South Carolina: Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

South Carolina calls the remedy expungement of the arrest and conviction
records. The conviction statutes do not promise that every copy is physically
destroyed. Each main route requires SLED to keep a nonpublic offense-and-date
record so officials can enforce the route's one-use limit.

Section 17-22-960 protects an employee from adverse employer use of expunged
information, except by a criminal-justice agency. It does not create a broader
universal disclosure rule for every application.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

There is no general automatic conviction process. Section 17-22-910 sends
applications through the circuit solicitor's office, and § 17-22-930 requires
the solicitor's form to the exclusion of other expungement forms.

Some routes direct the court to grant relief once every condition is proven,
but the person still must apply.

Convictions eligible by petition

The main routes are:

• § 22-5-910: an offense carrying no more than 30 days or a $1,000 fine, a
  first unlawful firearm-or-weapon-possession offense within the stated
  one-year/$1,000 ceiling, and third-degree domestic violence;
• § 22-5-920: a first conviction actually sentenced under the Youthful
  Offender Act;
• § 22-5-930: first simple possession or unlawful prescription-drug
  possession, and first possession with intent to distribute;
• § 34-11-90: a first misdemeanor fraudulent-check conviction and, under
  2026 Act 248, qualifying multiple magistrates-court misdemeanor check
  convictions within a three-year span; and
• § 56-5-750(F): first-offense failure to stop without the felony
  classification.

Section 17-1-65 separately allows one pre-March 7, 2024 unlawful-handgun-
possession conviction to be submitted within five years after that statute's
enactment.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The low-penalty route excludes an offense involving motor-vehicle operation.
The Youthful Offender route excludes motor-vehicle offenses, violent crimes,
most Title 16 domestic-violence offenses, and offenses requiring sex-offender
registration. Eligibility requires an actual Youthful Offender Act sentence,
not merely age-based eligibility for one.

The fraudulent-check routes exclude felony checks. Sections 22-5-910 and
22-5-930 also generally bar relief while criminal charges are pending, unless
they have remained pending more than five years after accounting for the
bench-warrant tolling rule.

Waiting period and when it starts

The routes use different starting events:

• 1 year from a first misdemeanor fraudulent-check conviction;
• 3 years from the low-penalty or third-degree-domestic-violence conviction;
• 3 years from sentence completion, including probation and parole, for first
  simple possession or unlawful prescription-drug possession;
• 3 years from completion of every sentence term for first-offense failure to
  stop;
• 5 years from Youthful Offender sentence completion, including probation and
  parole;
• 10 years from the last qualifying multiple fraudulent-check conviction; and
• 20 years from completion of any sentence, including probation and parole,
  for the relevant drug or felony conviction before first-PWID relief.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The Youthful Offender, drug, and failure-to-stop routes expressly count
probation and parole or all sentence terms before the clock begins. Each route
uses its own new-conviction screen; out-of-state convictions count where the
statute says so.

Act 248's multiple-check route additionally requires full restitution on every
check underlying the convictions. The first-check route does not state that
same expungement condition, although § 34-11-90 separately addresses
restitution at sentencing.

Petition process and decision standard

The solicitor's office assists with the mandatory form, coordinates SLED's
eligibility check, gathers signatures, files the order, and distributes it to
government record holders. A typical conviction application carries a $250
solicitor administrative fee, $25 SLED verification fee, and $35 filing fee,
subject to the route-specific exceptions in § 17-22-940.

Sections 22-5-910 through -930 say the circuit court may grant after the
criteria are met. The first-check, multiple-check, and first failure-to-stop
routes direct the court to issue the order when their conditions are met.

Who can still see or use the record

The solicitor distributes the completed order to the arresting agency,
detention facility, courts, solicitor, SLED, and other affected government
holders. SLED's retained nonpublic record is available only to authorized law
or court officials who need it to prevent repeat use of the relief.

Except for criminal-justice agencies, employers may not use expunged
information adversely against an employee. Current law does not promise that
every federal or private database will erase the record.

What trips people up

“First offense” is route-specific. A person must match the exact low-level,
Youthful Offender, drug, check, or failure-to-stop provision; there is no
general first-offense expungement rule.

The clock may start at conviction or sentence completion. Using the wrong
start date can make an application years early.

The check statute changed on June 25, 2026. Act 248 now permits one
additional application for qualifying multiple misdemeanor check convictions
after ten years and full restitution, even though the compiled code page has
not yet folded in the new subsection.

Common questions

Can a felony be expunged under the general low-penalty rule? No general
felony route exists. Only the specific statutes, such as the listed drug or
Youthful Offender provisions, can reach a qualifying felony conviction.

Can someone use both fraudulent-check routes? Yes. Act 248 says a first-
offense application or expungement under subsection (e) does not prevent a
qualifying multiple-conviction application under new subsection (f).

Does SLED retain anything? Yes. The principal conviction routes require a
nonpublic offense-and-date record to prevent repeat use of their one-time
benefits.

Statutes and sources

• S.C. Code §§ 22-5-910 to 22-5-930 — low-penalty, domestic-violence,
  Youthful Offender, and drug-conviction routes.
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t22c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-19)
• S.C. Code § 34-11-90 — first misdemeanor fraudulent-check route.
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t34c011.php
  (accessed 2026-07-19)
• 2026 S.C. Act No. 248, § 1 — current multiple misdemeanor fraudulent-check
  route, effective June 25, 2026.
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/428.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-19)
• S.C. Code § 56-5-750(F) — first-offense failure-to-stop route.
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t56c005.php
  (accessed 2026-07-19)
• S.C. Code §§ 17-22-910, 17-22-930, 17-22-940, and 17-22-960 — solicitor
  administration, mandatory form, fees, distribution, and employer use.
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t17c022.php
  (accessed 2026-07-19)
• S.C. Code § 17-1-65 — time-limited pre-2024 handgun-possession route.
  https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t17c001.php
  (accessed 2026-07-19)