The Texas expungement statute, found at Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (recodified from the former Chapter 55 effective January 2025), lets you erase an arrest from your record when the case ended without a conviction sticking. Once a court grants the order, the arrest is treated in law as if it never happened. Eligibility turns on what happened with your case, not on how serious the charge was.
Who Qualifies
Expunction is available in five main situations:
- Acquittal at trial. A judge or jury found you not guilty.
- Charges dismissed or never filed. The prosecutor dropped the case or never brought charges, the applicable waiting period has passed, and you were not placed on community supervision for the offense.
- Pardon or actual innocence finding. The governor pardoned you, or a court found you actually innocent.
- Completed pretrial diversion. You finished a prosecutor-approved intervention program, other than a veterans treatment court.
- Identity theft arrest. Someone else used your identifying information, you were arrested for their conduct, and you can prove the fraudulent use.
The seriousness of the original charge does not affect eligibility. Someone acquitted of murder has the same statutory right to expunction as someone acquitted of shoplifting.1Justia. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A, Subchapter A – Mandatory Expunction Following Acquittal
The Criminal Episode Exception
If you were acquitted of one offense but convicted of, or still face prosecution for, a different offense arising from the same criminal episode, the acquitted charge cannot be expunged. An assault-and-weapons incident that produced an acquittal on the assault and a conviction on the weapons charge leaves the assault arrest on your record.2State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A – Expunction of Criminal Records – Article 55A.151
Waiting Periods
When charges were never filed after your arrest, the wait before you can petition depends on the offense classification:
- Class C misdemeanor: 180 days from the arrest date.
- Class A or B misdemeanor: one year from the arrest date.
- Any felony: three years from the arrest date.
These periods give the prosecutor time to decide whether to file. You can move sooner if you obtain a prosecutor’s written statement confirming that no charges will be brought.3State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A – Expunction of Criminal Records
If charges were filed and then dismissed, the wait runs on the statute of limitations for the offense. Once it expires, the state can no longer refile, and you become eligible. No waiting period applies to acquittals, pardons, or actual-innocence findings.
How to File
Start by requesting a copy of your criminal history from the Texas Department of Public Safety. DPS encourages anyone seeking expunction to obtain this report before filing.4Department of Public Safety. Criminal Records Service You will need the DPS tracking incident number (TRN), the exact arrest date, the offense description, and the case disposition. Small errors in these details can delay or defeat a petition.
You then file a Petition for Expunction in the district court of the county where the arrest occurred. The petition must include your full name, date of birth, arrest information, and a list of every agency and entity that might hold records related to the arrest. Standardized forms are available through the Texas State Law Library.
Who Must Be Served
Notice has to reach every entity that could have a copy of the arrest record. That typically means DPS (which in turn covers the FBI, the Texas Crime Information Center, and private companies that buy DPS data), the arresting agency, any jail that booked you, the prosecutor’s office, the court clerk, and the county IT department. If you reported the arrest to a licensing board or were interviewed by pretrial services for a personal bond, add them too. Missing an agency means the court’s order may not reach it, and pieces of the arrest can linger in databases.
Filing Fees
Court filing fees vary by county. The statewide base fee components total roughly $350 — a local consolidated civil fee plus a state consolidated civil fee — and counties add per-agency notification charges on top.5Texas Judicial Branch. County-Level Court Civil Filing Fees Hays County, for example, charges $350 plus $13.40 per agency notified by certified mail.6Hays County. Court Costs and Fees Total costs generally run from about $350 to $500 or more depending on the size of your notification list. If you cannot afford the fee, an affidavit of indigency can request a waiver. Attorney fees are separate and range from $500 to several thousand dollars, depending on complexity and whether the district attorney contests the petition.
The Hearing
After filing, the court sets a hearing. Bring originals proving you meet an eligibility category: a certified dismissal order, the acquittal record, proof that the statute of limitations has expired, or whatever fits your situation.
The district attorney receives notice and may contest the petition. Common objections are that charges could still be refiled because limitations have not run, that you were placed on community supervision for the offense, or that you are trying to expunge something that does not qualify. If the DA objects, the hearing turns adversarial and you have to respond with evidence. Even without objection, the judge reviews the petition independently before ruling.
If the Petition Is Denied
You can appeal to the Texas Court of Appeals by filing a notice of appeal within 30 days after the court enters its order. Filing a motion for new trial extends the deadline to 90 days.7Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rules 25.2 and 26.2 The appeal proceeds like other civil appeals in Texas.8Attorney General of Texas. Expunctions Missing these deadlines forfeits the appeal.
After the Order Is Granted
Once the order is final, the court directs every named agency to destroy records related to the arrest. DPS must notify the FBI and any private background check company buying DPS data, telling them to delete their copies too.9State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.02 – Procedure for Expunction – Section 3
Compliance is not instant. Government agencies and commercial databases may need several months. You can verify the record is clear by requesting a new DPS criminal history report. If an entity fails to comply, you may need to return to court to enforce the order.
Your Right to Deny the Arrest
After the order is final, you may legally deny that the arrest happened. On job applications, housing forms, and in most other legal contexts, you can answer “no” when asked about arrests or charges tied to the expunged record. One narrow exception: if you are questioned under oath in a criminal proceeding about the expunged arrest, you may only state that the matter has been expunged.3State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A – Expunction of Criminal Records
Private Background Databases
Private aggregators often keep older arrest data they scraped before the order issued. Once notified, they are required to comply, but records can linger for months. If your expunged arrest shows up on a background check, send the company a copy of the order and demand removal. Refusal gives you grounds for legal action based on the court order.
What a Texas Expunction Does Not Reach
The order binds Texas agencies. Several federal contexts operate under their own rules, and treating the record as gone in those contexts can cause more damage than the arrest itself.
The SF-86 form for federal security clearance investigations requires disclosure of arrests and charges even if the record has been sealed, expunged, or dismissed. Failing to disclose is treated as falsification, which is worse for a clearance than the underlying arrest.10DCSA. DCSA SF-86 Guide
USCIS does not recognize state expungements for immigration purposes. A controlled substance violation or crime involving moral turpitude that has been expunged under state law still counts against an applicant for naturalization, adjustment of status, or other benefits. USCIS can also require applicants to produce records of expunged convictions and can seek sealed records directly from courts.11USCIS. Volume 12, Part F, Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors Non-citizens should consult an immigration attorney before pursuing expunction, since a different post-conviction remedy may fit better.
For Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, and similar trusted traveler programs, federal databases still show the expunged record. Disclose the arrest on those applications; nondisclosure typically leads to denial for providing false information, which is harder to overcome than the arrest itself.
On the state side, Texas licensing bodies generally honor an expunction. The Texas Board of Law Examiners, for example, states that offenses expunged under the statute need not be disclosed on bar applications.12Texas Board of Law Examiners. Instructions for Bar Exam Re-Application Verify with your specific board, and note that an order of nondisclosure does not carry the same weight for licensing disclosures.
Nondisclosure If You Cannot Get Expunction
A conviction or a completed deferred adjudication rules out expunction. An order of nondisclosure may still be available, sealing your record from public view while leaving it visible to certain government agencies such as law enforcement and licensing boards. Nondisclosure is weaker than expunction but removes the record from commercial background checks and public court databases.
The common route is successful completion and discharge of deferred adjudication community supervision, followed by a waiting period: five years after discharge for felonies, and two years for most misdemeanors, with shorter timeframes or no wait for some misdemeanors under the automatic provisions. Texas has also extended nondisclosure to certain nonviolent misdemeanor convictions, with stricter eligibility and longer waits.
Offenses Excluded from Nondisclosure
Unlike expunction, nondisclosure has offense-based exclusions. You cannot obtain nondisclosure for, and cannot have a prior conviction or deferred adjudication for, any of the following:
- Sex offenses requiring registration under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
- Murder or capital murder.
- Aggravated kidnapping.
- Human trafficking.
- Injury to a child, elderly person, or disabled person.
- Violation of a protective order or stalking.
- Any offense involving family violence.
The family violence exclusion is broad. Even where a family violence charge was dismissed as part of a plea to a different offense, the court may find that the underlying conduct involved family violence and deny nondisclosure on that basis.13State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 411.074 – Required Conditions for Receiving an Order of Nondisclosure
DWI Cases
DWI convictions were historically ineligible for record relief in Texas. The nondisclosure law sometimes called the “Second Chance Law” now allows first-time DWI offenders to seal their records if every one of these conditions is met: deferred adjudication rather than a straight conviction, successful completion of probation, blood alcohol content below 0.15, no injury, no open container, no commercial vehicle, and no child passenger under 15.
The waiting period turns on ignition interlock use. With at least six months of interlock use, the wait is two years after completing deferred adjudication. Without an interlock, it is five years. A DWI that ended in dismissal or acquittal may still qualify for full expunction under the standard rules above.