Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in California

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

California's general petition statutes do not destroy the conviction. Section 1203.4(a) permits the court to let the defendant withdraw a guilty or no-contest plea, or to set aside a guilty verdict, and then requires the court to dismiss the accusation or information. The statute also says the conviction may still be "pleaded and proved" in a later prosecution with the same effect as if the dismissal had never occurred. Sections 1203.4a, 1203.41, and 1203.42 use the same basic plea-withdrawal or verdict-set-aside plus dismissal structure for their covered sentence categories.

That substantive dismissal now works alongside a court-record nondisclosure rule. Section 1203.425(a)(3) tells courts not to disclose information about covered convictions relieved under §§ 1203.4, 1203.4a, 1203.41, or 1203.42 to anyone except the person or a criminal-justice agency. It is therefore also incorrect to describe the current result as an unchanged public court record.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

Section 1203.425 has been operative since October 1, 2024, subject to an annual Budget Act appropriation. Each month, the Department of Justice must use its electronic records to identify qualifying convictions and grant relief, "including dismissal of a conviction," without a petition or motion when the needed information is present.

The three conviction branches have different clocks:

• A probation case may qualify when the records show probation completed without revocation.
• An infraction or misdemeanor outside the completed-probation branch may qualify after sentence completion and one calendar year from judgment.
• A felony outside the completed-probation branch may qualify after all incarceration and supervision terms are complete and four years have passed after probation or supervision without a new felony conviction. Serious, violent, and registration felonies do not qualify through this branch.

All three branches also require no sex-offender-registration duty, no active local, state, or federal supervision record, no apparent current sentence, and no indicated pending criminal charge. Automatic processing is limited to convictions on or after January 1, 1973.

Convictions eligible by petition

The petition route depends on the disposition and sentence:

• Section 1203.4 covers a defendant who fulfilled probation, received an early discharge, or receives discretionary interest-of-justice relief after the probation period terminates.
• Section 1203.4a covers a nonprobation misdemeanor or an infraction after one year from judgment. Full compliance, no current sentence or charge, and an honest and law-abiding postjudgment record make relief mandatory; if the character conditions are not all met, the court may still grant relief in the interest of justice when the sentence and current-status conditions are met.
• Section 1203.41 covers a felony sentenced under Penal Code § 1170(h) or to state prison. This route is discretionary in the interest of justice.
• Section 1203.42 covers an older pre-realignment felony for which the person would otherwise have been eligible for § 1170(h) sentencing. It is also discretionary.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The exclusions are route-specific rather than one universal list. Section 1203.4(b) lists specified sex offenses, a specified Vehicle Code misdemeanor, a felony conviction under § 261.5(d), and infractions; point-counted Vehicle Code offenses described in § 12810 receive only discretionary relief under § 1203.4(c). Section 1203.4a separately excludes a specified sex misdemeanor and specified misdemeanor and infraction Vehicle Code offenses. A state-prison felony cannot use § 1203.41 if it required sex-offender registration.

The automatic route has its own filters. No registrant qualifies, and its felony branch outside completed probation also excludes serious felonies, violent felonies, and registration felonies. Active supervision, an apparent current sentence, or an indicated pending criminal charge blocks automatic processing across all branches.

Waiting period and when it starts

The starting event matters as much as the number:

• Section 1203.4 looks to termination of probation; it does not add a separate multi-year waiting period after probation ends.
• Section 1203.4a counts one year from pronouncement of judgment.
• Section 1203.41 counts one year from completion of a split county-jail sentence that included mandatory supervision, but two years from completion of a straight county-jail or state-prison sentence.
• Section 1203.42 counts two years from completion of the sentence.
• Section 1203.425's automatic felony branch counts four years from completion of probation or supervision and requires that same period to be free of a new felony conviction.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

Sections 1203.4, 1203.4a, 1203.41, and 1203.42 each screen for a current sentence, supervision status, or pending charge in terms fitted to that route. The statutes also prevent unpaid restitution from becoming a substitute eligibility bar: §§ 1203.4(c), 1203.4a(e), 1203.41(d), and 1203.42(c) each say an unfulfilled restitution order or restitution fine is not grounds to deny the petition.

Automatic relief instead depends on what DOJ's electronic records show. The records must show no active supervision, no apparent current sentence, and no indicated pending charge. The automatic felony branch adds a four-year period without a new felony conviction.

Petition process and decision standard

Under § 1203.4, a person who fulfilled probation or received an early discharge and meets the current-status conditions receives mandatory relief; the statute also gives the court an interest-of-justice route in other cases. Section 1203.4a likewise separates mandatory relief when every listed condition is met from discretionary relief when its narrower sentence and status conditions are met. Sections 1203.41 and 1203.42 make the felony routes discretionary in the interest of justice.

The prosecutor must receive 15 days' notice before relief under §§ 1203.4, 1203.41, and 1203.42, and before dismissal of an infraction under § 1203.4a. For automatic relief, the person ordinarily files nothing. The prosecutor or probation department may instead petition up to 90 days before eligibility to block relief. It bears the initial burden to show a substantial threat to public safety; only then does the burden shift to the person to show that the hardship from denial outweighs that threat.

Who can still see or use the record

Section 1203.425(a)(3) makes covered court information nonpublic after relief, with access retained for the person and criminal-justice agencies. The Department of Justice record is marked "relief granted," and the person may request a state summary criminal-history record to confirm the grant.

The conviction does not become invisible for every legal purpose. The statutes preserve later-prosecution use, firearm disabilities, public-office disqualifications, and specified disclosure duties. Section 1203.425 also preserves criminal-justice use and enumerated care-provider background-check authority. The exact exception matters before relying on relief for a license, regulated job, firearm matter, or later criminal case.

What trips people up

Dismissal and nondisclosure are related but distinct. The petition statutes change the plea or verdict and dismiss the charging document. Section 1203.425(a)(3) separately restricts court disclosure for the covered dismissed convictions. Neither operation destroys the historical conviction for every purpose.

The automatic felony exclusion is not the petition-felony exclusion. The automatic felony branch outside completed probation excludes serious and violent felonies. Section 1203.41's state-prison petition branch instead states a registration-felony exclusion and leaves the decision to the court's interest-of-justice discretion. Do not transfer one route's list into the other.

One year can mean two different things. For § 1203.4a, it runs from judgment. For the one-year branch of § 1203.41, it runs from completion of the split sentence. Those dates may be far apart.

Common questions

Does relief restore firearm rights? No. Sections 1203.4, 1203.4a, 1203.41, 1203.42, and 1203.425 each preserve applicable firearm consequences.

Can a dismissed conviction still count in a later criminal case? Yes. The petition statutes and § 1203.425 say the prior may still be pleaded and proved in a later prosecution.

How can someone check whether automatic relief was granted? Section 1203.425(a)(7) permits the person to request a copy of the state summary criminal-history record under §§ 11122–11124 to obtain confirmation.

Statutes and sources

• Cal. Penal Code § 1203.4 — probation-based plea withdrawal or verdict set- aside and dismissal; exclusions, restitution rule, consequences, and notice. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=1203.4. (accessed 2026-08-08)
• Cal. Vehicle Code § 12810 — the point-counted offenses cross-referenced by Penal Code § 1203.4(c). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=12810. (accessed 2026-08-08)
• Cal. Penal Code § 1203.4a — nonprobation misdemeanor and infraction relief, one-year judgment clock, mandatory/discretionary branches, and exclusions. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=1203.4. (accessed 2026-08-08)
• Cal. Penal Code § 1203.41 — § 1170(h) and state-prison felony petition route, one- or two-year completion clock, conditions, consequences, and notice. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=1203.41. (accessed 2026-08-08)
• Cal. Penal Code § 1203.42 — pre-realignment felony route, two-year completion clock, conditions, consequences, restitution rule, and notice. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=1203.42. (accessed 2026-08-08)
• Cal. Penal Code § 1203.425 — automatic eligibility, public-safety objection, DOJ and court-record treatment, retained access and uses, and confirmation. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=1203.425. (accessed 2026-08-08)

Enacted future law

SB 1342 was approved and chaptered as 2026 Cal. Stats. ch. 702 on September 27, 2026. Its § 4 becomes operative October 1, 2029. At that point, it directs the Department of Justice to treat a charge indication as no longer pending after three years without activity and an indeterminate sentence as complete seven years after conviction. It also extends court-record nondisclosure to additional dismissal routes and requires specified confirmation and record treatment. These changes are enacted but not yet operative; the current-law rules above remain the rules to use now.