Step 1 – Determine Eligibility.

First things first, North Carolina Law allows expungements for people that fit certain statutory criteria (see the NC Law tab for more information). So the first step is to contact us to get expert advice from an attorney licensed to practice law in North Carolina whether or not you qualify for the expungement. Once you have been determined eligible, we handle the rest!

Step 2 – Court Filings

The second step in the expungement process is the filing of certain information with the court in the county where your criminal charges occurred. Our staff will handle your case with professionalism and expertise, ensuring your expungement is processed in a timely and accurate manner.

Step 3 – Governmental Functions

Once the appropriate court filings have been made, your expungement will make its way through a statutory process of obtaining signatures and approvals from a judge, possibly a district attorney, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).  Once all the appropriate departments have reviewed the application, the expungement petition will be returned to the clerk in the county where it was originally filed.

Step 4 – Hearing

The expungement petition now has reports attached to it from the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts and the SBI.  The petition is ripe for hearing, and will be heard before a judge.  The prosecutor in the district will have an opportunity to be heard as well, and has the option of opposing the expungement petition.  Your attorney will argue on your behalf that your expungement petition should be granted.  Often, the expungement is heard informally if the district attorney is in full agreement with the statutory eligibility.

Step 5 – Decision of the Court

Following the hearing on the expungement petition, the judge will make a determination of eligibility and enter the determination as a judgment of the court.  If the petition is granted, then the court will issue an order that all of the criminal records listed in the expungement petition be physically destroyed at the courthouse where they are retained, and at any agencies listed on the expungement petition (this could include the sheriff's department or the NC Department of Motor Vehicles).  A copy of the order is sent once again to Raleigh, to the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts where electronic records of the expunged offenses are destroyed as well.

The final result of the expungement process is peace of mind, a cleaned criminal record, and assurance that you have a public image you deserve.

This website is posted for informational purposes only and nothing on this website is to be construed as legal advice.  Your situation is unique, and requires personal advice from an attorney.  Nothing on this website is to be construed to create an attorney-client relationship between you the reader, and the publisher of this website.