Louisiana Expungement Under Articles 977 and 985.1: Eligibility and Fees

A Louisiana expungement is a court order that removes an arrest or conviction from public view. The record still exists inside law enforcement and court databases, but private employers, landlords, and the general public will not find it on a background check, and you are not required to disclose it to them. Eligibility, waiting periods, and fees depend on which of four statutes covers your record: Article 976 for arrests without a conviction, Article 977 for misdemeanor convictions, Article 978 for felony convictions, and Article 985.1 for a felony arrest that ended in a misdemeanor.

Who Qualifies

Arrests That Never Led to a Conviction

Article 976 covers the cleanest situation. You qualify if the prosecution deadline expired without charges, the district attorney declined to prosecute, the case was dismissed or quashed, you were acquitted at trial, or a court found you factually innocent. A factual-innocence finding carries no waiting period at all.¹

One narrow exception: if you were arrested for DWI and entered a pretrial diversion program, you cannot seek expungement of that arrest until five years after the arrest date, even though no conviction was entered.¹

Misdemeanor Convictions

Article 977 gives you two paths. If the court originally deferred sentencing under Article 894 and later set the conviction aside after you completed probation, that set-aside carries the same legal weight as an acquittal, and you can file for expungement immediately with no five-year wait.²³

Without a set-aside, you must wait at least five years after completing every part of your sentence: probation, parole, fines, court costs, and restitution. The clock does not start until the last dollar is paid. During those five years, you cannot pick up any new felony convictions or pending felony charges.³

Felony Convictions

Article 978 allows felony expungement in three situations. If your first-offense noncapital felony was set aside under Article 893(E) after successful probation, you can file immediately; that relief is available only twice in a lifetime.⁴ Otherwise, you need a full ten years since completing every part of your sentence, with no other convictions and no pending charges during that decade, plus a certification from the district attorney confirming the clean record. A first offender pardon under the Louisiana Constitution is a third pathway, as long as the offense is not a crime of violence or a sex offense.⁵

A short list of otherwise-violent offenses can still be expunged after a contradictory hearing on the ten-year track: aggravated battery, second degree battery, aggravated criminal damage to property, simple robbery, purse snatching, and illegal use of weapons. The DA must still certify the clean decade.⁵

You can have more than one felony expunged inside a ten-year window as long as each conviction independently meets the criteria.⁵

When a Felony Arrest Ended in a Misdemeanor

Article 985.1 addresses the situation where you were arrested for a felony but the case resolved as a misdemeanor conviction. The felony arrest still shows up on background checks and misstates what happened. An interim expungement removes the felony arrest record while the misdemeanor conviction stays. There is no five-year or ten-year wait, and no limit on how many times you can use this remedy. You can file even while still serving the misdemeanor sentence. Standard filing fees and notice rules still apply.⁶

Convictions That Cannot Be Expunged

Some convictions are permanently barred no matter how much time passes. On the misdemeanor side, that includes domestic abuse battery, sex offenses, and stalking (though the underlying arrest for a sex offense may still qualify for interim expungement under Article 985.1).³ On the felony side, Article 978 bars most crimes of violence, sex offenses, offenses against minors, and domestic abuse battery. Most drug offenses under the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law are also ineligible, with exceptions for certain possession charges, offenses punishable by no more than five years, and convictions set aside under Article 893(E).⁵

What Expungement Actually Hides — and Who Still Sees It

After a successful expungement, the record disappears from public-facing databases and standard background checks. Article 973 provides that no person with an expunged record is required to disclose the arrest or conviction to anyone except the entities that retain access.⁷

Access is preserved for law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and criminal justice agencies. Article 973 also lists specific professional licensing boards that can view expunged records on a confidential basis, including the medical, nursing, dental, pharmacy, psychology, social work, chiropractic, and counseling boards, the Emergency Medical Services Certification Commission, the Attorney Disciplinary Board, the Committee on Bar Admissions, and the Department of Insurance.⁷ If you are applying for a license from one of these boards, expect the expunged record to surface during their review.

For firearm rights, someone convicted of domestic abuse battery or battery of a dating partner is not treated as convicted for state firearm-possession purposes once the record is expunged, unless the expungement order itself says otherwise. Federal firearm prohibitions can still apply independently.⁸

Fees and When They Are Waived

The total cost of a standard expungement is capped at $550, paid to four separate agencies, typically by separate money orders or certified checks:

Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information: $250
Sheriff: $50
District Attorney: $50
Clerk of Court: up to $200

A reduced cap of $300 applies to first-offense misdemeanor marijuana possession expungements, with each agency’s share adjusted downward.⁹

Article 983 waives all fees if the district attorney certifies you have no felony convictions and no pending felony charges, and at least one of the following applies: you were acquitted at trial of all charges from the arrest; the DA consented and the case was dismissed or declined before the prosecution deadline (with no pretrial diversion); the prosecution deadline expired without charges being filed (again with no pretrial diversion); or the DA determined you were a victim of identity theft, access card fraud, or a similar crime involving unlawful use of your identity.⁹

Additional exemptions apply to victims of human trafficking, people found factually innocent, people who received a pardon (other than a first offender pardon), juveniles who completed a drug court program, and people eligible for expedited expungement. If none of those fit and you still cannot afford the fees, you can petition to proceed in forma pauperis, which asks the court to waive costs based on financial hardship.⁹

How to File

Start by pulling a certified copy of your criminal background check from the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information or a local law enforcement agency. That report contains the State Identification number (SID) and Arrest Tracking Number (ATN) the court uses to find the right record. You also need a certified copy of the judgment or court minutes showing how the case ended.

The Motion for Expungement and Order for Expungement forms are available at the local Clerk of Court’s office. They require the case number, court division, and the exact charges from the arrest. The charges on the motion must match the background check; small discrepancies cause delays. For a felony motion filed on the ten-year track, include the DA’s certification of your clean decade.⁵

File the paperwork and fees with the Clerk of Court in the parish where the arrest occurred. The clerk serves notice on the district attorney, the arresting agency, and the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information. Each has 60 days to file a formal objection, or a “No Opposition” response to speed things up. The court can extend the 60-day window by up to 30 additional days if an agency asks. If no one objects, you can waive the contradictory hearing and the judge will grant the expungement if the legal requirements are met. If an agency does object, it must request a contradictory hearing, and the burden is on the agency to prove by a preponderance of the evidence why the expungement should not be granted.¹⁰

Once the judge signs the Order for Expungement, it is sent to each relevant agency, which then removes the record from public-facing databases. The record is sealed, not destroyed.

Automated Expungement

In 2023, the Louisiana legislature passed SB 111, directing the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information to build an automated expungement system for arrests and convictions dating back to January 1, 2006, and already eligible under Articles 976, 977, and 978. Under the plan, people submit basic case information through an online portal; if the record qualifies, the Bureau processes the expungement within 30 days and notifies the courts and law enforcement. The legislature’s long-term goal includes eliminating the filing fee once the system is fully funded and operational. Implementation is ongoing, so check whether the automated process is available for your case before filing a traditional motion and paying the standard fees.

1
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 976 – Motion to Expunge Record of Arrest That Did Not Result in a Conviction
2
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 894
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 977
4
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 893
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 978
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Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 985.1
7
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 973
8
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:95.10
9
Justia Law. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 983
10
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 980 – Contradictory Hearing