California: Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility

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 2026-07-19)
• 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=1203.4a. (accessed 2026-07-19)
• 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 2026-07-19)
• 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 2026-07-19)
• 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 2026-07-19)

Pending legislation

SB 1342 remains active in the 2025–2026 session. It passed Assembly Public
Safety 6–2 and moved to Assembly Appropriations on June 24, 2026. The bill would
add electronic-record presumptions for a charge with three years of inactivity
and an indeterminate sentence record seven years after conviction, and would
expand court notation, nondisclosure, and confirmation duties. Those proposals
are not current law.