Can You Expunge a Felony in Florida? Eligibility, Process, and Costs

You can expunge a felony in Florida only if the case ended without a conviction, you have no felony convictions anywhere else in your history, and you have never previously had a Florida record sealed or expunged.¹ A guilty verdict or guilty plea that resulted in adjudication permanently closes the door on expungement for that charge. If the judge withheld adjudication after a plea, expungement is still possible eventually, but only after sealing the record first and waiting ten years.²

Which Case Outcomes Actually Qualify

The outcome of your case decides everything. Three basic scenarios cover most felony arrests in Florida.

If the charges were dismissed, the state dropped the case through a nolle prosequi, you were acquitted at trial, or formal charges were never filed after the arrest, you can petition for expungement directly under Section 943.0585.¹ These are the cleanest cases.

If you pleaded guilty or no contest but the judge withheld adjudication, you were not formally convicted. You cannot expunge that record right away, but you can seal it under Section 943.059.² After the record has been sealed for at least ten years and you’ve stayed out of trouble, you become eligible to convert the sealed record into an expunged one.¹

If you were adjudicated guilty of the felony, expungement is not available. That’s a hard stop under Florida law, and no waiting period or clean record afterward will change it.

The difference between sealing and expungement matters beyond eligibility. A sealed record is hidden from the public but remains fully accessible to certain government agencies. An expunged record is physically destroyed by every agency that holds it except FDLE, which keeps a confidential copy accessible only by court order.¹ After expungement, most government queries to FDLE return only a notice that a record was expunged, with no access to the underlying details.³

The Disqualifiers That Catch People Off Guard

Even when the case you want expunged ended without a conviction, other things in your record can block you. Every requirement below must be met independently. Missing any one of them ends the petition.

No adjudication of guilt on the arrest you want expunged.¹
No felony conviction, ever, anywhere in your history. A single prior felony adjudication in Florida or another state disqualifies you from expunging any record, including an unrelated one that was dismissed.¹
No conviction for certain misdemeanors, including assault, battery, carrying a concealed weapon, indecent exposure, arson, petit theft, child neglect, and animal cruelty.¹
No prior sealing or expungement in Florida. The state allows one court-ordered sealing or expungement per lifetime. The only exception is converting a record you already sealed into an expunged one after ten years.¹
All court supervision must be complete. Probation, community service, and any other court-ordered obligations tied to the arrest must be finished before you file.¹
The offense itself must not be on the barred list. Section 943.0584 permanently excludes certain offenses from both sealing and expungement regardless of the outcome, including violent crimes such as murder and sexual battery.

The one-per-lifetime rule is the one people underestimate. If you have two dismissed felony arrests and clear the less serious one first, you have permanently used up your ability to clear the other. Deciding which record to pursue is a strategic call worth thinking through before filing anything.

How the Filing Process Works

Expungement in Florida is a two-stage process. You cannot skip either stage, and the first one takes longer than most people expect.

Getting the Certificate of Eligibility

Before a court will look at your petition, FDLE must certify that you meet the statutory requirements. The application package includes:

A fingerprint card taken by a law enforcement officer or criminal justice agency.⁴
A certified copy of the case disposition from the clerk of court in the county where the charges originated.⁴
A certified statement from the state attorney or statewide prosecutor confirming the outcome.⁴
A $75 nonrefundable processing fee, payable by money order, cashier’s check, or personal check to FDLE.⁴

If your case ended through a pretrial intervention or diversion program, add the completion certificate or a letter confirming successful completion.⁴ FDLE processing currently runs more than twelve weeks. Once issued, the certificate is valid for twelve months.² Miss that filing window and you start over, fee included.

Filing the Court Petition

With the certificate in hand, you file a petition for expungement in the circuit court where the arrest occurred. The petition must include the Certificate of Eligibility and a sworn affidavit stating you have never been adjudicated guilty of a criminal offense and have not previously had a record sealed or expunged. County filing fees typically run $40 to $50.⁵ A judge then reviews the petition and issues an order granting or denying it. The state attorney may object, though objections are not automatic. A granted order directs every agency and court holding the record to destroy it.

What Expungement Costs

Two fees are unavoidable: the $75 FDLE processing fee and the county court filing fee.⁴ If you hire an attorney, that fee will be the largest cost by a wide margin. The process is technically possible without a lawyer, but the documentation is exacting and the one-shot-per-lifetime rule makes mistakes costly. A denied petition can also burn through the twelve-month validity of your Certificate of Eligibility, forcing a full restart and a second FDLE fee.

What Expungement Doesn’t Do

An expunged record gives you the right to legally deny the arrest ever happened in most situations, including standard job and housing applications.¹ Florida law lists specific situations where that right does not apply, and you must disclose the expunged record if directly asked:

Applying for employment with a criminal justice agency, including police departments and state attorneys’ offices.
Applying for admission to The Florida Bar.
Applying for work with the Department of Children and Families, Agency for Health Care Administration, Department of Health, Department of Elderly Affairs, or Department of Juvenile Justice, along with contractors and licensees of those agencies working directly with children, the disabled, or the elderly.
Applying for employment with the Department of Education, public or private schools, charter schools, or child care licensing entities.
Applying for a license through the Division of Insurance Agent and Agency Services.
Seeking court appointment as a guardian.
Being a defendant in a new criminal prosecution, where the court retains access to the expunged record.¹

Denying an expunged arrest in one of these settings is itself a crime. The list is narrow, but within it the duty is absolute.

Voting and Firearm Rights Are Separate

Expungement clears a record; it does not restore civil rights lost to a conviction. If your goal is to vote or to possess a firearm again, expungement is not the right tool, and in most cases it isn’t even available to you (a conviction blocks expungement in the first place).

Voting rights for most Florida felony convictions are restored automatically under Amendment 4 once you complete all terms of your sentence, including prison, probation, parole, and all court-ordered fines, fees, and restitution.⁶ No clemency application is needed.⁷ Murder and felony sexual offenses are excluded from automatic restoration and require action by the Board of Executive Clemency.⁸

Firearm rights are harder. Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing firearms or ammunition.⁹ A Florida expungement does not override that federal bar. Restoring firearm rights requires a separate application to the Board of Executive Clemency.⁷

1
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 943.0585 – Court-Ordered Expunction of Criminal History Records
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 943.059 – Court-Ordered Sealing of Criminal History Records
3
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Frequently Asked Questions
4
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Applying for a Certificate of Eligibility for Court-Ordered Sealing or Expungement
5
Office of Miami-Dade State Attorney. The Court Process
6
Florida Division of Elections. Felon Voting Rights
7
Florida Commission on Offender Review. Apply for Restoration of Civil Rights, Pardon, Firearm Authority and Other Forms of Clemency
8
Florida Commission on Offender Review. Clemency
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts