Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Nebraska

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Nebraska's general remedy is a set-aside, not expungement. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-2264(5), an order nullifies the conviction and removes civil disabilities and disqualifications imposed because of it.

The ordinary order does not seal the record from public view. Nebraska's sealing statute, § 29-3523, separately identifies the conviction-based routes that can produce sealing: a sex-trafficking-victim set-aside under § 29-3005 or a pardon. It does not list an ordinary § 29-2264 order as a sealing trigger.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

The set-aside is not automatic. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-2264(1) requires the sentencing court to release a person who completes probation, but subsection (2) separately says that person may petition to set aside the conviction. The same petition requirement applies to the completed-sentence route in subsection (3).

Convictions eligible by petition

The first route covers a person placed on probation or sentenced only to a fine or community service. The person may petition after satisfactory probation completion or early discharge, payment of the fine, and completion of community service.

The second route covers a different sentence after it is completed, so long as the person was not sentenced to more than one year of imprisonment. The Act's definition of offense is broad enough to include state and local felonies, misdemeanors, infractions, traffic infractions, ordinances, and county resolutions, subject to the route-specific exclusions.

Excluded offenses and statuses

A sentence that included more than one year of imprisonment does not fit either general route. For the completed-sentence route in § 29-2264(3), the court must deny a petition filed while any criminal charge is pending in the United States or another country, during a required sex-offender-registration period, for a misdemeanor or felony motor-vehicle offense, or within two years after an earlier subsection (3) denial.

Those four express denials apply to subsection (3). The probation, fine-only, and community-service route in subsection (2) does not repeat them.

Waiting period and when it starts

Nebraska states no general number of years to wait after a qualifying sentence. The probation/fine/community-service route opens after satisfactory completion, payment, and service. The other eligible route opens after sentence completion.

The only numeric refiling clock in the general provision is the two-year bar after a subsection (3) petition is denied.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The statute requires completion of the sentence that creates eligibility. For the subsection (2) route, it specifically requires payment of any fine and completion of community service. It does not state a separate universal restitution-payment requirement or conviction-free period.

Only the subsection (3) route expressly makes a pending criminal charge an automatic denial ground. Later conduct still matters to every petition because the court must assess the person's behavior and likelihood of future criminal activity.

Petition process and decision standard

The petition goes to the sentencing court. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-2264(4) requires the court to consider behavior after sentencing, the likelihood that the person will not engage in further criminal activity, and any other relevant information.

Relief is discretionary. Section 29-2264(5) says the court may grant the petition when the order will be in the person's best interest and consistent with public welfare.

Who can still see or use the record

Because an ordinary set-aside does not seal the record, public visibility is not removed. Section 29-2264(6) also preserves specific legal uses: witness impeachment; later sentencing and enhanced-offense proof; deciding later set-aside eligibility; specified child-care, residential-facility, educator, and law-enforcement certification decisions; sex-offender registration and registration-period decisions; Nebraska's felon-firearm statute; victim civil actions; driver points; and commercial-driver-license matters.

The court must warn the person to consult an attorney about any effect on firearm possession. The statute does not promise firearm-right restoration.

What trips people up

Nullified is not sealed. The order changes the conviction's legal effect and civil disabilities, but the ordinary § 29-2264 route does not remove the record from public view.

The pending-charge and motor-vehicle bars are route-specific. They appear in subsection (3), which covers completed sentences outside probation, fine-only, and community service. They are not written as universal conditions for subsection (2).

A narrow trafficking route can lead to actual sealing. A sex-trafficking victim may move under § 29-3005(2) after completing the sentence for a causally connected offense. Once that set-aside is granted, § 29-3523(4) requires the court to grant a sealing motion.

Common questions

Does Nebraska erase an ordinary set-aside conviction from public records? No. The general order nullifies the conviction and removes many civil disabilities, but it is not a sealing order.

Is there a fixed waiting period after probation? No numeric period is stated. The petition may be filed after satisfactory completion or early discharge and the required fine/community-service completion.

Can the conviction still increase a later sentence? Yes. Section 29-2264(6) expressly preserves later sentencing and enhancement uses.

Statutes and sources

• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-2264 — general sentence eligibility, petition routes, mandatory denials, decision factors, set-aside effect, retained uses, and retroactivity. https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=29-2264 (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-3005 — sex-trafficking-victim set-aside route. https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=29-3005 (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-3523 — narrow conviction-sealing triggers, order effect, retained criminal-justice access, and public-inquiry protections. https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=29-3523 (accessed 2026-07-20)