Expungement / Record Sealing Petition and Eligibility Memo — Iowa

IOWA EXPUNGEMENT ELIGIBILITY MEMO AND FORM-DATA WORKSHEET

PART A — ELIGIBILITY MEMO

To: [CLIENT / FILE]

From: [ATTORNEY / REVIEWER]

Date: [__/__/____]

Re: Iowa expungement route for [NAME]

1. Bottom-line route

☐ Rule 2.86—Form 1 / Iowa Code § 901C.2 — all charges acquitted or dismissed

☐ Rule 2.86—Form 2 / Iowa Code § 901C.3 — eligible misdemeanor conviction

☐ Rule 2.86—Form 3 / Iowa Code § 123.46(6) — public intoxication

☐ Rule 2.86—Form 4 / Iowa Code § 123.47(9) — under-legal-age alcohol

☐ Rule 2.86—Form 5 / Iowa Code § 725.1(1)(c) — specified prostitution conviction before age 18

☐ Iowa Code § 907.9(4) — discharged deferred judgment

☐ No current route / additional research required

2. Record summary

3. Form 1 analysis — § 901C.2

Eligibility requires:

1. Acquittal on all charges or dismissal of all charges in the case;
2. Payment of all case-specific court costs, fees, and other financial obligations;
3. At least 180 days after acquittal or dismissal, unless the court finds good cause to waive the period;
4. No dismissal based on a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity finding; and
5. No incompetency-to-stand-trial finding in the case.

Section 901C.2 does not apply to a deferred-judgment dismissal under § 907.9. All parties must have time to object that a statutory condition has not been established.

Assessment: [eligible / ineligible / premature / good-cause waiver needed]

Reason: [____________________________________________________________]

4. Form 2 analysis — § 901C.3

Eligibility requires:

1. A misdemeanor conviction;
2. More than eight years after the conviction date;
3. No pending criminal charge;
4. Fewer than two previously granted deferred judgments;
5. Payment of every court cost, fee, fine, restitution amount, and other financial obligation in the covered case;
6. No excluded conviction under § 901C.3(2); and
7. No prior § 901C.3 expungement.

The statute does not impose the old “no subsequent conviction” test. Use the current pending-charge and deferred-judgment conditions.

Exclusion review

Exact conviction statute: [________________________________]

Code edition at conviction: [________________________________]

Current § 901C.3(2) exclusion category, if any: [________________________________]

The current exclusions cover the statutes and chapters listed in § 901C.3(2)(a) through (x), including specified alcohol, traffic, OWI, sex, violence, harassment, stalking, trespass, animal, governmental, weapons, family, obscenity, sexually predatory, and commercial-driving offenses, plus comparable prior-law offenses.

Assessment: [eligible / excluded / premature / further historical-code comparison needed]

Lifetime and related-case strategy

Only one § 901C.3 expungement may be granted in a lifetime. One application can include multiple misdemeanor records only when they arose from the same transaction or occurrence, and the official instructions require filing in every included case.

Related eligible cases: [________________________________]

Reason to use the lifetime remedy now: [________________________________]

5. Forms 3, 4, and 5 analysis

Each special route generally requires two years after conviction and no other conviction during that period except a local traffic violation or simple misdemeanor under chapter 321.

6. Deferred-judgment analysis — § 907.9(4)

Upon discharge from probation after a deferred judgment, the deferred-judgment record and qualifying dismissed counts are expunged after the statute's financial conditions are satisfied.

Related charges outside the charging instrument require a court order identifying them. A dismissed count or related charge cannot be expunged under this route when the case includes an unexpunged conviction, other than a contempt finding.

Discharge date: [__/__/____]

Financial obligations status: [________________________________]

Related-charge order needed: ☐ Yes ☐ No

7. Recommendation

Recommended official form or action: [________________________________]

Filing county and case(s): [________________________________]

Attachments required: [________________________________]

Service method: [electronic automatic service / paper mail or delivery to county attorney]

PART B — FORM 2 DATA WORKSHEET

Use this section only to prepare current Rule 2.86—Form 2.

Personal information

Related case list

Required assertions

☐ No prior § 901C.3 expungement

☐ Every included conviction is an eligible misdemeanor

☐ All covered-case financial obligations are paid

☐ More than eight years since each included conviction

☐ No pending criminal charge

☐ No more than one previously granted deferred judgment

☐ Official DCI Iowa criminal-history record attached and dated within 30 days before filing

DCI record date: [__/__/____]

Filing and service

☐ Current Form 2 filed in every included case in the county where each conviction occurred

☐ If electronically filed, county attorney service will occur through the filing system

☐ If paper filed, mailing-or-delivery certification completed and copy provided to county attorney

☐ Application signed under penalty of perjury

PART C — EFFECT OF RELIEF

Section 901C.2

The court record is confidential and exempt from public access, but the clerk provides it without court order to the defendant and to persons or agencies with deferred-judgment-docket access under § 907.4(2).

Section 901C.3

The record is confidential and exempt from public access and is available from the clerk upon court order. After clerk notice, the Department of Public Safety removes the conviction from its criminal-history data files if maintained there.

Special conviction routes

Sections 123.46(6), 123.47(9), and 725.1(1)(c) direct expungement as a matter of law when their conditions are satisfied and removal from Department of Public Safety criminal-history files after clerk notice.

CURRENT OFFICIAL SOURCES

• Iowa Code chapter 901C: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/901C.pdf
• Iowa Code § 907.9: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/907.9.pdf
• Iowa Code § 123.46: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/123.46.pdf
• Iowa Code § 123.47: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/123.47.pdf
• Iowa Code § 725.1: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/725.1.pdf
• Rule 2.86—Form 1: https://www.iowacourts.gov/collections/738/files/1569/embedDocument
• Rule 2.86—Form 2 and official instructions: https://www.iowacourts.gov/collections/867/files/1965/embedDocument
• Rule 2.86—Form 3: https://www.iowacourts.gov/collections/595/files/1276/embedDocument
• Rule 2.86—Form 4: https://www.iowacourts.gov/collections/595/files/1279/embedDocument
• Rule 2.86—Form 5: https://www.iowacourts.gov/collections/867/files/1974/embedDocument

Recheck the live Code and newest official form revision immediately before filing.