North Dakota Expungement Laws: Record Sealing Under N.D.C.C. § 12-60.1

North Dakota does not use the term "expungement" in its statutes, but the state gives qualifying residents a path to seal criminal records from public view under North Dakota Century Code chapter 12-60.1, a reform enacted in 2019 and refined by the legislature in 2021 and 2025.

Information last verified on May 29, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers North Dakota state criminal records only. For a national overview, see Expungement Laws by State.

Does North Dakota Have Expungement?

North Dakota does not have a statute labeled "expungement," but it does provide a meaningful record-relief remedy under N.D.C.C. chapter 12-60.1, titled "Sealing Criminal Records." The chapter was enacted by House Bill 1256 during the 66th Legislative Assembly and took effect on August 1, 2019. When people search for "north dakota expungement" or ask "does north dakota have expungement," the answer is that sealing under chapter 12-60.1 is the functional equivalent: a court order that closes the record from public access and lets most people answer "no" to questions about past convictions on job applications. The statute uses the word "seal," so that is the term used throughout this article. Records sealed under chapter 12-60.1 are not physically destroyed; they are placed under court seal and restricted from public disclosure by the clerk and prosecutor.

Who Is Eligible to Petition for Sealing?

Under N.D.C.C. § 12-60.1-02, a person may file a petition to seal a criminal record if one of the following conditions is met (N.D.C.C. § 12-60.1-02):

• The person was convicted of a misdemeanor and has not been convicted of any new crime in the three years before filing the petition.
• The person was convicted of a felony and has not been convicted of any new crime in the five years before filing the petition.
• The person received an unconditional pardon from the Governor of North Dakota for the conviction.

The waiting clock starts from the date of the guilty plea or finding of guilt (the conviction date). A 2021 amendment (HB 1196) changed the prior rule, which had run the clock from the date of release from incarceration, parole, or probation, making eligibility earlier under current law. A new conviction at any point during the waiting window resets the clock. The 2021 amendment also clarified that the threshold is the absence of a new conviction during the window, not merely the absence of new charges, which is a more petitioner-friendly standard.

Chapter 12-60.1 does not apply to:

• A felony involving violence or intimidation during the period the offender is ineligible to possess a firearm under N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-01(1)(a). That firearm bar runs for ten years after the date of conviction or the date of release from incarceration, parole, or probation, whichever is latest.
• Any offense for which the offender has been ordered to register as a sex offender or offender against children under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-15.

Read those two exclusions carefully, because neither is written as a permanent bar on the entire chapter. The first is expressly tied to a window: it applies only "during the period in which the offender is ineligible to possess a firearm," so once the ten-year period under § 62.1-02-01(1)(a) has run, § 12-60.1-02(2)(a) no longer reaches the offense. The second lasts as long as the registration order does. Both are also prefaced in the statute with "Except as provided under section 12-60.1-05," which means they do not block the separate nonconviction-closing procedure described below.

How to File a Petition to Seal Your Record in North Dakota

The petition process is governed by N.D.C.C. § 12-60.1-03 and § 12-60.1-04.

On fees, be careful with what you read elsewhere. Chapter 12-60.1 says nothing about a filing fee for a conviction-sealing petition. It waives a fee in only two places: appealing a municipal-court denial to district court for de novo review under § 12-60.1-04(6), and filing a petition to close a nonconviction record under § 12-60.1-05(4). Whether a conviction-sealing petition filed in the existing criminal case carries a fee is a question for the clerk of court in the county where the case sits, so check the current district court fee schedule rather than assuming the filing is free.

Step 1 - File in the original case. The petition must be filed in the existing criminal case docket, in the district court where the conviction occurred. You cannot file a new civil action.

Step 2 - Include required information. Subject to the redaction requirements in Rule 3.4 of the North Dakota Rules of Court, the petition must contain: (a) the petitioner's full legal name and all aliases; (b) all addresses from the date of the offense through the filing date; (c) a statement of reasons the petition should be granted; and (d) the petitioner's complete criminal history in North Dakota, other states, federal courts, and foreign countries, including all prior and pending charges, all charges in which imposition of sentence was deferred or stayed or which were continued for dismissal, and all prior requests for pardon, return of arrest records, expungement, or sealing. Section 12-60.1-03(3) also requires the petitioner to file a proposed order along with the petition.

Step 3 - Serve the prosecutor. The petition must be served on the prosecuting official in accordance with N.D.R.Crim.P. Rule 49. Chapter 12-60.1 does not give the prosecutor a response deadline. What it does require, under § 12-60.1-04(4), is that upon receiving the petition the prosecutor "to the extent practicable" notify and seek input from law enforcement, witnesses, victims, and correctional authorities familiar with the petitioner and the offense.

Step 4 - Attend the hearing. The one firm timing rule in the chapter is § 12-60.1-04(3): a hearing on the petition may not be held earlier than forty-five days after the petition is filed. The court may grant the petition only on clear and convincing evidence of good cause, that the benefit to the petitioner outweighs the presumption of openness of the criminal record, that all terms of imprisonment and probation are complete, that all court-ordered restitution is paid, that the petitioner has demonstrated reformation warranting relief, and that the petition complies with the chapter. In deciding, the court considers: the nature and severity of the underlying crime; the risk the petitioner poses to society; the time elapsed since the offense; rehabilitation since the offense; aggravating or mitigating factors, including those in § 12.1-32-04; the petitioner's criminal record, employment history, and community involvement; recommendations from law enforcement, prosecutors, corrections officials, and people familiar with the petitioner; and the recommendations of victims. A prosecutor may also stipulate to sealing without a hearing, or on a faster timeline, under § 12-60.1-04(5).

Step 5 - Court decision. If the court grants the petition, it issues an order sealing the record. Section 12-60.1-04(8) requires that order to state that the petitioner is sufficiently rehabilitated but is subject to N.D.C.C. § 12.1-33-02.1, and to release the information where an entity has a statutory obligation to conduct a criminal history background check.

If the court denies the petition, the consequences are narrower than they are usually described. Under § 12-60.1-04(7), a district court denying a petition may prohibit the petitioner from filing a subsequent petition for up to one year, and only if good cause is shown; the order denying the petition must then state the reasons establishing that good cause. So there is no blanket written-reasons requirement attached to every denial, no automatic waiting period, and a bar that is imposed may run shorter than a year. Absent such an order, nothing in the chapter stops a new petition.

Appeals follow two different routes under § 12-60.1-04(6). A denial in municipal court goes first to the district court for de novo review, with no filing fee. Only "a petition denied by the district court may be appealed." Both the appeal right and the one-year discretionary bar came in with 2025 House Bill 1263, which amended § 12-60.1-04.

Closing a Nonconviction Record Under Section 12-60.1-05

The most consequential 2025 addition to chapter 12-60.1 is not the appeal right; it is a new section, N.D.C.C. § 12-60.1-05, covering cases that never produced a conviction. Section 12-60.1-01(5) defines a "nonconviction" as dismissal of all criminal charges in a case, or acquittal of all criminal charges in a case.

• New cases close on their own. If a court enters an order of nonconviction on or after August 1, 2025, the court "shall close the court record upon the expiration of sixty-one days." No petition and no hearing are required.
• Older cases get a fast petition. For a case disposed of before August 1, 2025, the defendant may petition to have the record closed, and if the requirements of the section are met the court "shall enter an order closing the court record within ten days of the petition being filed."
• No filing fee. Section 12-60.1-05(4) states: "A filing fee may not be charged for a petition filed under this section."
• Four carve-outs. The section does not apply if the dismissal resulted from a plea agreement involving a conviction on another offense; the case was dismissed on a finding that the individual was not fit to proceed under chapter 12.1-04; the case ended in a verdict of not guilty due to lack of criminal responsibility under chapter 12.1-04.1; or the case was appealed.

The vocabulary shift matters. Section 12-60.1-05 "closes" a record rather than "seals" it, and § 12-60.1-01(1) defines "closed" as subject to examination only by a clerk of court, a judge of the court, the juvenile commission, a criminal justice agency, the defendant, defense counsel, a state's attorney, or any person acting on a judge's written order. This is also the section named in the "Except as provided under section 12-60.1-05" preamble to the exclusions in § 12-60.1-02(2).

The Deferred Imposition of Sentence: A Separate Path

A separate path exists for people who received a deferred imposition of sentence. The authority for it is N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-02(4): "A court, upon application or its own motion, may defer imposition of sentence. The court must place the defendant on probation during the period of deferment." The procedure is set out in N.D.R.Crim.P. 32.1. Section 12.1-32-07.1 is sometimes cited for the deferral itself, but that statute is titled "Release, discharge, or termination of probation" and supplies the step that follows, not the deferral mechanism.

• Under § 12.1-32-07.1(2), a defendant who has fulfilled the conditions of probation for the entire period, or who was discharged from probation early, "may at any time be permitted in the discretion of the court to withdraw the defendant's plea of guilty." The court "may in its discretion set aside the verdict of guilty," and in either case "may dismiss the information or indictment." Those steps are discretionary, so treat them as relief to be requested rather than an outcome that arrives on its own.
• Before dismissing, the court may reduce a felony conviction to a misdemeanor where the plea has been withdrawn or set aside.
• Once imposition of sentence was deferred and the plea is withdrawn or the verdict set aside, § 12.1-32-07.2(2) directs the clerk of court to file all the papers and limits examination of them to the clerk, a judge of the court, the juvenile commissioner, probation officers, the defendant or defense counsel, and the state's attorney. Anyone else needs the written order of a judge.
• Under N.D.R.Crim.P. 32.1, the court file is sealed 61 days after the expiration or termination of probation, and no separate petition under chapter 12-60.1 is needed.

Two cautions apply. First, a deferred imposition still counts as a conviction for the firearm prohibition in N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-01 and for sex-offender registration under § 12.1-32-15: § 12.1-32-07.1(2) releases the defendant from penalties and disabilities "except as provided by sections 12.1-32-15 and 62.1-02-01," and § 62.1-02-01(2)(b) counts a deferred imposition as a conviction for firearm purposes. Second, the underlying BCI record may still reflect the arrest and the deferred disposition, so follow up with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to verify what background-check databases show.

What Sealing Does and Does Not Do

A sealing order under N.D.C.C. ch. 12-60.1 closes the court file from public view. The clerk of court and prosecutor are prohibited from disclosing the existence or contents of a sealed record. A person whose record is sealed may generally state in most contexts that they have not been convicted of the offense.

However, sealing under chapter 12-60.1 has important limits:

• BCI records are not sealed. The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation maintains criminal history records for law enforcement purposes. A "criminal record" under § 12-60.1-01(4) expressly excludes criminal history record information as defined in § 12-60-16.1(5) and criminal justice data information in the sharing system under § 54-12-34, so a judge's order sealing court records does not reach that material.
• Law enforcement access continues. Criminal justice agencies retain access to sealed records for law enforcement purposes.
• Statutory background checks still get the information. Under § 12-60.1-04(8), a sealing order must direct release of the information where an entity has a statutory obligation to conduct a criminal history background check.
• Federal records are unaffected. If the conviction was prosecuted in federal court, the North Dakota sealing order has no effect on federal records.
• Certain licensing boards may still inquire about sealed records for regulated professions; check the rules of the specific licensing authority.

Because the BCI limitation is significant, individuals who are sealed under chapter 12-60.1 may find that commercial background-check services that source from BCI still return results. This is a known gap in the current law.

Disclaimer

The information in this article is provided for general educational purposes about North Dakota criminal record sealing law as of May 29, 2026. Laws change. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed attorney and does not constitute legal advice. Every person's situation is different. Consult a licensed North Dakota attorney before filing any petition to seal a criminal record.

Sources

Official North Dakota government sources used to research this article include the North Dakota Century Code and the North Dakota Court System self-help materials.

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RecordingLaw.com provides legal information, not legal advice. Always consult a licensed North Dakota attorney for guidance specific to your situation.

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