New Expungement Law in Kentucky: Eligibility, Costs, and Filing

Kentucky’s expungement law now lets most people with a Class D felony conviction ask a court to vacate the conviction and seal the record, so it no longer shows up on official state background checks.1Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.073 The statute, KRS 431.073, presumes eligibility for Class D felonies unless the offense falls into a short list of excluded categories. A 2024 law called the Clean State Act adds a second track: automatic expungement of certain eligible convictions without an application at all.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 24RS HB 569

Who Qualifies

The current version of KRS 431.073 keeps the original list of specifically named qualifying statutes and adds a catch-all: any Class D felony that isn’t in one of the excluded categories.1Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.073 Multiple Class D convictions can be included in one application as long as each one independently qualifies. Anyone who has received a full pardon from the governor can also apply under this same statute.

Having a qualifying conviction is only the starting point. Four conditions have to be met before you can file:

  • At least five years have passed since you completed your sentence, or since you finished probation or parole, whichever comes later.3Kentucky Court of Justice. Expungement Certification Process
  • You have no felony or misdemeanor convictions during those five years.1Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.073
  • You have no open criminal cases at the time of your application.
  • All restitution, fines, and court costs tied to the conviction are fully paid.

The waiting period trips people up. It doesn’t start at sentencing. If you served two years in prison followed by three years on parole, the five-year clock starts the day parole ended. A misdemeanor conviction during that stretch resets it, so a minor offense can delay eligibility by years.

Convictions That Cannot Be Expunged

Several categories of Class D felonies are permanently excluded from the broader eligibility rule, no matter how much time has passed:

  • Sex offenses.
  • Offenses committed against a child.
  • Offenses that caused serious bodily injury or death.
  • Felonies involving abuse of public office.
  • DUI felonies under KRS 189A.010.

The DUI exclusion catches applicants off guard. A fourth-offense DUI in Kentucky is a Class D felony, and many people assume the expanded law now covers it. It does not.1Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.073

What It Costs

The fees total $340 across three stages:

  • A $40 certification fee to the Kentucky State Police for the required background check and eligibility certification.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Expungement Certification Process
  • A $50 filing fee paid to the circuit court clerk when you submit the application. It is non-refundable even if the court denies the petition.3Kentucky Court of Justice. Expungement Certification Process
  • A $250 expungement fee owed only if the court grants the application. It can be paid in installments, but the expungement is not final until the full amount is paid.1Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.073

You don’t need an attorney to file. If you handle it yourself, that $340 is the only mandatory cost.

How to File

Get the Certification of Eligibility First

Every application has to include a certification of eligibility. The Kentucky State Police and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) each run their own background check to verify you qualify.5Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.079 You can request the certification online, in person, or by mail, along with the $40 payment. Processing can take up to 60 days.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Expungement Certification Process

File the Application in the County of Conviction

Once the certification is in hand, complete the AOC’s official form, “Application to Vacate and Expunge Felony Conviction.” You’ll need the case number, date of conviction, and exact charge for each conviction you want cleared. File the application, the certification, and the $50 filing fee at the circuit court clerk’s office in the county where the conviction happened. It’s filed as a motion in your original criminal case.3Kentucky Court of Justice. Expungement Certification Process

What Happens After You File

The clerk sends a copy to the local prosecutor’s office, which has 60 days to review the application and decide whether to object.3Kentucky Court of Justice. Expungement Certification Process If there’s no objection and the court finds you meet all the requirements, the judge can grant expungement without a hearing.

If the prosecutor objects, the court schedules a hearing. Both sides get to argue, and victims of the offense have a right to be heard.1Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.073 The judge then weighs whether the benefit to you clearly outweighs the public’s interest in keeping the record accessible. That “clearly outweighs” standard matters. The court isn’t just balancing evenly; your side has to tip the scale decisively. Steady employment, community ties, and evidence of rehabilitation all help.

What Expungement Actually Does

When the court grants your application and you pay the $250 fee, the conviction is vacated and the record is sealed. The court and other agencies, including law enforcement, delete the records from their systems. Any official state background check returns no record, and agencies must respond to inquiries by stating that no record exists.3Kentucky Court of Justice. Expungement Certification Process

You are no longer required to disclose the conviction on any application for employment, credit, or housing.1Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 431.073 If the felony conviction was your only barrier to voting, your right to vote is restored and you can register immediately.

A few limits are worth knowing. The prosecutor’s office can keep a non-public copy of the record for law enforcement purposes. And an expungement order is not a finding of innocence or a ruling that anything was legally wrong with the original case. It simply means the record is no longer public and you no longer carry the legal consequences of the conviction in daily life.

Private Background Checks After Expungement

State-run background checks will show nothing after expungement. Private background check companies are a different story. They pull data from courthouse databases, and if they scraped your record before the order went through, it may still sit in their system. The 2024 Clean State Act addressed this gap by creating a cause of action against criminal history providers that fail to comply with an expungement order.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 24RS HB 569 If a background check company keeps reporting an expunged conviction, you can take legal action.

If an expunged record shows up on a private report, request a copy, identify the company, and dispute the record in writing with a copy of your expungement order attached. Most companies remove it once they see the court order. The new law gives you enforcement tools if they refuse.

Automatic Expungement Under the Clean State Act

House Bill 569, passed in 2024, created a pathway for certain eligible convictions to be expunged automatically, with no application from the individual.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 24RS HB 569 The AOC is required to set up a searchable online portal where you can check whether your conviction has already been cleared this way. Prosecutors can still object and halt an automatic expungement for certain offenses, so it isn’t guaranteed for every qualifying record. If your conviction is eligible but hasn’t been automatically processed, you can still file the standard application under KRS 431.073.