Texas Expunction and Record Sealing Laws (2026 Guide)

Texas offers two distinct tools for clearing a criminal record: expunction, which destroys arrest and court records entirely, and an order of nondisclosure, which seals records from public view while allowing law enforcement to retain access. Choosing the right remedy depends on the type of charge, its outcome, and the statute governing that outcome.

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

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Texas state law only. For a comparison across all states, see Expungement Laws by State.

Expunction vs. Nondisclosure: Two Separate Remedies

Texas law provides two fundamentally different ways to address a criminal record, and the distinction matters. An expunction under Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A results in the complete destruction of records held by every listed agency, including the arresting agency, the prosecutor's office, the court clerk, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Once an expunction order is executed, the person may legally deny that the underlying arrest ever occurred.

An order of nondisclosure under Government Code Chapter 411, Subchapter E-1, does not destroy records. Instead, it prohibits criminal justice agencies from disclosing the covered information to the public. Law enforcement agencies, courts, prosecutors, certain professional licensing boards, and state agencies involved in public safety retain the right to view sealed records. The practical benefit of nondisclosure is that the offense will not appear on most employer or landlord background checks.

The two remedies are not interchangeable. Expunction is built around arrests that did not end in a final conviction and where no court-ordered community supervision was imposed (except for Class C misdemeanors), with narrow statutory exceptions for pardons and for certain former handgun-carrying convictions described below. Nondisclosure applies primarily to cases where deferred adjudication was completed or, in limited circumstances, where a misdemeanor conviction resulted in probation or a fine only.

Who Qualifies for Expunction in Texas

Chapter 55A organizes expunction eligibility into three tracks: mandatory expunction for the special circumstances listed in Subchapter A, mandatory expunction under Subchapter B for arrests that did not lead to a final conviction, and discretionary expunction under Subchapter C.

Under Subchapter B (Article 55A.051 et seq.), a person qualifies for mandatory expunction when they have been released from custody, the charge (if any) has not resulted in a final conviction and is no longer pending, and no court-ordered community supervision was imposed under Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 42A (other than for a Class C misdemeanor). Because Article 55A.051(3) carves out Class C misdemeanors from that community-supervision bar, a person who completed deferred adjudication for a Class C misdemeanor can still reach this subchapter.

Subchapter A lists separate entitlements that do not depend on the arrest ending without a conviction. Article 55A.002 entitles a person who was tried and acquitted by the trial court, except as limited by Article 55A.151. Article 55A.003 entitles a person who was tried and convicted and then pardoned or otherwise granted relief on the basis of actual innocence, where the pardon or court order states that basis on its face. Article 55A.004 entitles a person who was tried and convicted and then pardoned for a reason other than actual innocence. Article 55A.005 entitles a person convicted of an offense committed before September 1, 2021 under former Penal Code Section 46.02(a), unlawful carrying of a handgun. Article 55A.006 covers a person whose identifying information appears in arrest records only because of a clerical error, or because another arrested person falsely gave that information without consent.

Expunction after an appellate acquittal is discretionary, not an entitlement. Article 55A.101 sits in Subchapter C, titled Discretionary Expunction, and provides that a district court, justice court, or municipal court of record may expunge records where the person was tried, convicted, and then acquitted by the Court of Criminal Appeals (or by a court of appeals, once the period for granting a petition for discretionary review has expired), except as provided by Article 55A.151 and subject to Subsection (b). A justice court or municipal court of record may act under that article only for an offense punishable by fine only. The same article also allows a court to expunge when the prosecuting attorney's office recommends expunction before the person is tried.

Under Article 55A.201, at the request of the acquitted person and after notice to the state, the court must enter an expunction order not later than the 30th day after the date of acquittal. The acquitted person must provide the court with the information required in a petition for expunction; the court is required to advise the acquitted person of this right at the time of the verdict.

Waiting Periods for Petition-Based Expunction

Chapter 55A treats an arrest that never produced a charge differently from a charge that was filed and later dropped, and only the first route runs on a clock.

No charge ever presented (Article 55A.052). This article applies when no indictment or information charging the misdemeanor, or charging any felony arising out of the same transaction, has been presented against the person at any time following the arrest. The waiting periods run from the date of arrest:

• Class C misdemeanor arrests: 180 days, provided no felony charge arose from the same transaction
• Class A or Class B misdemeanor arrests: one year, provided no felony charge arose from the same transaction
• Felony arrests, or misdemeanor arrests where a felony charge also arose from the same transaction: three years

The attorney representing the state may instead certify that the applicable arrest records and files are not needed for use in any criminal investigation or prosecution, which allows a court to grant expunction without waiting out those periods under Article 55A.052(a)(4).

Charge presented and then dismissed or quashed (Article 55A.053). A charge that was actually filed and later dismissed or quashed is governed by a different article, and this is where readers most often misjudge their position. There is no time-based waiting period on this route, but there is a narrower test: the court must find that the indictment or information was dismissed or quashed because the person completed a veterans treatment court program under Chapter 124 of the Government Code, completed a mental health court program under Chapter 125, completed a pretrial intervention program authorized under Section 76.011 of the Government Code, the charge was presented because of mistake, false information, or another similar reason indicating absence of probable cause at the time of the dismissal, or the indictment or information was void. The veterans court and mental health court grounds are each available only once, and only with an affidavit attesting that the person has not previously received an expunction on that ground.

That means a dismissal alone is not enough. If an ordinary dismissal does not rest on one of the grounds listed in Article 55A.053, waiting longer does not create eligibility, and the arrest may have no expunction route under this subchapter at all. A separate provision, Article 55A.054, does entitle a person to expunction when prosecution is no longer possible because the limitations period has expired.

Convictions. A final conviction generally cannot be expunged, but the exceptions are broader than actual innocence. Article 55A.003 reaches a person who was tried and convicted and then pardoned or otherwise granted relief on the basis of actual innocence, and that relief is not limited to the Court of Criminal Appeals; what the statute requires is that the pardon or court order state the actual-innocence basis on its face. Article 55A.004 reaches a person who was tried and convicted and then pardoned for a reason other than actual innocence, so an ordinary gubernatorial pardon also creates an entitlement. Article 55A.005 reaches a conviction for an offense committed before September 1, 2021 under former Penal Code Section 46.02(a), unlawful carrying of a handgun.

Orders of Nondisclosure: Eligibility and Waiting Periods

Government Code Chapter 411, Subchapter E-1 contains multiple pathways for nondisclosure, each with its own eligibility rules and waiting periods.

Automatic nondisclosure for qualifying nonviolent misdemeanors (Section 411.072): When a person completes deferred adjudication for a qualifying nonviolent misdemeanor and the case is discharged and dismissed on or after September 1, 2017, the court must issue a nondisclosure order at the time of discharge, provided at least 180 days have passed since the person was placed on deferred adjudication and the person has no prior convictions or deferred adjudications other than fine-only traffic offenses. This is automatic; no separate petition is required.

Petition-based nondisclosure after deferred adjudication (Section 411.0725): For felonies and misdemeanors that do not qualify under Section 411.072, a person who completed deferred adjudication may petition the sentencing court. Waiting periods after discharge and dismissal are: no waiting period for most misdemeanors not covered by the violent-offense chapters; two years for misdemeanors under Penal Code Chapters 20, 21, 22, 25, 42, 43, or 46; and five years for felonies.

Nondisclosure after DWI deferred adjudication (Section 411.0726): A separate provision covers DWI deferred adjudication cases, with specific eligibility requirements including a first-offense limitation and restrictions on prior criminal history.

Nondisclosure after DWI conviction with probation (Section 411.0731): A person convicted of DWI under Penal Code Section 49.04 who completed community supervision may petition for nondisclosure, provided the person has never been previously convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for another offense other than a traffic offense punishable by fine only. The waiting period is two years from completion of community supervision if the person successfully complied with a condition of supervision that, for a period of not less than six months, restricted the person's operation of a motor vehicle to a vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock device. It is five years if the court did not order that condition for that period. Actual compliance with the interlock condition, not merely its imposition, is what shortens the wait. The section does not apply to an offense punishable under Penal Code Section 49.04(d), which covers a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more, and the court may not issue the order if the state presents sufficient evidence that the offense resulted in a motor vehicle collision involving another person.

Nondisclosure after misdemeanor conviction with probation (Section 411.073): Persons who received a misdemeanor conviction and completed community supervision (straight probation, not deferred) may petition for nondisclosure. Section 411.073(b)(2) adds a prerequisite that disqualifies many petitioners before any waiting period matters: the person must never have been previously convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for another offense other than a traffic offense punishable by fine only. The section also does not reach convictions under Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 106.041, Penal Code Sections 49.04, 49.05, 49.06, or 49.065, or Penal Code Chapter 71. For a person who clears those bars, most misdemeanors have no waiting period beyond completion of supervision; offenses under Penal Code Chapters 20, 21, 22, 25, 42, 43, or 46 carry a two-year waiting period.

Nondisclosure after misdemeanor conviction without probation (Section 411.0735): A person convicted of a qualifying misdemeanor who served a fine or jail sentence without probation may petition. The same no-prior-record prerequisite applies: Section 411.0735(b)(2) requires that the person has never been previously convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for another offense other than a traffic offense punishable by fine only. Section 411.0735(c-1) separately forbids the order where the court determines that the offense, other than an offense under Penal Code Section 22.01, was violent or sexual in nature. A misdemeanor conviction punishable by fine only may be petitioned upon completion of the sentence. All other qualifying misdemeanor convictions carry a two-year waiting period after sentence completion. The court applies a best-interest-of-justice standard before granting relief.

Offenses Permanently Barred from Nondisclosure

Government Code Section 411.074 lists offenses that can never receive an order of nondisclosure, regardless of case outcome or waiting period. A person is ineligible if they have ever been convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for any of the following:

• Murder (Penal Code Section 19.02) or capital murder (Section 19.03)
• Aggravated kidnapping (Section 20.04)
• Trafficking of persons (Sections 20A.02, 20A.03)
• Any offense involving family violence as defined by the Family Code
• Injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual (Section 22.04)
• Abandoning or endangering a child (Section 22.041)
• Violations of protective orders in family violence cases (Sections 25.07, 25.072)
• Stalking (Section 42.072)
• Any offense requiring sex offender registration

How to File a Petition in Texas

For expunction, a person files a verified petition in the district court of the county where the arrest occurred or where the offense was alleged to have occurred. If the arrest was for an offense punishable only by fine, the petition may alternatively be filed in a justice court or a municipal court of record. The petition must include the petitioner's identifying information, the date and county of arrest, the offense charged, the case disposition, and a list of every agency or entity that may hold records related to the arrest.

After the petition is filed, the court schedules a hearing no earlier than 30 days after filing. The clerk serves a copy of the petition and hearing notice on each listed agency, by certified mail or by electronic transmission under the procedures effective September 1, 2025 (SB 1667, 89th Legislature). Any listed agency may appear at the hearing and contest the petition. Court filing fees range from approximately $100 to $450 depending on the county.

For nondisclosure, the petition is filed in the court that originally handled the case. The procedural requirements mirror those for expunction: verified petition, service on relevant agencies, and a hearing at which the state has the opportunity to be heard. Under Section 411.0725, the court applies a best-interest-of-justice standard. Under the automatic provisions of Section 411.072, the court issues the order without a separate petition as part of the discharge proceeding.

After an expunction order issues, each named agency must return or destroy the relevant records within the timeline set by the court. After a nondisclosure order issues, criminal justice agencies must withhold the covered information from public release. Petitioners should request a fresh background report 60 to 90 days after the order to verify that agencies have complied.

Legal information notice: This article provides general legal information about Texas expunction and nondisclosure laws. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Texas expunction and nondisclosure eligibility depends on individual facts, prior criminal history, and the specific charges at issue. Statutes were verified as of May 29, 2026. Consult a licensed Texas attorney for advice about your specific situation.

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Last updated: May 29, 2026. Statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of May 29, 2026.

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