checks and gives you the legal right to deny the offense on job and rental applications.1Texas Judicial Branch. Overview of Orders of Nondisclosure
Nondisclosure Is Not Expungement
Expungement destroys a record. A nondisclosure order leaves it intact but seals it from public view. For most people, the value is practical: a sealed DWI will not appear on background checks run by employers, landlords, or lenders, and you are not required to disclose a conviction covered by the order when a form asks about your criminal history.1Texas Judicial Branch. Overview of Orders of Nondisclosure
Do You Qualify
Every requirement below has to be met. Missing one disqualifies you no matter how much time has passed.
- First offense only. You cannot have any prior conviction or deferred adjudication for anything other than a traffic violation punishable by fine only. An old assault, theft, or drug case rules you out.
- Class B misdemeanor DWI. A blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or higher elevates the offense to a Class A misdemeanor and disqualifies it. Any felony DWI is also ineligible.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 49.04 – Driving While Intoxicated
- No accident involving another person. If the DWI involved a collision with anyone else, including a passenger in your own car, you cannot seal it. Injury is not required for this bar to apply.3State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOVT 411.0736 – Procedure for Conviction Certain Driving While Intoxicated Convictions
- Sentence fully completed. Jail time, community supervision, fines, court costs, and restitution all have to be finished. Fees the court waived still count as complete.
How Long You Have to Wait
The waiting period depends on the kind of sentence you received and, in two of the three tracks, on whether you used an ignition interlock device. The clock starts when you finish every part of your sentence, not at arrest or conviction.
If You Received Deferred Adjudication
Deferred adjudication means the court withheld a formal finding of guilt and dismissed the case after you completed supervision. The wait is two years from the date the case was discharged and dismissed. No interlock requirement applies to this track.4State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOVT 411.0726 – Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision Certain Driving While Intoxicated and Boating While Intoxicated Misdemeanors
If You Were Convicted and Placed on Community Supervision
Two years after completing supervision if you used an ignition interlock device for at least six months as a condition of that supervision. Five years if the court did not require the device, or required it for less than six months.1Texas Judicial Branch. Overview of Orders of Nondisclosure
If You Were Convicted Without Community Supervision
Three years after completing the sentence if you used an ignition interlock device for at least six months. Five years if you did not.3State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOVT 411.0736 – Procedure for Conviction Certain Driving While Intoxicated Convictions
What to Gather Before You File
Pull the details of the original case together first. A petition with missing information gets kicked back. You need:
- The cause number from your original court paperwork.
- The name and number of the court that handled the case.
- The offense date, the date of conviction or deferred adjudication, and the date you finished your sentence or supervision.
- Proof of completion, including records of jail time served, proof that community supervision was successfully discharged, and receipts showing fines, court costs, and restitution paid in full.
The district or county clerk’s office in the county that handled your case can provide the petition form. The Texas Judicial Branch also publishes petition forms and instructions for each nondisclosure track.1Texas Judicial Branch. Overview of Orders of Nondisclosure
Where to File and What It Costs
File the petition with the clerk of the court that originally handled the DWI. For a deferred adjudication case, that is the court that placed you on deferred adjudication. For a conviction, it is the sentencing court.
You will owe standard civil filing fees set by the county plus a $28 nondisclosure fee required by state law. Totals vary. Dallas County charges $350 for cases after August 2011.5Dallas County. Dallas County Clerk – Criminal Courts Filing Fees Travis County charges a $350 special fee on top of regular civil filing fees.6Travis County Clerk. File a Petition of Non-Disclosure If you cannot afford the fees, submit a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs and ask the court to waive them.
The Hearing
Once you file, the clerk sends a copy of the petition to the prosecutor, who reviews it and decides whether to object. Common objections point to evidence of a collision involving another person or to a failed eligibility requirement.
The court then sets a hearing. The judge confirms your criminal history, verifies that the waiting period has run, and checks each eligibility requirement. The judge also has to find that granting the order is in the “best interest of justice,” which leaves some discretion beyond the checklist.3State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOVT 411.0736 – Procedure for Conviction Certain Driving While Intoxicated Convictions If the prosecutor produces evidence of an accident involving another person, the judge cannot grant the order.
When the judge signs the order, the clerk transmits it to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which updates its records to restrict public access.
Who Can Still See the Record
Sealing is not invisibility. Criminal justice agencies keep full access for law enforcement and regulatory licensing. Courts can also disclose the record to specific agencies listed in the Government Code.7State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.076 – Disclosure by Court An officer running your record at a traffic stop will still see the DWI, and some state licensing boards may see it when they evaluate a professional license application.
Federal agencies are not bound by Texas nondisclosure orders. A federal security clearance investigation, a federal background check, or an immigration matter can still surface the conviction. Customs and Border Protection can weigh even a single DWI when deciding on Global Entry or similar trusted-traveler programs.
Private background check databases lag. A commercial database may keep reporting the conviction for months or years after the order until it refreshes. If a sealed conviction shows up on a background check after your order was granted, you have the right to dispute the report and demand removal.
If You Hold a Commercial Driver’s License
A Texas nondisclosure order will not clean up your CDL record. Federal law requires at least a one-year CDL disqualification for a first DWI, and at least three years if you were hauling hazardous materials.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 31310 – Disqualifications Federal regulations also prohibit states from masking CDL holder convictions, so the DWI stays on your CDLIS driver record regardless of the state order.9eCFR. 49 CFR 384.226 – Prohibition on Masking Convictions The nondisclosure order still restricts public criminal-history access, but employers pulling your CDL record through official channels will see the conviction.
After the Order Is Signed
Give DPS a few weeks to process the order, then request a copy of your criminal history and confirm the conviction shows as sealed. If it still reads as public, contact the clerk’s office and confirm the order was transmitted.
Notify the major background check companies directly with a copy of the order. Government agencies are bound to restrict access, but commercial databases refresh on their own schedule, and sending the order shortens the wait.
The order covers only the offense listed in it. Any other entries on your criminal history stay public. And if you are later convicted of another offense, a sentencing court in that new case can still consider the sealed DWI, because criminal justice agencies keep full access to it.