Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Alabama

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Alabama calls the remedy expungement, but the records are not physically erased. Sections 15-27-7 and 15-27-8 direct record holders to forward covered records to ALEA, which digitally archives them as protected and retains them indefinitely. Section 15-27-10 also lets criminal-justice and specified state agencies maintain investigative files, reports, evidence, and logs.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

There is no general automatic conviction-expungement process. Sections 15-27-1(b) and 15-27-2(c) require the person to file in the criminal division of the circuit court in the county where the charges were filed.

Convictions eligible by petition

Section 15-27-1(b) covers an eligible misdemeanor, violation, traffic, or municipal-ordinance conviction. Since October 1, 2024, it also covers a person adjudged a youthful offender when the underlying charge falls into one of those misdemeanor-level categories.

The general felony route in § 15-27-2(c) requires a Board of Pardons and Paroles certificate of pardon for that conviction restoring civil and political rights. Section 15-27-2(b) separately permits three listed violent convictions when the person proves the offense occurred while the person was trafficked and would not have occurred but for the trafficking.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The main routes exclude violent offenses, sex offenses, offenses involving moral turpitude, and serious traffic offenses. The misdemeanor-level route also limits convictions listed in 49 C.F.R. § 383.51 when the person was operating a commercial vehicle or held the specified commercial credential.

The moral-turpitude provision has a narrow exception for an offense formerly classified as a felony but reclassified as a misdemeanor under Act 2015-185; that exception requires no arrest, other than a minor traffic matter, during the 15 years before filing.

Waiting period and when it starts

The misdemeanor-level route uses three years from the date of conviction. The general felony route instead uses 180 days from issuance of the pardon certificate. A person should not substitute sentence completion for either of those statutory start dates.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

For § 15-27-1(b), all probation or parole requirements must be complete, and the applicable court or agency must evidence payment of all fines, costs, restitution, and other court-ordered amounts. That condition is separate from the three-year clock.

The general felony subsection does not state a separate conviction-free waiting period. It instead requires the pardon, restoration of forfeited civil and political rights, the 180-day wait, and the offense exclusions.

Petition process and decision standard

Section 15-27-4 sets a $500 administrative filing fee in addition to any court or docket fee. One fee covers multiple charges from one arrest; separate arrests require separate fees. A petitioner may submit an Affidavit of Substantial Hardship, and the court waives the filing fee if it finds the person indigent.

If the prosecutor or victim objects, current § 15-27-5 requires a hearing no sooner than 30 days after the objection. Without an objection, the court may still hold a hearing. The court considers the offense, circumstances, age, whether the event was isolated, rehabilitation, probation or parole material, prior expungement, and other relevant matters.

The statute says there is no right to expungement and permits denial in the court's sole discretion, while also directing a grant when the court is reasonably satisfied that the chapter's requirements are met. After the first case is expunged, the number of additional cases remains discretionary within the route-specific limits in § 15-27-2.1.

Who can still see or use the record

The protected archive remains available for specified criminal-justice and prosecutorial investigations. The statutes also preserve defined access or use for the Department of Human Resources to protect children or vulnerable adults, utilities and affiliates, financial-information services under state or federal law, and attorneys and courts in related civil matters. Expungement does not promise disappearance from every government or private database.

Boundaries and alternative relief

This page does not cover Alabama's separate non-conviction routes, juvenile records, innocence-based relief, or the pardon process itself. For the general felony route, the pardon is a statutory prerequisite to a later expungement petition; the pardon alone is not the expungement order described here.

What trips people up

The misdemeanor and felony clocks start at different events. The first is three years from conviction; the second is 180 days from the qualifying pardon certificate.

“Expunged” does not mean destroyed. ALEA keeps the protected archive indefinitely, and specified agencies and proceedings retain access or use.

Youthful-offender coverage is limited by the underlying charge. The 2024 amendment added adjudications based on misdemeanor, violation, traffic, or municipal-ordinance charges; it did not create a general youthful-offender felony route.

Common questions

Does Alabama automatically clear an eligible conviction? No. The person must file a circuit-court petition and establish the applicable requirements.

Can an ordinary felony be expunged without a pardon? Not under the general § 15-27-2(c) route. That subsection requires a pardon certificate restoring civil and political rights, followed by 180 days.

How many conviction expungements are available? Section 15-27-2.1 permits up to two under the misdemeanor-level conviction route and one under the general pardoned-felony route; charges or convictions from the same arrest or incident count as one expungement. The court also has discretion over cases after the first.

Statutes and sources

• Ala. Code § 15-27-1(b)-(d), as amended by 2024 Ala. Act 407, § 1 — misdemeanor-level and youthful-offender eligibility, exclusions, access, and circuit-court forum. https://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L1548608.AI1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Ala. Code § 15-27-2(b)-(d), as amended by 2021 Ala. Act 286, § 2 — trafficking-victim and pardoned-felony routes, exclusions, and access. https://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L0601501.AI1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Ala. Code §§ 15-27-2.1 and 15-27-4 — route limits, same-incident counting, filing fee, and indigency waiver. https://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L0601501.AI1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Ala. Code § 15-27-5, as amended by 2025 Ala. Act 427, § 1 — objections, hearing timing, factors, decision standard, discretion, and review. https://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L1836429.AI1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Ala. Code §§ 15-27-7 to 15-27-10 — protected archiving, indefinite retention, covered record types, and preserved investigative files. https://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L0601501.AI1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-19)