Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in West Virginia

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

West Virginia calls the remedy expungement, but defines it as removal from public records rather than destruction of every copy. W. Va. Code § 61-11-26(p)(2) removes evidence that the person was charged or convicted from public records except for the statute's express exemptions. W. Va. Code § 61-11-26(k) seals court records and orders other agencies, including law enforcement, to expunge their records.

Subject to the exceptions below, the proceeding is treated as never having occurred. Courts and agencies answer that no record exists, and the person ordinarily need not disclose it on employment, credit, or other applications.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

There is no general automatic path. Section 61-11-26(a) repeatedly says the person may petition the circuit court. The petition must be verified under oath, and subsection (h) places the clear-and-convincing burden on the petitioner.

Convictions eligible by petition

W. Va. Code § 61-11-26(a)(1) permits petitions for one or more eligible misdemeanors. Multiple misdemeanors need not arise from one incident, although the petition must identify and group the convictions by circuit court.

One or more felonies may qualify only when they arise from the same transaction or series of transactions and satisfy the statutory definition of nonviolent felony. That definition requires more than avoiding the exclusion list: the court must also find no intentional serious bodily injury, facts consistent with the statute's purposes, and no violence or potential violence to another person or the public.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The exclusion list covers felony violence against a person; specified felonies with a minor victim; sexual offenses; an offense involving use or exhibition of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument; specified domestic violence, strangulation, child-abuse, obscenity, exploitation, licensing, and commercial- driving offenses; DUI; burglary involving a structure regularly used as a dwelling; a conviction found sexually motivated; and specified conspiracies or attempts.

W. Va. Code § 61-11-26b(a) separately bars expungement of a commercial-driver or commercial-vehicle motor-vehicle-control conviction and any DUI conviction. A DUI at least five years old does not, by itself, block expungement of an unrelated and otherwise eligible felony.

The person must also prove that no criminal charge is pending. Relief under §§ 61-11-26 and 61-11-26a can be obtained only once.

Waiting period and when it starts

The ordinary route has three clocks:

• one year for one misdemeanor, measured from the latest of conviction, completion of incarceration, or completion of supervision;
• two years for multiple misdemeanors, measured from the latest of the last conviction, completion of incarceration, or completion of supervision for the last conviction; and
• five years for a nonviolent felony, measured from the latest of conviction, completion of incarceration, or completion of supervision.

W. Va. Code § 61-11-26a offers shorter clocks to an otherwise eligible person with the required medically documented substance-abuse history and approved treatment or recovery compliance, or who graduates from an approved adult job- readiness course. A single misdemeanor may proceed after 90 days of approved treatment compliance or course completion, but not before incarceration and supervision are complete. Multiple misdemeanors use one year, and a nonviolent felony uses three years, each subject to the alternative statute's specified latest-event rule.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The ordinary clock expressly uses completion of incarceration and supervision. Section 61-11-26 does not separately say that all fines, costs, or restitution must be paid before filing. Under § 61-11-26(d)(7), the verified petition must disclose any current or prior restitution, protection, restraining, or no-contact order and to attach a current order.

By clear and convincing evidence, the person must prove that the target convictions are the only convictions for the specified offense or offenses in West Virginia, no charge is pending, expungement is consistent with public welfare, and post-conviction behavior shows rehabilitation and law-abiding conduct. The court may require other facts it finds appropriate or necessary.

Petition process and decision standard

The verified petition goes to the circuit court where the conviction occurred. Under § 61-11-26(e), the petitioner serves the State Police superintendent, county prosecutor, arresting agency's chief officer, relevant confinement official, and disposing court. The prosecutor mails the petition and proposed order to identified victims.

Opponents have 30 days after receipt to file supporting documentation and sworn statements. The petitioner then has 30 days after service to reply. Within 60 days after filing, the court must grant the petition, return it for missing information or obvious corrections, set a hearing, or summarily deny it when the papers show legal ineligibility.

The filing fee equals the fee for starting a civil action. A successful petitioner also pays the State Police $100 to process the order, but § 61-11-26a(c) waives that $100 for the approved-program route.

Who can still see or require disclosure of the record

An applicant for a job involving prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, or incarceration of people for law violations must disclose all convictions despite expungement. A person or entity required by state or federal law to obtain a prospective employee's criminal-history check may also know about the expunged conviction.

The person who is the record's subject may ask to inspect the sealed court record. A prosecutor may petition for inspection when necessary to investigate or prosecute a crime; the court may allow access for a legitimate reason when the interests of justice will be served. Expungement does not reinstate a retirement or employment benefit forfeited because of the conviction.

What trips people up

Avoiding the exclusion list does not automatically make a felony nonviolent. The court must separately find that the offense involved neither violence nor potential violence and that its facts fit the statute's purposes.

The clocks do not all start at sentence completion. Each ordinary tier uses the latest of conviction, incarceration completion, or supervision completion. For multiple misdemeanors, the conviction and supervision events are tied to the last conviction.

The approved-program route shortens time but does not broaden the offense list. Section 61-11-26a requires that the conviction already be eligible under § 61-11-26.

Common questions

Can West Virginia expunge more than one misdemeanor? Yes. The statute provides a two-year route for multiple eligible misdemeanors and tells the petitioner how to group convictions from different circuit courts.

Can West Virginia expunge multiple felonies? Only if each is an eligible nonviolent felony and they arose from the same transaction or series of transactions.

Can a person receive expungement twice? No. The one-time limit applies to relief obtained under the ordinary and approved-program statutes together.

Must an expunged conviction be disclosed for a law-enforcement job? Yes. The statute expressly requires disclosure for work involving law prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, or incarceration.

Does this page cover a dismissed charge or a completed diversion? No. Those nonconviction matters use the separate petition route in § 61-11-25(a), not the conviction-expungement rules compared here.

Statutes and sources

• W. Va. Code § 61-11-26 — general misdemeanor and nonviolent-felony eligibility, one-, two-, and five-year clocks, exclusions, proof, process, fees, effect, retained access, and one-time limit. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/61-11-26/ (accessed 2026-08-13)
• W. Va. Code § 61-11-26a — shortened approved-treatment, recovery, and job- readiness clocks and State Police fee waiver. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/61-11-26A/ (accessed 2026-08-13)
• W. Va. Code § 61-11-26b — commercial-driving and DUI expungement limits. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/61-11-26B/ (accessed 2026-08-13)
• W. Va. Code § 61-11-25 — separate nonconviction, deferred-adjudication, and pretrial-diversion expungement route. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/61-11-25/ (accessed 2026-08-13)