Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Montana
At a glance
| Relief name and legal effect | Misdemeanor expungement: DOJ destroys, deletes, or erases covered criminal-history records; arresting agencies, prosecutors, and courts permanently seal their records. Fingerprints and data maintained for investigative purposes are excluded from the statutory record definition (§§ 46-18-1103, 46-18-1110). |
|---|---|
| Automatic or clean-slate relief | No general automatic relief. The person petitions a district court, serves each prosecution office, and after an order sends it with fingerprints and DOJ's identifying form to each listed record holder (§§ 46-18-1104–1110). |
| Convictions eligible by petition | One petition in a lifetime may seek expungement of one or more misdemeanor convictions from one or multiple courts and cases. The court may grant all, some, or none. General felony convictions are not eligible under Part 11 (§§ 46-18-1104, 46-18-1110). |
| Excluded offenses and statuses | No misdemeanor is made absolutely ineligible by Part 11, but no presumption applies to assault, partner/family-member assault, stalking, sexual assault, protective-order violations, DUI, or an offense with a DUI-based enhanced penalty. Current detention, a current charge, or a pending new charge defeats the favorable presumption (§§ 46-18-1107–1108). |
| Waiting period and when it starts | Five conviction-free years after completing all sentencing terms creates a presumption; it is not written as an absolute filing bar. A military-academy, enlistment, National Guard, or current-service obstacle caused by the conviction supplies an alternative presumption (§ 46-18-1107). |
| Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions | For the five-year presumption, complete all sentence terms, including financial obligations and court-ordered treatment, then have no conviction in Montana, another state, or federal court for 5 years; also have no current detention, charge, or pending charge. The statute states no post-order new-conviction reversal rule (§ 46-18-1107). |
| Petition process and decision standard | File in a district court where at least one target misdemeanor occurred; submit fingerprints; serve every prosecution office. Prosecutors attempt victim notice within 14 days. The court uses a preponderance standard; public safety can overcome a presumption, while nonpresumed cases turn on age at offense, elapsed time, rehabilitation, reoffense risk, and other relevant factors (§§ 46-18-1104–1109). |
| Who can still see or use the record | DOJ expunges covered records; arresting agencies, prosecution offices, and court clerks permanently seal theirs. Fingerprint records and data maintained for investigative purposes remain outside the definition of records to be expunged. Part 11 states no general applicant right to deny the conviction (§§ 46-18-1103, 46-18-1110). |
| Boundaries and alternative relief | Covers the general misdemeanor-expungement act. Separate statutes cover dismissal and confidentiality after a successfully completed deferred sentence, marijuana conduct now lawful or punished less severely, and trafficking-caused prostitution, sex-trafficking, or other nonviolent convictions (§§ 46-18-204, 16-12-113, 46-18-608). Juvenile, pardon, innocence, federal, military, tribal, and out-of-state relief are outside scope. |
Requirements one by one
Relief name and legal effect
Montana uses expungement, but the mechanics differ by record holder. Under § 46-18-1103, the Department of Justice destroys, deletes, or erases the covered information in its criminal-history system. Under § 46-18-1110, the arresting agency, prosecutor, and court clerk permanently seal their records.
The statutory definition excludes fingerprint records and data that may be maintained for investigative purposes. Part 11 therefore does not promise that every identifying or investigative trace disappears.
Automatic or clean-slate relief
General misdemeanor expungement is not automatic. Section 46-18-1104 requires a petition and fingerprints. Even after the court grants relief, the person must distribute the order, fingerprints, and identifying form to the agencies named in § 46-18-1110.
Convictions eligible by petition
One petition may include one or more misdemeanor convictions from multiple cases and multiple courts. The person may use the Part 11 remedy only once in a lifetime. When several misdemeanors are requested, the court may grant all, some, or none.
Part 11 does not extend general expungement to felony convictions. A felony may still have a different route if it arose from a successfully completed deferred sentence, now-decriminalized marijuana conduct, or trafficking-caused conduct covered by another statute.
Excluded offenses and statuses
The listed sensitive misdemeanors are not absolute exclusions. Section 46-18-1108 instead removes the favorable presumption for assault, partner or family member assault, stalking, sexual assault, violation of a protective order, DUI, and an offense carrying a DUI-based enhanced penalty. The court then applies the discretionary factors.
Current detention for an offense, a current charge, or a pending new charge prevents the presumption under § 46-18-1107. Those statuses are not phrased as a permanent lifetime bar.
Waiting period and when it starts
Five years is the ordinary presumption clock, not an express absolute bar on filing. It runs after completion of all sentencing terms, and the person must have no conviction in Montana, another state, or federal court throughout the period.
Section 46-18-1107 supplies a separate presumption for a person applying to a United States military academy, applying to enlist in the armed forces or National Guard, or currently serving and being held back from enlistment or a position because of the conviction.
Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions
The five-year presumption requires completion of every sentencing term, expressly including payment of financial obligations and successful completion of court-ordered treatment. The person must then remain conviction-free for five years and be free of the current detention and charge statuses in § 46-18-1107.
Part 11 does not state that a later conviction automatically reverses an already entered expungement order.
Petition process and decision standard
Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-1105 provides: "A person may file a petition for expungement in the district court of a judicial district in which the person was convicted of a misdemeanor for which expungement is sought." Under § 46-18-1106, the petition must be served on every prosecution office that prosecuted an offense included in the request. Within 14 days, a responsible prosecution office must attempt to notify an existing victim and explain the right to respond and any hearing dates.
The court decides by a preponderance of the evidence. Public-safety interests may overcome a presumption. When relief is not presumed, § 46-18-1108 directs the court to consider age at the offense, time elapsed, rehabilitation, likelihood of reoffending, and any other relevant factor. Appearing prosecutors and victims receive an opportunity to respond.
Who can still see or use the record
The order directs law enforcement, the prosecutor, and the court clerk to permanently seal covered records. DOJ expunges the corresponding arrest, investigation, detention, and court records after receiving the order, fingerprints, and identifying form.
Fingerprint records and data maintained for investigative purposes fall outside Part 11's definition of a record. Part 11 also does not state a general rule allowing the person to deny the conviction on every application or under oath.
What trips people up
The statute does not have five-year and ten-year misdemeanor tiers. Five conviction-free years after sentence completion supplies the ordinary presumption for all covered misdemeanors.
The listed assault, domestic-violence, stalking, sexual-assault, protective- order, and DUI offenses are not categorically barred. They receive no presumption, and the court weighs the statutory factors.
The person has post-order delivery work. The petitioner, not only the clerk, sends the order and required identity materials to each record holder named in § 46-18-1110.
Common questions
Can multiple misdemeanor convictions be handled together? Yes. One petition may include convictions from multiple courts and cases, but the court may grant relief for all, some, or none.
Can a person file twice for different convictions? No. Part 11 allows no more than one misdemeanor-expungement petition during the person's life.
Is a five-year wait always required? Five years supplies the ordinary presumption. The statute also creates a military-related presumption, and it does not phrase five years as a universal eligibility bar.
Does Montana expunge marijuana felonies too? Section 16-12-113 separately allows expungement or redesignation when the conduct is now permitted or punished less severely. That petition does not consume the one-time Part 11 misdemeanor remedy.
Statutes and sources
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-1103 — expungement and record definitions, including the fingerprint and investigative-data exclusions. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0110/section_0030/0460-0180-0110-0030.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-1104 — misdemeanor eligibility, one-lifetime-petition limit, and fingerprint requirement. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0110/section_0040/0460-0180-0110-0040.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. §§ 46-18-1105–1106 — venue, prosecutor service, and 14-day victim-notice attempt. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0110/section_0060/0460-0180-0110-0060.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-1107 — five-year and military presumptions and current-case conditions. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0110/section_0070/0460-0180-0110-0070.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-1108 — nonpresumed offenses and discretionary decision factors. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0110/section_0080/0460-0180-0110-0080.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-1109 — burden, public-safety override, response rights, and evidence rules. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0110/section_0090/0460-0180-0110-0090.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-1110 — partial or complete orders, sealing, agency delivery, and DOJ expungement. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0110/section_0100/0460-0180-0110-0100.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-204 — dismissal and confidentiality after deferred imposition of sentence. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0020/section_0040/0460-0180-0020-0040.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 16-12-113 — marijuana expungement, resentencing, and redesignation. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0160/chapter_0120/part_0010/section_0130/0160-0120-0010-0130.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-608 — trafficking-victim vacatur and confidentiality. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0460/chapter_0180/part_0060/section_0080/0460-0180-0060-0080.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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