Sealing a criminal record in Colorado hides most cases from public background checks used by employers and landlords. Some records seal automatically after an acquittal, dismissal, or completed diversion; others require filing a petition and waiting one to five years after the case ends. Colorado record sealing does not reach the most serious offenses — Class 1, 2, and 3 felonies, DUI and DWAI, domestic violence, sex offenses, crimes of violence, and child abuse convictions stay public permanently.
What Can and Cannot Be Sealed
Two broad categories qualify. First, cases that never produced a conviction: acquittals, full dismissals, completed diversion agreements, and completed deferred judgments where the charges were ultimately dropped.1Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – July 2024 Second, certain convictions: petty offenses, drug petty offenses, Class 2 and Class 3 misdemeanors, drug misdemeanors, Class 1 misdemeanors, Class 4 through Class 6 felonies, and Level 2 through Level 4 drug felonies.2Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-706 – Sealing of Criminal Conviction Records Municipal convictions qualify under a separate provision.3Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – April 2025
Colorado law permanently excludes several categories from sealing:
- Class 1, 2, or 3 felonies and Level 1 drug felonies.2Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-706 – Sealing of Criminal Conviction Records
- DUI and DWAI convictions.
- Any conviction where the underlying facts involved domestic violence as defined in Colorado law.
- Convictions involving unlawful sexual behavior or sexual offenses.
- Offenses sentenced under Colorado’s crime-of-violence provisions.
- Child abuse convictions.
- Misdemeanor traffic offenses and traffic infractions, which are handled through a separate system.
If your conviction falls into any of these categories, the sealing process is closed to you regardless of how much time has passed or how clean your record has been since.
Records That Seal Automatically
Since August 10, 2022, Colorado courts must seal certain records without any petition or filing fee. You qualify for automatic sealing if your case ended in an acquittal on all charges, a full dismissal of every charge, a completed diversion agreement, or a completed deferred judgment where the charges were dismissed.1Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – July 2024
There is an important limit. If your case was dismissed as part of a plea deal in a different case, the dismissed case cannot be sealed until the conviction case itself becomes eligible for sealing. Automatic sealing also does not apply to traffic misdemeanors or infractions, deferred judgments involving sexual behavior, or offenses covered by the Victim Rights Act, which require a hearing first.
First-time underage alcohol or marijuana convictions committed after July 1, 2014, also seal automatically once the person completes court-ordered substance abuse education.1Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – July 2024
If a record should have sealed automatically but didn’t, you can file a motion in the original case at no cost. There is no filing fee for this type of motion.
Waiting Periods for Convictions
For conviction records that require a petition, the clock starts on whichever date is later: the final disposition of all proceedings, or your release from probation, parole, or any other court-ordered supervision. Waiting periods run from one to five years depending on the offense:
- One year for petty offenses and drug petty offenses.2Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-706 – Sealing of Criminal Conviction Records
- Two years for Class 2 and Class 3 misdemeanors, drug misdemeanors, and certain Level 4 drug felony possession convictions.
- Three years for Class 1 misdemeanors, Class 4 through Class 6 felonies, Level 3 and Level 4 drug felonies (except the possession offenses covered by the two-year tier), and municipal convictions.3Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – April 2025
- Five years for all other eligible offenses.
Non-conviction records have no waiting period. If the automatic process hasn’t triggered, you can move to seal immediately after the acquittal or dismissal.
How to File a Petition
The forms depend on what you’re sealing, and using the wrong ones is one of the most common reasons petitions get rejected.
For a conviction, you need JDF 612 (Petition to Seal Criminal Conviction Records) and JDF 613 (Order to Seal Criminal Conviction Records).4Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 611 – Guide to Sealing Conviction Records For an arrest where charges were never filed, use JDF 417 and the matching order JDF 418.5Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 417 – Petition to Seal Arrest and Criminal Records When No Charges Filed Current forms are available from the Colorado Judicial Branch.
Before filling anything out, pull your own criminal history through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Criminal History Check System. The CBI recommends this so you have accurate case numbers, charges, and dispositions when completing the petition. Results are available online immediately, with a per-result fee payable by card.6Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Court Order Sealing of Arrests
File the completed petition and proposed order with the clerk of court in the county where the original case was handled. As of July 1, 2025, the filing fee for a conviction sealing petition is $65.7Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – August 2025 If you can’t afford it, file a Motion to Waive Fees (JDF 205) with a financial affidavit. Enrollment in programs like SSI, SNAP, or TANF automatically qualifies you as indigent for fee-waiver purposes.8Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 205 – Motion to Waive Fees
Life After a Sealing Order
Once the judge signs the order, the clerk sends copies to the CBI and any other agencies listed in the order, which must then update their databases.4Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 611 – Guide to Sealing Conviction Records From that point, any public inquiry about the sealed record must receive the answer: “No such record exists with respect to such person.”1Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – July 2024
Practically, this means you can answer “no” when an employer or landlord asks about your criminal history. The record won’t appear on standard commercial background checks. That is where most of the value lies.
Sealing does not vacate the conviction. Law enforcement, courts, prosecutors, and any government agency legally required to run criminal background checks keep full access to sealed records.9Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-703 – Sealing of Criminal Justice Records And a new conviction after sealing will unseal the previously sealed record. Staying clean after sealing is essential.
Where Sealing Doesn’t Reach
Federal agencies operate under their own rules and often don’t recognize state-level sealing. Three areas trip people up.
Immigration. USCIS requires applicants for naturalization and certain visas to disclose their complete criminal history, including sealed and expunged records. Officers are trained to uncover criminal or questionable activity “regardless of whether that information eventually proves to be material” to the good moral character determination.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Manual Volume 12 Part F Chapter 3 – Evidence and the Record Failing to disclose a sealed record can produce a denial for dishonesty, often worse than the underlying offense. If you’re pursuing any immigration benefit, treat the sealed record as if it still exists and consult an immigration attorney before filing.
Firearms. Federal firearms law states that a conviction that has been “expunged, or set aside or for which a person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored shall not be considered a conviction” for federal firearms purposes, unless the expungement expressly bars the person from possessing firearms.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 921 – Definitions Whether Colorado sealing qualifies as “expungement” or “set aside” for federal purposes is fact-specific. If your sealed conviction was a felony or a misdemeanor domestic violence offense, do not assume your firearm rights have been restored without a definitive legal opinion.
Security clearances and federal jobs. Standard federal employment background checks generally will not surface a sealed record. But security clearance forms like the SF-86 ask about your full criminal history and expect candid answers regardless of sealing.
Fixing Sealed Records That Still Show Up
Even after the court seals a record, commercial background check reports sometimes still show it. Private screening companies pull from many databases and not all of them update quickly. Federal law gives you a remedy.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau interprets the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit background screening companies from including sealed or expunged records in their reports. These companies must follow reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy, and reporting a sealed record fails that standard.12Federal Register. Fair Credit Reporting – Background Screening They are expected to cross-check their data against updated sources and remove records that courts have restricted.
If a screening company reports your sealed record to an employer or landlord, dispute the report directly with the company and demand correction. If they fail to fix it, available remedies under the FCRA include actual damages for lost job or housing opportunities, statutory damages, punitive damages for willful violations, and attorney fees. Keep a copy of your signed sealing order handy; it makes disputes move much faster.
People-search sites and data brokers often retain old arrest and court records even after sealing, and many are not covered by the FCRA. Removing your information usually means submitting an opt-out request to each site individually. Tedious, but worth doing, since informal Google searches often run alongside formal background checks.