You can expunge a family violence charge in Texas only if the case ended in acquittal, a qualifying dismissal without court-ordered supervision, or a pardon. If you pleaded guilty or no contest and took deferred adjudication, expunction is blocked for anything above a Class C misdemeanor, and the backup remedy — an order of nondisclosure — is off-limits for family violence offenses entirely. A final conviction closes both doors for good. What you can do depends entirely on how your case ended.
When Expunction Is Available
Expunction is the strongest remedy Texas offers. It destroys records of the arrest and charge across every government agency and private entity that holds them, and once granted you can legally deny the arrest ever occurred.1Supreme Court of Texas. Ex Parte R.P.G.P. The eligibility rules are correspondingly strict. You qualify for expunction of a family violence charge in three situations:
- A judge or jury acquitted you at trial.
- You were convicted but later received a formal pardon from the governor or president.
- The prosecutor dropped the charge or a court dismissed it, and you were never placed on any form of court-ordered community supervision for that offense.2State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.01 – Right to Expunction
The third category is where most expunction-eligible family violence cases land. A prosecutor might dismiss because the complaining witness recanted, because the evidence was thin, or because the charge was filed on false information. What matters is that the case did not end in a conviction and you were not placed on court-supervised probation as part of the resolution.
One narrow exception involves pretrial diversion, sometimes called pretrial intervention. Some Texas counties run domestic violence-specific tracks. Completing such a program followed by a dismissal can open the door to expunction even though the program involved some supervision, though waiting periods and terms vary by county.
How Long You Have to Wait Before Filing
Qualifying does not mean filing immediately. Texas requires the statute of limitations to expire on every offense that arose from the arrest before you can petition, because prosecutors keep the right to refile until then.2State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.01 – Right to Expunction
For a misdemeanor family violence assault, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of the offense.3State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art 12.02 – Misdemeanors Assault against a family member charged as a felony carries a five-year limitations period.4State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.01 – Felonies
Here is the wrinkle that catches people off guard: the limitations clock pauses while charges are pending. If you were arrested, then had the charge dismissed a year later, that year does not count. The clock only runs during periods when no charge is active, and that gap can add months or years to your timeline.
Shorter waits apply when you were arrested but never formally charged: 180 days for a Class C misdemeanor, one year for a Class A or B misdemeanor, and three years for a felony.
Why Deferred Adjudication Blocks Expunction
This is where most people’s hopes for a clean record collapse, and it is the single most misunderstood part of Texas expunction law. Deferred adjudication is a plea deal. You plead guilty or no contest, the judge withholds a formal finding of guilt, and you serve a probationary period with conditions like counseling, community service, or anger management classes. Complete everything, and the judge dismisses the case.
That dismissal feels like a win. It is not, at least for record-clearing. Because you entered a plea and were placed on court-ordered community supervision, the expunction statute bars you. The law requires “no court-ordered community supervision” for the offense, and deferred adjudication is exactly that.2State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.01 – Right to Expunction
For most other offenses resolved this way, Texas offers a fallback: an order of nondisclosure, which seals the record from public view without destroying it. Family violence offenses are specifically excluded. If your offense involved family violence or the judge made an affirmative finding of family violence in your case, you cannot get an order of nondisclosure regardless of how long ago the case was resolved or how successfully you completed supervision.5State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOV’T 411.074 – Required Conditions for Receiving an Order of Nondisclosure
The result is harsh. Someone who took a deferred adjudication plea on a family violence charge has no path to remove or hide that record from public view. The arrest, the charge, and the plea all remain visible on background checks indefinitely. Many people accept deferred adjudication expecting the eventual dismissal to clean their record, and that misunderstanding can follow them for decades.
The Class C Misdemeanor Carve-Out
There is one narrow exception. The expunction statute’s ban on cases involving court-ordered community supervision does not apply to Class C misdemeanors. If your family violence charge was a Class C — the least serious misdemeanor category, typically punishable only by a fine — you may still be eligible for expunction after completing deferred adjudication.2State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.01 – Right to Expunction Most family violence assault charges are filed as Class A misdemeanors or higher, so this exception is narrow, but it occasionally applies.
A Family Violence Conviction Is Permanent
A final conviction is the worst outcome for record-clearing. Conviction happens when a judge or jury finds you guilty and imposes a sentence, or when you plead guilty or no contest and the court enters a judgment of guilt instead of deferring it. There is no dismissal at the end.
A family violence conviction in Texas cannot be expunged and cannot be sealed through nondisclosure. The nondisclosure statute disqualifies anyone ever convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for an offense involving family violence.5State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOV’T 411.074 – Required Conditions for Receiving an Order of Nondisclosure That “ever” does heavy lifting. A family violence conviction from 20 years ago can block nondisclosure on a completely unrelated offense today.
The only route to clear a family violence conviction is a pardon, which the governor grants rarely and only after extensive review. For practical purposes, a family violence conviction is permanent.
What Filing Costs
If you qualify, filing involves court costs and, usually, attorney fees. Texas courts charge a filing fee of at least $100 for expunction petitions, on top of any other required court costs.6Texas Judicial Branch. Justice Court Civil Filing Fees District court fees, which apply to most felony and higher misdemeanor expunctions, run higher. If you were acquitted and file within 30 days of the acquittal, the filing fee must be waived.
Attorney fees for a Texas expunction generally run from roughly $1,000 to $3,000 for a straightforward petition, and contested hearings push that higher. You can file without an attorney, but the petition has to meet specific statutory requirements and must be served on every agency that holds records of the arrest. Errors in the petition or service can lead to denial or an incomplete expunction that leaves records scattered across databases.
For those who qualify, the investment is almost always worth it. Expunction is the only remedy that erases the record rather than restricting access. Confirm your eligibility before you spend the money, because courts will deny petitions that fail the statutory tests, and the filing fee is not refunded.
Consequences a State Expunction Does Not Fix
Two consequences of a family violence conviction sit outside state record-clearing and are worth flagging for anyone weighing a plea. Federal law permanently bars anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing, shipping, or receiving firearms or ammunition, and a state-level expunction does not automatically lift that federal ban if the conviction remains recognizable to federal authorities.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
For non-citizens, federal immigration law makes any non-citizen convicted of a crime of domestic violence deportable, regardless of status or length of residence, and the definition is broad enough to cover most Texas family violence assault charges.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens Any plea decision in that situation should involve an immigration attorney alongside criminal defense counsel.