Get AR ACIC Petition to Seal Form 2006-2024

How to File for Sealing. If your offense is eligible for expungement, you may file a petition to seal your records. You must file the petition in the circuit or district court in the county where you committed the crime and in which you were convicted. (Arkansas Statutes § 16-90-1413 (2018).)

If you are eligible, we draft the expungement petition and file it with the appropriate court. How much does it cost? What's the catch? $250 to obtain and analyze your background and case records to determine your eligibility, and $500 for preparation of the petition or $1000 for assistance with pardon preparation.

Those records must be retained for ten years or until you turn 21, whichever is longer, and can then be expunged subject to the court's discretion. (Arkansas Statutes ǧ 9-27-309, 16-90-1405, 16-90-1406, 16-90-1407, 16-90-1410, 16-90-1412, 16-93-303 (2018).)

If your offense is eligible for expungement, you may file a petition to seal your records. You must file the petition in the circuit or district court in the county where you committed the crime and in which you were convicted. (Arkansas Statutes § 16-90-1413 (2018).)

Most misdemeanors are eligible for expungement 60 days after the completion of the punishment or sentence.

For the most part, private employers, landlords and others who perform a background check on you will not find your expunged records. After your record is expunged, in most states you are legally permitted to answer "no" when asked about criminal records on employment or rental applications.

When a court expunges a conviction or trial record, the case files are sealed off from public access, and the convicted party or defendant does not have to disclose the case when asked about their criminal history. Sealed cases are not eligible for disclosure in most pre-employment background checks.

Sealed records are technically still there, but they are no longer part of the public record and can only be accessed and reviewed by way of a formal court order. ... Expunged and sealed records can sometimes show up on criminal background checks.

In most cases, the answer to this question is yes. Misdemeanors are considered a part of any criminal record. Therefore, if an employer runs a criminal background check on you and your record includes a misdemeanor offense, that offense is likely to show up on the check.

Commentary. An expunged record in many states does legally allow you to leave the box blank when a job application asks if you have ever been convicted of a crime. But some applications like many for law school or the legal bar will ask about former run-ins with the law, even if they are sealed or tossed out.

No, we do not report arrest records. ... But employers in this state cannot ask about arrests. But if the arrest resulted in a conviction, or if the applicant is pending trial, that information could show up in our background check reports.

In Arkansas, most juvenile records are automatically sealed. The primary exception is for delinquency adjudications in which the juvenile could have been tried as an adult.

A sealed juvenile record may be viewed only by prosecutors or court clerks. Generally, sealed juvenile records are treated as though they never existed. You are not required to disclose information about your sealed juvenile record to anyone -- for instance, to colleges or potential employers.

At least 15 states Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Montana, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia have laws that automatically seal or expunge juvenile records in certain circumstances.

Having a juvenile record is serious. But, unlike an adult criminal record, it can be expunged either destroyed or sealed when you reach a certain age.Your juvenile record is not automatically expunged once you turn 18.You can take steps to have this done by contacting your probation office.