South Carolina’s new expungement law, enacted through H.4602 in the 2023–2024 session, opens up categories of convictions that used to be permanent, including first-offense nonviolent felonies, simple drug possession, possession with intent to distribute, fraudulent checks, and certain firearm and misdemeanor convictions. The changes apply retroactively, so older convictions can qualify as long as the waiting periods and clean-record rules are met.
First-Offense Nonviolent Felony
This is the headline change. A first-offense nonviolent felony conviction can now be expunged ten years after the conviction date. Before H.4602, no felony conviction in South Carolina could be expunged, no matter how old or how clean the record had been since. Eligible offenses are defined by South Carolina’s list of nonviolent crimes under Section 16-1-70, which covers a broad range of property crimes, financial offenses, and lower-level felonies.
To qualify, you must have no pending criminal charges and no other convictions of any kind during the full ten-year period after your conviction date. Applications go through the solicitor’s office for the circuit where the offense occurred, not directly to the circuit court. Each person can use this pathway only once.
There is a faster track for people who complete a drug treatment court program for a qualifying first offense. If you finish the program successfully, you can apply three years after completion rather than waiting ten. The same conditions apply: no pending charges and no other convictions during the three-year window.
After a nonviolent felony expungement, SLED keeps a nonpublic record of the offense and the expungement date. That record is shielded from Freedom of Information Act requests and only accessible to authorized law enforcement or court officials confirming that a person has not already used the one-time benefit.
Drug Convictions
Before this law, the only way to keep a drug possession charge off your record was a conditional discharge, where the court withheld judgment. An actual conviction stayed on the record forever. That has changed.
Simple Possession
A first-offense conviction for simple possession of a controlled substance or unlawful possession of a prescription drug is now eligible. The waiting period is three years from the date you complete your entire sentence, including any probation or parole. The clock does not start at conviction; it starts when your last supervised obligation ends. During those three years you cannot have any other convictions, including out-of-state convictions.
People who would have qualified for a conditional discharge under the old rules but instead received an actual conviction are also covered. The application goes to the circuit court. If granted, the order expunges the arrest, conviction, and any associated bench warrant.
Possession With Intent to Distribute
First-offense possession with intent to distribute is now eligible too, but the wait reflects the seriousness of the charge: twenty years from the date you complete your full sentence, including probation and parole. During those twenty years you cannot have any drug conviction or felony conviction. Meet those conditions and you can apply to the circuit court for an order covering the arrest, conviction, and any related bench warrant.
Fraudulent Checks and Unlawful Firearm Possession
A first-offense misdemeanor conviction for writing a fraudulent check is now eligible. The waiting period is one year from the conviction date with no other convictions during that year. This relief is available only once.
A first-offense conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm or weapon is also eligible where the penalty was no more than one year in jail or a $1,000 fine. The waiting period is three years from the conviction date with no other convictions in that window.
Shorter Waiting Period for Minor Misdemeanors
For a first-offense conviction carrying a maximum penalty of no more than 30 days in jail or a $1,000 fine, the waiting period is three years from the conviction date. You must stay conviction-free during that time. Traffic-related convictions are excluded; the offense cannot involve the operation of a motor vehicle.
Domestic violence in the third degree is a specific exception. Although it is a misdemeanor, the waiting period for a first-offense conviction is five years from the conviction date, with the same clean-record requirement throughout.
Retroactivity and One-Time Limits
All of the expanded eligibility categories apply retroactively. If you were convicted of simple possession in 2010 and finished your sentence in 2011, you do not need a new conviction under the updated law. You can apply now, provided the waiting period and clean-record rules are met measured from your original sentence completion date.
The one-time limits are firm. The minor-misdemeanor provision under Section 22-5-910 can only be used once. The nonviolent felony provision under Section 17-22-915 also allows only one expungement per person. And no expungement will be granted while you have any pending criminal charges, unless those charges have been pending for more than five years without resolution. Time spent under a bench warrant for failure to appear does not count toward that five-year window.
How to File and What It Costs
Applications are filed with the solicitor’s office in the judicial circuit where the charge was originally brought. The application form is available through the South Carolina Judicial Branch website or directly from the solicitor’s office. You will need your full legal name, date of birth, the specific charge you want expunged, the arrest date, the conviction date, the name of the arresting law enforcement agency, and which court handled the case (magistrate, municipal, or general sessions). Most of this is on your original court paperwork or sentencing sheet.
Filing carries three separate non-refundable fees, each paid as its own certified check or money order:
- $250 administrative fee, payable to the solicitor’s office
- $25 SLED verification fee, payable to SLED, when applicable
- $35 filing fee, payable to the county clerk of court, when applicable
One fee break matters here: if you are applying to expunge charges that were dismissed outright under Section 17-1-40, the $250 administrative fee is waived. That exemption does not apply if the charge was dismissed as part of a plea deal in which you pled guilty to a different charge.
Once the solicitor’s office reviews and approves the application, it drafts an expungement order for a judge’s signature. The signed order is then sent to every government agency holding a record of the charge, including the arresting agency and SLED. SLED destroys its records and notifies you by mail when the process is complete.
What Expungement Will Not Reach
An expungement clears your record from South Carolina’s state systems, but it has real limits.
Immigration
Federal immigration authorities do not treat a state expungement as erasing a conviction. Under federal law, a conviction exists for immigration purposes whenever a court entered a guilty finding, or the person pled guilty and the judge imposed some form of punishment, even if the state later expunges the record. USCIS will still consider the original conviction when evaluating visa applications, green card eligibility, or deportation proceedings. The one scenario where a vacated state conviction stops counting for immigration purposes is when it was thrown out due to a constitutional or procedural defect in the original criminal case, not because the person completed rehabilitation requirements.
Private Background Checks
State agencies destroy their records after expungement, but private background check companies often work from older database snapshots. An expunged conviction can keep appearing on employment screening reports until those databases are updated. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, background check companies are required to use reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy, and courts have found that reporting an expunged conviction fails that standard. In practice you may need to act yourself: get a certified copy of your expungement order, confirm that every government agency named in the order has actually destroyed its records, and send the order directly to major background check companies demanding corrections. Check again later, because stale data can reappear.
Professional Licensing
Some professional licensing boards may still access or require disclosure of expunged records depending on the profession and the governing regulations. If you hold or are applying for a license in fields like healthcare, law, or education, check the specific board’s disclosure requirements before assuming your expunged record is invisible to them.