Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Texas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Texas's ordinary adult-conviction remedy is nondisclosure, not expunction. An order directs criminal-justice agencies not to disclose the covered criminal history to the public, and § 411.076 requires the clerk to seal the affected court records. The conviction remains legally usable: § 411.0775 permits the information to be admitted in a later criminal trial when otherwise admissible and disclosed to a prosecutor for a criminal-justice purpose.

One narrow conviction category receives true expunction. Article 55A.005 covers a person tried and convicted under former Penal Code § 46.02(a) for an offense committed before September 1, 2021. After a final expunction order, Article 55A.401 prohibits release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the expunged records and lets the person deny the arrest and order except when questioned under oath in a criminal proceeding.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

There is no general automatic path for a completed conviction in this survey's scope. Section 411.072 can produce a court-issued nondisclosure order without a petition, but it expressly requires deferred adjudication followed by discharge and dismissal, not a conviction. Chapter 55A's automatic procedures similarly address acquittal, actual-innocence pardon, or a qualifying program dismissal.

Convictions eligible by petition

The general nondisclosure paths are sentence-specific:

• Section 411.073 covers specified misdemeanor convictions followed by successfully completed community supervision.
• Section 411.0735 covers specified misdemeanor convictions not eligible under § 411.073, including fine-only and confinement sentences.
• Sections 411.0731 and 411.0736 cover limited Penal Code § 49.04 DWI convictions, respectively with community supervision and outside that route.
• Article 55A.005 separately allows expunction of the pre-September 2021 former § 46.02(a) handgun conviction.

The general nondisclosure sections are first-record routes. They require that the person never previously have been convicted or placed on deferred adjudication for another offense, except a fine-only traffic offense.

Excluded offenses and statuses

Sections 411.073 and 411.0735 exclude the listed alcohol, intoxication, and organized-crime provisions from their ordinary misdemeanor routes. The DWI sections cover § 49.04 but not an offense punishable under § 49.04(d), and the court cannot issue DWI nondisclosure when the state proves the offense caused a collision involving another person, including the petitioner's passenger.

Tex. Gov't Code § 411.074 adds exclusions that look beyond the target conviction. A requested or prior sex-registration offense, the enumerated serious offenses, any other family-violence offense, or a family-violence finding in the target case bars relief under the subchapter. Section 411.0735 also bars an offense the court determines was violent or sexual in nature, except an offense under Penal Code § 22.01.

Waiting period and when it starts

The waiting clock always starts at completion, but the required event differs:

• Under § 411.073, an ordinary covered misdemeanor may be filed at completion of community supervision; misdemeanors in Penal Code Chapters 20, 21, 22, 25, 42, 43, or 46 require two years after supervision completion.
• Under § 411.0735, a fine-only misdemeanor may be filed at sentence completion; another covered misdemeanor requires two years after sentence completion.
• Under § 411.0731, covered DWI after community supervision requires two years after completion if the person successfully completed at least six months of ignition-interlock restriction, and five years otherwise.
• Under § 411.0736, covered DWI outside that supervision route requires three years after sentence completion with the same six-month interlock condition, and five years otherwise.

Article 55A.005 does not state a separate postconviction waiting period for its narrow former § 46.02(a) expunction category.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The nondisclosure provisions require completion of community supervision or the sentence, including any confinement and payment of all fines, costs, and restitution. Section 411.074 then requires the period from sentence or supervision through the applicable wait to remain free of any new conviction or deferred adjudication other than a fine-only traffic offense.

For a shorter DWI clock, the person must also have successfully complied with at least six months of a condition restricting driving to an ignition- interlock-equipped vehicle.

Petition process and decision standard

A nondisclosure petition goes to the court that imposed the sentence or placed the person on community supervision. Section 411.0745 permits filing in person, electronically, or by mail, requires the ordinary civil-case filing fee, and directs the court to notify the state. The court applies both statutory eligibility and a best-interest-of-justice standard.

A hearing is generally required, but § 411.0745(e) permits a decision without one when the state does not request a hearing within 45 days after notice and the court finds both eligibility and best interest of justice. The DWI petition must include evidence showing entitlement.

For Article 55A.005 expunction, Articles 55A.251 and 55A.253 require a verified petition in a district court for the county of arrest or alleged offense, with the information Article 55A.253 lists. The court sets the hearing at least 30 days after filing and must order expunction if entitlement is proved.

Who can still see or use the record

Nondisclosure changes public access but preserves a long exception list. Under §§ 411.076 and 411.0765, the person, criminal-justice agencies, regulatory- licensing users, the noncriminal-justice agencies and entities listed in the statute, and recipients required by federal law may still receive the information. Section 411.0755 allows the person to omit the proceeding from employment, information, and licensing applications, but § 411.0775 preserves later-criminal-case use.

Expunction is broader. Articles 55A.353 and 55A.401 require return or obliteration of listed governmental records, deletion of public index references, and prohibit release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the expunged records after the order becomes final, subject to Chapter 55A's stated exceptions.

What trips people up

Expunction and nondisclosure are not interchangeable. The general misdemeanor conviction routes seal information from the public but preserve government and regulated access. Article 55A.005 is a narrow offense-and-date exception with the broader legal effect of expunction.

The shorter DWI clock depends on actual interlock compliance. A DWI case does not receive the two- or three-year clock merely because an interlock was mentioned. The statute requires successful compliance for at least six months.

Prior and later records are separate gates. The general routes usually require no earlier conviction or deferred adjudication beyond fine-only traffic. Section 411.074 separately bars a new conviction or deferred adjudication during the sentence and waiting period.

Common questions

Does nondisclosure remove the conviction? No. It limits public disclosure and seals court records, but § 411.0775 expressly preserves later criminal use.

Can the person deny the case on a job or license application? Under § 411.0755, a person with a nondisclosure order need not state the related criminal proceeding in an employment, information, or licensing application. That does not prevent an authorized agency listed in § 411.0765 from receiving the record.

Is every misdemeanor eligible after two years? No. Eligibility also turns on the exact offense, sentence type, prior and later record, completion and payment, violence or family-violence rules, and the court's best-interest finding.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Gov't Code §§ 411.072–411.0775 — conviction and deferred-adjudication nondisclosure routes, eligibility, waits, procedure, effect, and retained access. https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/GV/htm/GV.411.htm (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Tex. Code Crim. Proc. ch. 55A — narrow conviction expunction, petition and hearing procedure, record disposition, and effect of the final order. https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/CR/htm/CR.55A.htm (accessed 2026-07-19)