Expungement Petition - Preparation Worksheet - Nevada

Nevada Petition-to-Seal Preparation Guide

Do not file this guide. Nevada State Police provides sample petition and order forms, but the filing and stipulation workflow varies by county and court. Use the current forms and instructions linked on the Nevada State Police History & Sealing of Records page.

Nevada calls this relief record sealing, not expungement. A sealing order restricts access but does not authorize destruction of the records.

1. Select the Correct Statutory Route

2. Conviction Waiting Periods — NRS 179.245(1)

Do not calculate the statutory clock from payment of the last fine, completion of restitution, or a generic “case closed” date. Those events may matter to local review or another sealing statute, but they are not the starting points stated in NRS 179.245(1).

For the 10-year category, “crime of violence” uses the Title 14 definition in NRS 169.052, which points to NRS 200.408. NRS 202.876 defines a different phrase for a child-offense reporting statute and is not the correct definition here.

3. Conviction Eligibility Worksheet

• ☐ The waiting period for every conviction in the petition has elapsed.
• ☐ During each applicable waiting period, Petitioner was not convicted of another offense and has no pending charge, except for minor moving or standing traffic violations. NRS 179.245(5).
• ☐ Each target conviction is outside the exclusions in NRS 179.245(6).

The excluded convictions are:

• A crime against a child, as defined by NRS 179D.0357.
• A sexual offense listed in NRS 179.245(10)(b), including the 2025 addition of specified fertility fraud and attempts to commit a listed offense.
• Invasion of the home with a deadly weapon under NRS 205.067.
• The felony DUI, DUI-homicide, and felony boating-under-the-influence offenses specified in NRS 179.245(6)(d) through (h), subject to the sobriety-program exception in NRS 179.245(7).

Offense-by-offense analysis: [________________________________]

4. Required Petition Information — NRS 179.245(2) and 179.255(3)

• ☐ Current, verified records from the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History.
• ☐ Disposition records for dismissal, declination, or acquittal matters.
• ☐ Petitioner's date of birth.
• ☐ Each conviction or charge to be sealed.
• ☐ Date of arrest for each conviction or charge.
• ☐ Complete list of reasonably known public and private custodians that possess the records and should be named in the order.
• ☐ If NRS 453.3365 is invoked, the required certificate of acknowledgment or disposition from every agency maintaining the records.
• ☐ If applicable, the certification required for a person who was being sex trafficked under NRS 201.300 when the crime occurred.

The current state guide says a separate local-law-enforcement criminal history is no longer required for petitions under NRS 179.245 or 179.255. Do not treat a “SCOPE from every arresting agency” as a statewide statutory attachment requirement.

5. Record Inventory

6. Procedure

1. Obtain the current verified Nevada criminal-history record.
2. Confirm the county's current requirements. The August 2025 Nevada State Police guide describes a stipulation workflow in which the petition, proposed order, criminal history, and supporting records are submitted to the district attorney before filing.
3. Prepare both a petition and proposed order accurately identifying every record and custodian.
4. Under NRS 179.245(3) or 179.255(4)-(5), the court notifies the arresting law-enforcement agency and the appropriate prosecuting attorney. Do not characterize the statute as requiring the petitioner to serve the Attorney General, arresting agency, or Central Repository in every case.
5. The prosecuting agency may stipulate or file a written objection within 30 days after notification. Without a stipulation or objection, the court may grant relief without a hearing if the required findings are made. An objection or the court's refusal to rule on the papers requires a hearing. NRS 179.245(4); NRS 179.255(6).
6. NRS 179.2445 creates a rebuttable presumption in favor of sealing when all statutory requirements are satisfied, except for a dishonorable discharge from probation under NRS 176A.850.

7. Declaration

NRS 53.045 permits an in-state unsworn declaration in substantially this form:

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed on [__/__/____].

[________________________________]

[PETITIONER NAME]

Use any verification, affidavit, or signature format required by the selected court and current local forms.

8. Proposed Order and Distribution

Name the Central Repository and every agency, court, company, official, or other record custodian whose records should be sealed. Under NRS 179.275, the order must be sent to the Central Repository and each named custodian. Each named custodian must seal the covered records, advise the court of compliance, and then seal the order.

The state guide says the petitioner generally serves certified copies of the entered order on the named agencies unless the court directs otherwise. The statute does not impose a universal 30-day agency-compliance deadline, so do not insert one without local authority or a court directive.

9. Effect and Limits

Under NRS 179.285, covered proceedings are deemed never to have occurred, and the person may answer accordingly to inquiries, including employment inquiries. Sealing immediately restores the rights to vote, hold office, and serve on a jury if those rights were not already restored.

Sealing does not restore firearm rights. NRS 179.285(2)(b) and NRS 202.360 require a pardon that does not restrict the right to bear arms for the Nevada felony prohibition addressed there.

NRS 179.301 allows limited inspection in specified circumstances, including gaming-related records by gaming regulators, insurance-related records by the Division of Insurance, certain NRS 202.485 records by a prosecuting attorney, certain sexual-offense information by the Central Repository, registry records in the regular course of official duties, and records relevant to a pardon application by the Board of Pardons Commissioners. It does not create a general inspection right for every licensing board or prosecutor.

Sources and References

• Current NRS Chapter 179 — sealing provisions
• NRS Chapter 169 — Title 14 definitions
• NRS Chapter 200 — crime-of-violence definition and listed offenses
• NRS 202.360 — firearm prohibition and pardon exception
• NRS 53.045 — unsworn declaration
• Nevada State Police sealing guide, revised August 2025
• Nevada State Police sample forms and information