San Antonio Expunction & Record Sealing Attorney

Nobody warns you about the second problem. When the charge goes away, life is supposed to go back to normal, but then a background check discovers the record of the arrest during a job offer, a lease application, or a nursing license renewal. Texas keeps that record public unless someone petitions to remove it. And that's where we come in. We'll handle that petition, and tell you honestly whether it will succeed before you spend any money.

Texas gives you two separate tools. Which one applies depends entirely on how your case ended.

Expunction is the stronger remedy and the narrower one. Nondisclosure reaches more people because most completed deferred adjudication cases qualify.

Eligibility turns on the outcome of your case, not on how serious the original charge sounded.

You are generally eligible if you were arrested and never charged, if the prosecutor dismissed the case, if a grand jury returned a no bill, if a jury or judge acquitted you, if the arrest resulted from identity theft or a clerical error, or if you completed deferred disposition on a Class C misdemeanor. A conviction later pardoned by the Governor or the President also qualifies.

You are generally not eligible if you were convicted, if you completed community supervision on anything above a Class C, or if the charge is still within a window where the State could refile.

Timing is where good cases get denied. An acquittal carries no waiting period, and the court must enter the expunction order within 30 days of the verdict upon request. Everything else runs on a clock that starts the day you were arrested.

One shortcut exists. If the prosecutor certifies in writing that the records are not needed for any investigation or prosecution, we can file before the waiting period runs. Getting that certification is a conversation with the DA's office, which is a conversation Austin has been on both sides of.

Note that the misdemeanor waiting periods only apply when no felony charge arose from the same arrest. When one did, the three-year felony clock controls.

Filing is paperwork, and paperwork is where these cases are won or lost.

We start with an eligibility review, because a petition filed too early or under the wrong statute gets denied and the fee is gone. From there, we pull your criminal history and fingerprints, then draft the petition. That petition must name every agency and private database holding a copy of your record, from the arresting department and the district clerk to DPS and commercial background check companies. Miss one and your record stays alive in that system after the order is signed.

Once filed, the court notifies the State. The District Attorney can object, and if they do, a hearing is held. That is the moment when knowing how prosecutors evaluate these petitions matters. When nobody objects, the judge signs the order, and the agencies are directed to destroy or return the files. As of September 2025, those orders can be delivered to agencies electronically at no additional cost to you.

But most clients never have to appear in court. We handle the filing, the service, and any objections to the petition.

Expunction closes the subject. You can answer no when an application asks whether you have been arrested, and the destroyed record cannot be used against you if you are ever charged again.

Sealing works differently, and the difference matters. Employers and landlords running standard background checks will not see the record. Police and prosecutors still will, and a handful of state licensing applications, including some teaching and healthcare credentials, can require disclosure anyway. We'll explain to you which category you land in before you file, not after.

One practical caveat worth knowing: private background check vendors sometimes keep stale data after a court order. Part of our work is notifying the ones that matter so the record actually disappears from the reports employers buy.