Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Arizona

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Arizona separates set-aside from sealing. Under § 13-905(D), a granted set-aside sets aside the judgment of guilt, dismisses the charging document, and releases the person from most conviction-based penalties and disabilities. The record itself remains. Section 13-905(F) requires an annotation and expressly forbids the Department of Public Safety from redacting or removing any part of it.

Section 13-911 instead seals arrest, conviction, and sentencing case records. The person may usually state that the arrest, charge, or conviction never occurred, including on employment, housing, financial-aid, and loan applications, subject to the statute's listed disclosure exceptions.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

Neither general route is automatic. Section 13-905(A) says the person may apply for a set-aside after completing probation or sentence and receiving discharge. Section 13-911(A) likewise begins with a petition to seal.

For set-aside, the court weighs the offense, compliance, prior and later convictions, victim input, restitution, elapsed time, age at conviction, and other relevant factors. For sealing, the court shall grant relief only when it finds sealing is in the petitioner's best interests and consistent with public safety.

Convictions eligible by petition

The set-aside statute begins broadly with every conviction after fulfillment of probation or sentence and discharge, then removes the four categories in § 13-905(P).

The sealing statute supplies waiting periods for Class 2 through Class 6 felonies and all three misdemeanor classes. Eligibility still depends on full completion, payment, and the exclusions in § 13-911(O).

Excluded offenses and statuses

Set-aside is unavailable for a dangerous offense, an offense requiring court- ordered registration, an offense with a sexual-motivation finding, or a felony whose victim was under age fifteen.

Sealing has a different exclusion list. It removes dangerous offenses, dangerous crimes against children, serious offenses and violent or aggravated felonies, offenses with a deadly-weapon or serious-physical-injury element, sex trafficking, and Class 2 through Class 5 felonies in the listed sexual- offense and organized-crime chapters.

Waiting period and when it starts

Set-aside has no fixed statutory waiting period after probation or sentence is fulfilled and the court discharges the person. Elapsed time is nevertheless an express factor in the court's discretionary decision.

Sealing measures from completion of the nonmonetary probation or sentence conditions and discharge: ten years for a Class 2 or 3 felony, five years for a Class 4, 5, or 6 felony, three years for a Class 1 misdemeanor, and two years for a Class 2 or 3 misdemeanor. If a person commits a later felony after an earlier sealing, the later felony requires the ordinary period plus five years.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

Set-aside requires fulfillment of probation or sentence and discharge. The court must separately consider compliance, prior and subsequent convictions, victim input, and restitution status.

Sealing requires completion of every sentence term and condition. The waiting clock starts after the nonmonetary terms are complete and the person is discharged, but every fine, fee, monetary obligation, and victim restitution award must also be paid by filing. Section 13-911(N) pauses certain petitions when a pending charge could make the case ineligible or extend the clock.

Petition process and decision standard

A set-aside application may be filed by the person, the person's attorney, or the probation officer, with no filing fee. The state or victim has thirty days to object. The court may hold a hearing after an objection, and a denial must state reasons in writing and on the record.

A sealing petition goes to the court of conviction. The clerk sends it to the prosecutor, and requested-notice victims have a right to notice and to be heard. Ordinarily the court waits sixty days before acting, unless the prosecutor and all noticed victims state no objection. A hearing occurs on request; otherwise the court may decide on the papers.

Who can still see or use the record

A set-aside conviction remains in the criminal-history record with an annotation. It may still be used as an element, prior conviction, or in a later prosecution, and fingerprint-clearance reviewers may consider it.

Sealing restricts public access more substantially, but it is not deletion. The conviction remains usable as an element, historical prior, impeachment, or sentence enhancement. The person and victim retain access, as do courts, prosecutors, law enforcement, probation, corrections, child-safety agencies, and other listed official users. Fingerprint-clearance review also remains.

What trips people up

Set-aside and sealing are not interchangeable. A set-aside changes the judgment and releases many disabilities but leaves the record visible and annotated. Sealing restricts access to the case records under a separate statute and separate clock.

The sealing clock and payment rule use different checkpoints. The years run from completion of nonmonetary terms and discharge, but financial obligations and restitution must still be fully paid when the petition is filed.

Sealed records remain legally usable. The statute preserves later-case use and access for many criminal-justice and regulated-screening purposes.

Common questions

Does a set-aside remove the conviction from the record? No. Section 13-905(F) requires an annotation and says no part of the record may be redacted or removed.

Can a person deny a sealed conviction? Usually yes, including on the listed employment and housing applications, but § 13-911(I)(5) contains important job, fingerprint-card, caregiving, financial, transportation, and legally required disclosure exceptions.

Does set-aside restore firearm rights? Section 13-905(O) restores the state right when the judgment is set aside except for a serious offense. That exception requires a separate firearm-rights analysis.

Statutes and sources

• Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-905 — set-aside eligibility, factors, effect, objections, record annotation, retained uses, firearm rule, and exclusions. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/00905.htm (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-911 — sealing eligibility, class-based clocks, completion and payment rules, process, exclusions, denial rights, retained access, and later-case use. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/00911.htm (accessed 2026-07-19)