Orlando Expungement
& Record Sealing

A Florida arrest, even one that never led to a conviction, generally remains a public record unless it is expunged or sealed. That record can surface in a background check run by an employer, a landlord, a licensing board or a school, sometimes years after the case ended and regardless of the outcome. Many people are surprised to learn that an arrest with no conviction is treated the same way as any other public record by default — clearing it requires an affirmative legal process, not the passage of time.

King Law helps clients in Orlando and throughout Central Florida determine eligibility and pursue expungement or sealing of eligible criminal history records.

Expunction and Sealing Are Different Remedies

Sealing, governed by Fla. Stat. § 943.059, makes a criminal history record confidential and exempt from public disclosure, but it continues to exist and remains accessible to certain government agencies, including law enforcement and licensing bodies, for specified purposes such as future criminal justice matters or particular professional licensing decisions.

Expunction, governed by Fla. Stat. § 943.0585, goes further. A court-ordered expunction directs that the record physically held by the arresting agency be destroyed, while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement retains a separate, confidential copy accessible in limited circumstances. Expunction is generally the stronger remedy, but eligibility for it is also more restrictive.

Whether expunction or sealing is available in a given case turns heavily on how the case was resolved, not simply on how much time has passed.

Eligibility Depends on How the Case Ended

Records generally eligible for expunction include arrests that did not result in prosecution, charges that were dismissed or a nolle prosequi was entered, and cases resulting in acquittal at trial. Records generally eligible for sealing include cases resolved by a withhold of adjudication, most commonly following a plea, where no formal conviction was entered.

A conviction — a formal adjudication of guilt — generally cannot be sealed or expunged in Florida for the offence itself, regardless of how long ago it occurred. This is one of the most consequential distinctions in this area of law, and it is a major reason a DUI conviction, for example, typically cannot later be cleared even though the arrest that led to it might otherwise have qualified had the case resolved differently.

The statutes also list disqualifying offences — an extensive category of serious and violent crimes, including most sexual offences and crimes against children, that cannot be sealed or expunged even where the case would otherwise qualify based on its disposition. Reviewing exactly what you were charged with, and how the case was actually resolved on paper, is the necessary first step.

The Certificate of Eligibility and the Application Process

Before a Florida court can order sealing or expunction, an applicant must first obtain a Certificate of Eligibility from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. That requires submitting a fingerprint-based application, disclosing the case and its disposition, and — for expunction specifically — obtaining a statement from the relevant State Attorney or prosecuting authority certifying that prosecution was permanently abandoned or otherwise resolved as required.

Once FDLE issues the certificate, the next step is filing a petition in the court that had jurisdiction over the underlying case, along with the required supporting documentation. The State Attorney’s office and any relevant agency are generally entitled to respond, and a hearing may be required before the court rules. This is a multi-step administrative and judicial process, and errors in the application — an incomplete disclosure, the wrong disposition documentation, a missed disqualifying detail — can result in delay or denial.

The One-Time Limit

With narrow exceptions, Florida law permits a person to expunge or seal only one criminal history record in their lifetime, regardless of how many arrests or cases they may have had. This makes the decision about which record to address, and when, genuinely consequential — sealing a minor matter now may foreclose sealing a more damaging one later, and the choice cannot be undone once the court order is entered.

For that reason, this is not simply a form-filling exercise. Understanding the full landscape of your criminal history, and which record would deliver the greatest practical benefit if cleared, is part of the analysis before any application is filed.