Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Tennessee

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Tennessee calls the remedy expunction. Section 40-32-110 says an order destroys the public records of the conviction and, as a matter of state law, treats the conviction as though it never occurred. The person may generally answer without acknowledging the expunged matter.

That public-record result is not literal destruction of every retained record. Section 40-32-108(f) requires the clerk to keep a confidential record. It may be used to enhance a sentence after a later conviction and is accessible to the district attorney general, the person, the person's attorney, and the judge.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

There is no general automatic route for an adult conviction. Every current conviction path in § 40-32-107 directs the person to petition under § 40-32-108 in the court of conviction. The 2025-2026 proposals for general or county-level automatic conviction processing did not become law before the 114th General Assembly adjourned.

Convictions eligible by petition

Section 40-32-107(a)(1) uses closed lists for Class C, D, and E felonies. The lists also cover attempt, conspiracy, facilitation, or solicitation of a listed felony. Misdemeanors use the opposite structure: most post-1989 misdemeanors are eligible unless the offense appears in the statute's exclusion list.

The statute also supplies a criteria-based route for certain pre-November 1989 convictions and treats eligible convictions from one contemporaneous, same-location, continuous episode with one intent as one offense. A separate § 40-32-107(b) route reaches two misdemeanors, or one eligible felony plus one misdemeanor, when both offenses and the person's history meet its conditions.

Two special routes now matter. Section 40-32-107's current pardon route in § 40-32-107(d), as amended in 2026, allows a person with the required Board of Parole vote and gubernatorial pardon to seek expunction unless the conviction falls within the listed homicide, kidnapping, aggravated-child-abuse, especially-aggravated-robbery, terrorism, or sex/minor-offense exclusions. The vote and pardon conditions appear in § 40-32-107(d)(1)(B)–(C). Effective July 1, 2026, § 40-32-107(e) also creates the Recovery Court Renewal Act route for a later eligible offense after one prior DUI when the listed recovery-court and history conditions are met.

Excluded offenses and statuses

Eligibility turns on the exact offense and classification. The misdemeanor exclusion list includes domestic assault, stalking, specified sex and minor-victim offenses, specified firearm-disability offenses, DUI, and other named crimes. The felony route is a positive list rather than a general "nonviolent felony" rule.

For the ordinary one-offense route, the offense sought to be cleared must have occurred before any later conviction that would be ineligible in Tennessee, including a comparable federal or out-of-state conviction. A person ordinarily cannot have already received a conviction expunction under the principal routes. Section 40-32-107(a)(2) separately excludes specified controlled- substance offenses committed in a motor vehicle while the person held a commercial driver license, or in a commercial motor vehicle while holding any driver license.

Waiting period and when it starts

The ordinary clock runs from completion of the sentence, not conviction. It is five years for a misdemeanor or Class E felony and ten years for a Class C or D felony under § 40-32-107(a)(3). The two-offense route applies the same five- or ten-year period to each offense based on its class.

The special routes work differently. The pardon route does not add a numbered post-sentence wait. The recovery-court route asks whether the later eligible offense occurred at least ten years after the person's one DUI conviction; it also requires completion of the later offense's sentence. That is not a rule allowing the DUI itself to be expunged.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The ordinary and two-offense routes require payment of fines, restitution, court costs, and other assessments, completion of imprisonment and probation, and satisfaction of supervised or unsupervised release. If the sentence required sobriety, the statute also requires at least one year free from the specified dependency or abuse.

The recovery-court route repeats the payment and completion requirements, requires successful completion of a certified recovery court program, permits only one prior DUI conviction, and bars a prior conviction expunction under the listed routes.

Petition process and decision standard

The petition goes to the court of conviction. Section 40-32-108's opening rule in § 40-32-108(a) directs the clerk to serve the district attorney general, who has up to 60 days to submit a recommendation. The court may not enter its order before day 61. Both sides may submit evidence, and the prosecutor may place evidence under seal.

Before an order enters, § 40-32-102(c) requires a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation certificate addressing whether the submitted offense is eligible. The certificate does not decide whether the person meets every condition; the court remains responsible for that decision. The district attorney general's office prepares the petition and proposed order for the person to file, and the statute requires the applicable clerk's fee.

Under § 40-32-108(d)(2), the court weighs the petitioner's interest against justice and public safety. An ordinary petitioner who fits § 40-32-107(a)(1)(A)-(E) and the remaining requirements receives a rebuttable presumption in favor of relief. For the pardon route, the court must also consider whether the offense was violent and any other relevant factors presented by either side. After a denial, another petition generally must wait at least two years.

Who can still see or use the record

The public records are destroyed, and § 40-32-110 supplies the state-law no-disclosure effect. But § 40-32-108(f)'s confidential retained record remains available to the prosecutor, person, counsel, and judge and may enhance a later sentence. The statute does not promise deletion from federal or private databases.

Section 40-32-110(d) also says an expunged person who is otherwise eligible under state and federal law may purchase a firearm and seek a Tennessee handgun carry permit. Expunction does not override an independent federal or state firearm disqualification.

Boundaries and alternative relief

This page covers completed adult convictions. Sections 40-32-105, -106, and -109 separately address trafficking-victim relief, non-conviction and diversion records, and an arrest-only situation where the court has no history of the arrest. Those paths do not make conviction expunction automatic.

What trips people up

The statute was renumbered in 2025. Current conviction eligibility and procedure are in §§ 40-32-107 and 40-32-108, not the former § 40-32-101(g) and (k) structure. Forms or instructions using only the former subsections may be out of date.

The TBI certificate answers only the offense question. It does not certify the person's waiting period, sentence completion, history, prior relief, or other individual conditions.

The Recovery Court Renewal Act does not expunge the DUI. It allows a later otherwise-eligible offense to be considered despite the one earlier DUI, and the offense being cleared cannot itself involve a motor vehicle and alcohol or a controlled substance.

Common questions

Can Tennessee expunge two convictions?

Sometimes. Section 40-32-107(b) covers two misdemeanors or one eligible felony and one misdemeanor when both offenses satisfy the eligibility, timing, sentence, history, and prior-relief requirements. Eligible same-episode convictions may instead count as one offense under subsection (a)(1)(F).

Is the judge required to grant an eligible petition?

Not automatically. The ordinary route carries a rebuttable presumption after the statutory requirements are met, but the court still reviews the TBI certificate, evidence, and justice and public-safety interests.

Does expunction automatically restore firearm eligibility?

No. Section 40-32-110(d) makes the person eligible to purchase and apply for a permit only if the person is otherwise eligible under both state and federal law.

Statutes and sources

• 2025 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 268 — current §§ 40-32-101 and 40-32-102(c), and the reorganization into §§ 40-32-106 through -110 covering eligibility, procedure, retained access, and legal effect (accessed July 19, 2026).
• 2026 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 719 — current pardon-route exclusions and decision factors, effective April 14, 2026 (accessed July 19, 2026).
• 2026 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 1061 — Recovery Court Renewal Act route in § 40-32-107(e), effective July 1, 2026 (accessed July 19, 2026).