Tennessee Expungement Laws: Eligibility, Waiting Periods, and Filing

Under Tennessee expungement laws, you can clear dismissed charges, acquittals, and cases that never resulted in charges at no cost, and you can petition to remove certain misdemeanor and lower-level felony convictions after a waiting period of five or ten years. What you cannot do is expunge violent felonies, sexual offenses, domestic assault, or DUI, no matter how much time has passed. The state works from a specific statutory list, and anything not on it stays on your record permanently.

Records That Clear Without a Waiting Period

If your case ended without a conviction and without going through a diversion program, you can petition to have the records destroyed immediately and for free. This covers dismissed charges, cases where a grand jury returned no true bill, not-guilty verdicts, and arrests that never led to formal charges.¹ The legislature has stated no fee should ever be charged for these.

One catch matters. If you were charged with several offenses from the same incident and were acquitted on some but convicted on others, you generally cannot clear the acquittals while the related conviction is still on your record.¹

Which Convictions Qualify

Tennessee does not allow expungement of just any low-level offense. The statute lists what qualifies, and filing for something outside the list wastes your fee and your time.

Misdemeanors

Most misdemeanor convictions are eligible. The statute works by exclusion here: if your misdemeanor is not on the excluded list, it qualifies. Simple drug possession (first or second offense), disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and minor theft are common examples of misdemeanors that clear.

Class E Felonies

For Class E felonies the logic flips. Only offenses named in the statute qualify, and the list runs to several dozen. Among them:¹

Theft of property or services valued between $1,000 and $2,500²
Forgery involving $1,000 or less
Vandalism
Burglary of an automobile
Worthless checks
Fraudulent use of a credit or debit card
Accessory after the fact
Evading arrest by vehicle where no risk to bystanders was created
Simple possession or casual exchange, third offense
Possession or sale of Schedule V, VI, or VII substances at lower quantities

If your Class E felony is not on the list, no amount of time or rehabilitation makes it eligible.

Class C and D Felonies

Some Class C and D felonies also qualify, and they too must appear on the statute’s specific list. The waiting period for these is longer.¹

The Two-Conviction Cap

You cannot clear an unlimited number of convictions. If you have more than one on your record, you qualify only if you have no more than two eligible convictions total, and they must be either two misdemeanors or one felony paired with one misdemeanor.¹ Both must have occurred before any conviction for an ineligible offense.

Multiple convictions from a single criminal episode, meaning one continuous course of conduct at the same location, count as a single offense for this cap.¹

What Cannot Be Expunged

This is where hopes most often collide with the statute. Some categories are permanently barred regardless of time elapsed or rehabilitation.

Misdemeanors on the Excluded List

Even though most misdemeanors are eligible, these are not:¹

Domestic assault
Stalking
Child abuse or neglect involving children ages 7 to 17
Violation of a protective or restraining order
DUI
Certain sexual offenses, including indecent exposure involving minors and soliciting a minor
Aggravated criminal trespass of a home, hospital, school campus, or railroad property
Reckless burning
Methamphetamine precursor offenses

DUI is the offense readers ask about most. Under current law, a Tennessee DUI conviction cannot be expunged.

Felonies Off the List

Any felony not specifically named in the statute is ineligible, which in practice bars most felonies. All Class A and B felonies (murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and similar violent crimes), sexual offenses including rape and sexual exploitation of a minor, and offenses committed by public officials in their official capacity cannot be cleared.

Waiting Periods

Dismissals, acquittals, and no-charge arrests have no waiting period. For convictions, the clock only starts once you have fully completed your sentence, including probation, parole, and restitution.¹

Misdemeanors and Class E felonies: five years after sentence completion
Class C and D felonies: ten years after sentence completion
Two eligible offenses: five years from the most recent sentence completion when both are misdemeanors or a misdemeanor paired with a Class E felony; ten years if a Class C or D felony is involved

If a court denies your petition, you must wait at least two years to file again.¹

Diversion as a Separate Path

Tennessee has two diversion programs that can lead to expungement even for some offenses that would not qualify as convictions under the standard statute. Diversion prevents a conviction from being formally entered in the first place, which is why the expungement rules are different.

Pretrial Diversion

You enter a supervision agreement before trial. If you complete the conditions and the supervision period ends without a violation, the court dismisses the charges with prejudice and sends the order to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for entry into the expungement database.³ A clerk’s fee applies, unlike a straight dismissal.

Judicial Diversion

You plead guilty or are found guilty, but the judge defers entering the conviction and places you on probation. Complete probation without a violation and the case is discharged and dismissed without an adjudication of guilt. You can then apply to expunge all records tied to the arrest, trial, and dismissal.⁴

Judicial diversion is not available for Class A or B felonies, sexual offenses, DUI, vehicular assault, or child abuse. It is also unavailable if you have a prior felony conviction, a prior Class A misdemeanor conviction that included jail time, or a prior diversion of either type.⁴

One important limit crosses both tracks: sexual offenses as defined by the sex offender registry statute can be diverted but never expunged.⁵

How to File and What It Costs

File your petition in the court where the conviction or charge occurred. The petition needs your case number, the date of conviction or dismissal, and the statute under which you were charged. Get these right, because errors cause delays or denial.

For conviction expungements, the District Attorney’s office in the county of arrest reviews the petition, and the court cannot grant it until at least 61 days after the DA has been served with a copy.¹

Fees depend on the type of expungement:

Dismissed charges, acquittals, no true bills, and released-without-charge cases: no fee¹
Pretrial or judicial diversion completions: a clerk’s fee applies
Conviction expungements: a $180 expungement fee plus additional court costs⁶

Local court costs vary by county and can push the total higher, so call the clerk’s office where you were convicted to confirm the amount before you file.

What Actually Happens to Your Record

Once the court grants the order, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation deletes the charges from your state criminal record and your fingerprint card, and forwards the order to the FBI so the federal record is updated. If no other charges remain, all your criminal fingerprints are deleted.⁷

Private background check companies are a different problem. They collect court records as they become public and rarely refresh their databases when something is later expunged. Your cleared record can still surface on a private background check months or years later, and you will need to contact each company directly to dispute the outdated information.⁷ Plan to monitor your record after the order is entered.

Immigration: A State Expungement Is Not Enough

If you are not a U.S. citizen, do not assume a Tennessee expungement protects you. Federal immigration law uses its own definition of “conviction,” and a state expungement based on rehabilitation or program completion does not erase the conviction for immigration purposes. A judgment still counts as a conviction to USCIS if you pleaded guilty, were found guilty, or admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt, and the court ordered some form of punishment or restraint on your liberty.⁸

Narrow exceptions exist. A conviction may not count federally if the judgment was vacated because of a constitutional or statutory defect in the original proceedings, or if the criminal court failed to advise you of immigration consequences before you entered a plea. Pretrial diversion that involves no admission of guilt may also avoid counting.⁸ Talk to an immigration attorney before relying on a state expungement.

When Expungement Is Off the Table

If your offense is not eligible, Tennessee offers a certificate of employability. It does not remove your conviction from public records, but a licensing board or agency that issues occupational licenses cannot deny you solely based on your criminal history when you hold a valid certificate. Instead of automatic disqualification, your application gets a case-by-case review.⁹

To qualify, you must show the court a reputation for honesty and respectability, that the certificate would meaningfully help you find employment or licensing, and that granting it would not pose an unreasonable safety risk. There is also a benefit for employers: hiring someone with a certificate provides immunity from negligent hiring claims based on that person’s criminal history, which gives employers a real reason to say yes.⁹

1
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-32-101 – Destruction or Release of Public Records
2
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-14-105 – Grading of Theft
3
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-15-105 – Memorandum of Understanding
4
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-35-313 – Expunction From Official Records
5
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation – Diversions, Expungements, and Dispositions
6
Tennessee Courts. TBI Frequently Asked Questions on Expungements
7
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Frequently Asked Questions – Expungements
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjudicative Factors
9
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-29-107 – Certificate of Employability