Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in North Carolina

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

North Carolina calls the remedy expunction. A granted § 15A-145.5 petition removes the conviction from public court and law-enforcement records, directs other notified agencies to expunge resulting entries, and restores the person, in contemplation of law, to the status occupied before the arrest or charge.

Expunction is not universal destruction. Clerks and the Administrative Office of the Courts retain confidential files, prosecutors receive electronic access, DNA records and samples remain, and an expunged conviction can still be used for specified later-criminal-case purposes.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

North Carolina has no general automatic process for expunging adult convictions. Section 15A-145.5 requires a petition, criminal-history and warrant searches, service on the district attorney, and judicial findings.

Section 15A-146(a4) does provide expunction by operation of law for cases in which all charges are dismissed or result in findings of not guilty or not responsible. That is nonconviction relief and is outside this survey's adult- conviction scope.

Convictions eligible by petition

The no-age-limit route covers one or more nonviolent misdemeanors and up to three nonviolent felonies as § 15A-145.5 defines those terms. Multiple convictions entered in the same session of court count as one conviction of that level.

Multiple qualifying misdemeanors may be included after the seven-year clock. Two or three felony offenses must have been committed within the same 24-month period. When convictions occurred in more than one county, petitions must be filed in each county, ordinarily within one 120-day period.

Prior § 15A-145.5 relief can prevent another grant in the same misdemeanor or felony category, subject to the statute's transition rules for petitions filed before December 1, 2021. Relief cannot cover an offense committed after a prior § 15A-145.5 expunction order.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The statute excludes Class A through G felonies and Class A1 misdemeanors; offenses with assault as an essential element; registration offenses; listed sex and stalking offenses; specified felony methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine offenses; listed intimidation and contaminant offenses; first-degree burglary under G.S. 14-54(a1); a felony using a commercial motor vehicle; and attempts to commit the listed excluded offenses. Impaired-driving offenses are separately ineligible.

Eligibility also fails when the petitioner's conviction history, prior expunction history, pending-case status, or restitution status does not satisfy the route-specific findings.

Waiting period and when it starts

The current clocks differ sharply by number and class:

• One nonviolent misdemeanor: the later of three years after conviction or completion of the active sentence, probation, or post-release supervision.
• More than one nonviolent misdemeanor: the later of seven years after the last conviction or seven years after completion of any listed sentence or supervision.
• One nonviolent felony: the later of ten years after conviction or ten years after completion of its sentence or supervision.
• One breaking-or-entering felony under G.S. 14-54(a): the same structure with a 15-year period.
• Two or three nonviolent felonies: the later of 20 years after the most recent listed conviction or 20 years after completion of any listed sentence or supervision.

The one-misdemeanor rule is unusual: if supervision ends after the third anniversary of conviction, eligibility begins at completion rather than three additional years later.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The applicable active sentence, probation, and post-release supervision must be complete under the clock above. For misdemeanor relief, the court must find no outstanding restitution order or civil judgment representing court-ordered restitution. The current felony findings in subsection (c3) do not separately list that restitution condition. Section 15A-145.5 does not list all fines, fees, and court costs as a universal eligibility finding.

For misdemeanor relief, the court must also find no outstanding warrant, pending criminal case, indictment, or qualifying felony probable-cause finding. Both misdemeanor and felony routes address disqualifying bond or recognizance status, and the required AOC application authorizes a pending-case and warrant search. For misdemeanors, there can be no other nontraffic misdemeanor or felony conviction during the applicable wait. A felony petitioner must have no misdemeanor other than a traffic violation in the five years before filing and no other felony outside the qualifying felony set listed in the petition, with the additional multiple-felony rules applied when relevant.

Petition process and decision standard

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-145.5(c1) requires the approved AOC petition as a motion in the original case in the county of conviction. The filing includes the petitioner's affidavit of good moral character and applicable conviction history, plus authorization for SBI and AOC criminal-history, warrant, pending-case, and prior-expunction searches.

Serve the district attorney, who has 30 days to object; the court may allow one additional 30-day period for good cause. The district attorney must make best efforts to notify the victim, who may attend and whose views the court considers. The court may request a probation investigation and consider other relevant evidence.

For qualifying misdemeanors, the court shall grant relief when every finding is met. For one to three felonies, the court may grant relief after making the findings. A denial order must state the reason. The filing fee is $175, unless the petitioner is indigent.

Who can still see or use the record

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-153(a) identifies public-record clearing and protected omission as the remedy's purpose. After expunction, the person ordinarily may omit the conviction without perjury, and employers and educational institutions may not require disclosure or knowingly ask about a conviction they know was expunged. Government applicants receive similar protections subject to statutory exceptions.

N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 15A-150–15A-151.5 govern agency purging, confidential retention, prosecutor access, and later-case use. The AOC and clerks retain confidential files, and prosecutors have electronic access. For expunctions granted on or after July 1, 2018, the conviction may be used for later prior-record calculations, habitual-offense charging, offense- level enhancement, conditional-discharge eligibility, and Evidence Rule 404(b) or 609 purposes. Nondisclosure protection also does not apply at sentencing after a later conviction.

Criminal-justice and sheriffs' training certification applicants must disclose § 15A-145.5 convictions. DNA records and samples remain, and federal commercial- driving law can prevent DMV expunction. The SBI forwards the state order to the FBI, but the state statute does not promise erasure from every federal or private database.

Boundaries and alternative relief

Article 5 contains separate routes for offenses committed while young, certain drug dispositions, prostitution, trafficking victims, identity theft or mistaken identity, innocence, and dismissed or acquitted charges. Juvenile records, pardons, and federal convictions follow other rules. This cell centers the general adult no-age-limit conviction route in § 15A-145.5.

What trips people up

The clock depends on both conviction and sentence completion. Except for the single-misdemeanor structure, the felony and multiple-misdemeanor tiers add the stated years after both relevant events and use whichever date is later.

Misdemeanor and felony decisions use different verbs. Once all misdemeanor findings are met, the court shall grant relief. The felony subsection says the court may grant it, preserving discretion.

Expunged does not mean gone from every government file. Confidential AOC and clerk records remain, prosecutors can see them, and the statute expressly authorizes later-case uses.

Common questions

Can North Carolina expunge more than one felony? Yes, up to three qualifying nonviolent felonies, generally after the 20-year clock, if the offenses were committed within the same 24-month period and all other findings are met.

Must all fines and fees be paid? The misdemeanor findings expressly require no outstanding restitution order or civil restitution judgment and the clock requires sentence/supervision completion. The current felony findings do not separately list the restitution condition, and the section does not list every fine, fee, or court cost as a universal finding.

Can an expunged conviction count in a later criminal case? Yes. Section 15A-151.5 identifies prior-record, habitual-offense, enhancement, conditional- discharge, and evidence uses for expunctions granted on or after July 1, 2018.

Statutes and sources

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-145.5(a)–(g) — eligible and excluded convictions, current waiting periods, later-record and restitution conditions, procedure, mandatory/discretionary standards, effect, DNA exception, and fee. https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_15A/GS_15A-145.5.html (accessed 2026-08-08)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-54(a)–(a1) — the two breaking-or-entering felonies distinguished by § 15A-145.5's eligibility and waiting rules. https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-54.html (accessed 2026-08-08)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 15A-150, 15A-151, and 15A-151.5 — agency notice, confidential retention, prosecutor access, and later-criminal-case use. https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_15A/Article_5.html (accessed 2026-08-08)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-153 — nondisclosure, employer/education/government inquiry rules, certification exceptions, and enforcement. https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_15A/Article_5.html (accessed 2026-08-08)