If you answer "YES" to ANY of these questions, you CANNOT have your record sealed or expunged.

1. Have you ever been convicted of a felony, misdemeanor, or criminal-traffic crime?
2. Have you ever had a case sealed or expunged before?
3. Did you take a plea to any of the following crimes (even if you received a Withhold of Adjudication)?

• Luring or Enticing a Child
• Sexual Battery and related offense
• Procuring person under 18 for prostitution
• Lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of persons less than 16 years of age
• Voyeurism
• Violations of the Florida Communications Fraud Act (Scheme to defraud or Organized Fraud)
• Lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of an elderly person or disabled adult
• Sexual Performance by a child
• Sexual misconduct with mentally deficient or mentally ill defendant and related offenses. Offenses by public officers and employees
• Giving/showing/transmitting/loaning obscene materials to a minor
• Computer pornography(child related)
• Selling or buying of minor
• Drug Trafficking (Trafficking in Controlled Substances)
• Violations of Pretrial detention or release
• Arson - F.S. 806.01
• Aggravated Assault
• Aggravated Battery
• Illegal use of explosives
• Child abuse or aggravated child abuse
• Abuse of elderly person or disabled adult, or aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult
• Aircraft Piracy
• Kidnapping
• Homicide
• Manslaughter
• Robbery
• Carjacking
• Sexual activity with a child, who is 12 years of age or older, but less than 18 years of age, by or at solicitation of a person in familial or custodial authority
• Burglary of a dwellin
• Stalking and aggravated stalking
• Act of Domestic Violence
• Home invasion robbery
• Act of terrorism
• Attempting or conspiring to commit any of the above crimes

		Expungement: You should apply for an expungement if all the charges in the case were either dismissed by the judge or dropped by the State and did not proceed to trial.
		Sealing: If you pled guilty or no contest to the charges, or were found guilty after a trial, and adjudication was withheld (meaning you were not convicted), then you can apply for sealing. Before you apply for a sealing, you should have completed ALL parts of your sentence, including completing your probation, paying all court costs and paying all restitution that was ordered by the judge.

The Application Process:

The first thing our office will provide you with is an Application for Certification of Eligibility, a fingerprint card, a Petition to Seal and/or Expunge and an Affidavit in Support of the Petition to Seal and/or Expunge.

Our office will obtain a certified copy of the disposition of the case to want to have sealed or expunged. The fee for this certified copy is currently Six ($6.00) Dollars.

You will then go to your local police department and asked them to put your fingerprints on the fingerprint card that was provided to you (some police departments charge a fee for this service currently between $5.00 and $10.00). Our office will provide you with a list of local police departments that perform this service. Make sure that you fill out the top part of the fingerprint card with your identifying information (name, race, sex, date of birth and Social Security number) and sign the card.

You will then return the completed fingerprint card to our office. We will forward the completed Application for Certification of Eligibility, fingerprint card, certified case disposition and a $75.00 processing fee to FDLE in Tallahassee.

FDLE will then research your criminal history to determine if you are eligible to have your case sealed or expunged. They will do a criminal history records check in Florida and throughout the United States. This process takes approximately THREE (3) to FIVE (5) MONTHS depending on their backlog. Please be patient! Once FDLE has finished reviewing your application they will send us one of three things:

		A letter telling us to your case is not eligible and why,
		A Certificate of Eligibility to seal your case, or
		A Certificate of Eligibility to expunge your case.

If we get a letter from FDLE telling us that your case is not eligible, then you cannot proceed with this process until we take care of whatever they tell us the problem is. We will meet with you, at no additional cost, in order to review FDLE's denial letter and advise you accordingly.

Once we get your certificate of eligibility back from FDLE, we are halfway through the process. We will file all the required forms with the clerk's office. There is a filing fee, which is currently $37.50. The clerk's office to schedule your hearing before the judge and will notify us of the time and date. We will appear at the hearing that has been set on your behalf. You are not required to appear. Once the judge grants your petition and signs the order, the clerk's office will send certified copies of the judge's order to all law enforcement agencies involved and they will either seal or expunge your record.

Your case will be purged from the court system records within three to five days of the judge's order.

If your criminal history record is ordered sealed you may lawfully deny the existence of the record, except when you are

1.		Applying for a job with a criminal justice agency,
2.		A defendant in a criminal prosecution,
3.		Applying for another sealing or expungement,
4.		Applying for admission to the Florida Bar,
5.		Seeking employment or licensing by the Department of Children and Family
6.		Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice, or in a sensitive position having direct contact with children, the developmentally disabled, the aged or the elderly,
7.		Seeking employment or licensing with the Department of Education, any district school board, university laboratory school, charter school, any private or parochial school or any local governmental entity that licenses child care facilities,
8.		Attempting to purchase a firearm and are subject to a criminal history background check, and
9.		Seeking authorization from a Florida seaport for employment within or access to one or more seaports.

Your sealed record is available only to you, your attorney, criminal justice agencies for their criminal justice purposes, or any of the groups listed above when you apply for employment, licensing or access authorization.

When your criminal history record has been ordered expunged, it may be lawfully denied, with the exception of the same circumstances listed above (except number 7). A record that has been ordered expunged is to be physically destroyed or obliterated (except for the record held by FDLE) and is not available to anyone without a court order, even you.