Expungements

I ran into an old friend last night who had a lot of questions about expunging a criminal charge he got back in college. In an ever-competitive job market, my friend and many others are attempting to make themselves look as attractive as possible to prospective employers and are worried how past criminal records may reduce their chances. Here is brief run down of how expungements work in Florida and who is eligible to expunge:

First and foremost you can only expunge once in your lifetime so make sure you stay out of trouble; also, once a record is expunged and sealed it is a difficult process to unseal that record. Additionally, you cannot have been adjudicated guilty; adjudication must have been withheld. If you meet the above requirements the State Attorney’s Office will then have to sign off on the petition to expunge. The procedure can definitely be confusing and a tad convoluted; however, an expungement may make the difference between you and another job candidate. If you are thinking about expunging a past record give me a call and I can help navigate you through the process.