Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Nevada

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Nevada's general remedy is record sealing. Under § 179.285, the proceedings in a sealed record are deemed never to have occurred, and the person may answer an inquiry—including an employment inquiry—accordingly. The same section restores voting, office-holding, and jury-service rights, but expressly warns that sealing does not restore firearm rights without a qualifying pardon.

The trafficking-victim route in § 179.247 goes further. If granted, the court vacates the judgment, dismisses the accusatory pleading, and seals the related records. It should not be described as ordinary sealing alone.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

Nevada has no mandatory general clean-slate process for completed convictions. The ordinary route in § 179.245 begins with a petition.

Section 179.259 creates a narrow court-driven alternative for a person who successfully completed a specified reentry program and has a single qualifying nonviolent felony offense. Four years after program completion, the court may seal the record without a hearing unless the Division of Parole and Probation petitions, shows good cause, and requests a hearing. Because the statute says "may," this is not guaranteed automatic relief.

Convictions eligible by petition

Section 179.245 covers felony and misdemeanor classes subject to its wait and exclusion rules. Category A felonies and crimes of violence are not universally barred; they generally use the longest ten-year clock unless the offense falls within subsection (6)'s absolute exclusions.

Section 179.247 separately permits a trafficking or involuntary-servitude victim to seek vacatur and sealing for prostitution or solicitation when the person was not alleged to be a customer, another Nevada offense other than a crime of violence, or a qualifying local loitering ordinance. Participation in the offense must have resulted from victimization, and the petition must be filed with due diligence after victimization ended or victim services were sought.

When records sit in more than one court, § 179.2595 allows one district-court petition instead of separate petitions in each court.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The general § 179.245 route excludes a crime against a child, a sexual offense, home invasion with a deadly weapon, and the specified felony impaired-driving, vehicular-homicide, and impaired-boating offenses listed in subsection (6). The reentry route separately excludes crimes against children and sexual offenses and requires a qualifying single nonviolent felony offense.

Even for an otherwise eligible offense, the court must find that throughout the applicable waiting period the person had no pending charge and no new conviction, except minor moving or standing traffic violations. A dishonorable probation discharge removes § 179.2445's favorable presumption.

Waiting period and when it starts

The general waits under § 179.245 are:

• Ten years for a category A felony, crime of violence, or residential burglary.
• Five years for most category B, C, or D felonies.
• Two years for a category E felony or gross misdemeanor.
• Seven years for the listed health-program offenses, nonfelony impaired driving, or nonfelony domestic-violence battery.
• Two years for specified misdemeanor battery, harassment, stalking, or protective-order violations.
• One year for any other misdemeanor.

The clock starts on the later of release from actual custody or the applicable parole, probation, or suspended-sentence endpoint named for that offense. It does not generally start at conviction. Section 179.247 uses a due-diligence rule rather than a numbered wait, and § 179.259 uses four years after reentry- program completion.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

Because the ordinary clock starts only after actual-custody release and the relevant supervision or suspended sentence ends, those events must occur before the waiting period can finish. Section 179.245 also requires a clean waiting period: no pending charge and no new conviction other than the stated minor traffic exceptions.

Section 179.245 does not state a separate requirement to pay every fine, fee, or restitution balance. That should not be added to the statutory eligibility test merely because another state's sealing law uses such a condition.

Petition process and decision standard

The § 179.245 petition is filed in the court of conviction and includes a current verified Nevada criminal-history record, identifying information for the conviction and arrest, and the reasonably known public and private record custodians to receive an order.

The court, not the petitioner, notifies the arresting law-enforcement agency and prosecuting attorney. A prosecutorial stipulation requires the court to apply the statutory presumption and seal. Without a stipulation or objection, the court may grant relief without a hearing after making the statutory findings. A written objection within 30 days—or the court's decision not to grant on the papers—requires a hearing. At the hearing, the court must apply the presumption and seal unless an objector produces enough evidence to rebut it.

Who can still see or use the record

Under § 179.275, the order goes to the Central Repository and each named public or private custodian, which must seal the related records and report compliance to the court. Sealing is therefore tied to the custodians identified in the order.

The record is not inaccessible in every setting. Under § 179.301, specified access remains for gaming and insurance licensing, prosecutors in the named repeat-offense setting, the Central Repository for sexual-offense information, registry and law-enforcement duties, and pardon review.

Boundaries and alternative relief

Sections 179.255, 179.271, and 179.273 separately address non-conviction records, decriminalized offenses, and pardons. They are not part of the general completed-conviction petition described here. Juvenile and innocence-based remedies also follow separate statutes.

Sealing restores the civil rights specifically listed in § 179.285, but not the right to bear arms. A pardon must independently restore that right without restricting it.

What trips people up

Most misdemeanor convictions use one year, not two. The two-year period applies to gross misdemeanors and specified misdemeanor offenses; § 179.245(1)(g) sets one year for any other misdemeanor.

The clock ordinarily does not start at conviction. It starts after release from actual custody or the applicable supervision or suspended-sentence end, whichever is later.

The trafficking route changes the judgment. Section 179.247 vacates the judgment and dismisses the accusatory pleading in addition to sealing records.

Common questions

Does a category A felony automatically fail?

No. Section 179.245 assigns category A felonies a ten-year wait, but a specific offense still fails if it is within subsection (6)'s absolute exclusions.

Is a hearing always required?

No. A stipulation leads to sealing under the statutory presumption. The court may also grant without a hearing when there is no timely objection and it makes the required findings. An objection or refusal to grant on the papers triggers a hearing.

Can records from several courts be handled together?

Yes. Section 179.2595 permits a district-court petition to seek sealing of records that otherwise would require filings in multiple courts.

Can I say the sealed conviction never occurred?

Section 179.285 generally says the proceedings are deemed never to have occurred and permits the person to answer accordingly. The retained-access and firearm-right exceptions still matter.

Statutes and sources

• Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 179.2405–179.301 — current official sealing chapter covering eligibility, waits, exclusions, trafficking vacatur, reentry relief, process, effect, reopening, and retained access (accessed July 19, 2026).