Indiana Expungement Attorneys
Money-Back Guarantee on Expungement Services
Don’t be Haunted by Your Criminal Past
Let an Indiana expungement attorney from Keffer Hirschauer LLP help you clean up your record. Through the process of expungement, you can legally seal your records, removing unnecessary roadblocks in your life. And at Keffer Hirschauer LLP, we offer a money-back guarantee on expungement services—a win-win for our qualifying clients!
An arrest, charge, or conviction can make it difficult to obtain jobs, housing, or loans; purchase or carry a firearm; or improve your life in general. But your criminal record does not have to define or limit you. Indiana expungement law allows you to clean up your record so you can move forward with your life and achieve your goals.
Unlike pardons, which forgive an offense, expungements in Indiana seals the records relating to an arrest, charge, or conviction after the individual has performed all obligations in that matter. Often called the Indiana Second Chance Law, Indiana expungement law lets you start again without the baggage a criminal record can bring.
Indiana expungement law provides broader expungement relief than in many other states. Whereas others may provide limited misdemeanor and felony relief, misdemeanor or felony pardons, only misdemeanor relief, or no relief at all, Indiana is among a handful of states that provides a process for expunging records of all misdemeanors and most felonies.
Learn how an Indiana expungement attorney from Keffer Hirschauer LLP can help.
Why It’s Important to Expunge Indiana Records
Even if your criminal case is in the distant past, your record may not be. Your prior arrests, charges, and convictions can continue to impact your life in a variety of ways:
- Job applications
- Child custody matters
- Driving privileges
- Professional licensure
- State and local online records
- Immigration matters
- Your right to own a firearm
While you can’t change the past, you may be able to change the record of it with the help of an Indiana expungement attorney.
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Lawyers at Keffer Hirschauer LLP are skilled litigators, shrewd legal researchers, and compassionate legal service providers who want to help protect your rights
Expungement is the legal process of sealing the records of your criminal history. If you have a criminal record, potential employers, landlords, courts, and licensing organizations can ask you questions about your criminal past or access your criminal record through backgrounds checks or sources such as the state’s online case history portal.
If you obtain an expungement, those records are sealed from all but official government access, and you are under no legal obligation to answer questions from prospective employers, landlords, school applications, lending authorities, or other civilians about criminal arrests, charges or convictions in your expungement order. In short, an Indiana expungement attorney can help you obtain a successful petition for expungement to clean up your record and give you a second chance without your past getting in the way.
Expungement in Indiana can legally seal your criminal records of arrests or convictions after completion of your sentence for misdemeanor convictions at least five years old, Class D or Level 6 felonies at least eight years old, and felonies reduced to misdemeanor convictions. The process seals your criminal records for many purposes. However, even if all requirements are met, the court may or may not grant the request to expunge major felony conviction records.
In 2013, the Indiana General Assembly made revisions to the Indiana Criminal Code that included significant changes to the laws regarding expungements. Under the law, you are not allowed to be discriminated against, and any conviction of a criminal offense that qualifies for expungement can be sealed with the help of an Indiana expungement attorney. This record sealing can help restore your life and entitles you to legally deny that any criminal record ever existed.
The conviction or arrest will not appear on background checks for employers, and you do not have to disclose a past conviction on an application for employment, educational opportunities, or loans if your record has been sealed. There are many benefits to expungement, and the Indiana expungement lawyers of Keffer Hirschauer LLP can help you understand the process as it applies to your situation.
Indiana expungement law allows the expungement or sealing of arrests that did not result in conviction, certain felony convictions at least eight years old, misdemeanor convictions at least five years old, and more.
Records of the following items may be sealed under Indiana expungement law
Records of the following items may be sealed under Indiana expungement law
- Arrests
- Criminal charges
- Delinquency adjudications
- Criminal convictions
- Trial court records
- Appellate court records
- Forfeiture records
- Post-conviction relief records
You must file a separate petition for expungement in each county in which an arrest, charge, juvenile adjudication, or conviction occurred, and you must consolidate all expungement petitions filed in a single county.
Significantly, expungement is a one-time deal; meaning you can only request expungement in Indiana once. All of the records you wish to have expunged must be listed on your petition. If you wish to expunge records in different counties, you must file a petition for expungement in each county where you have records you wish to expunge, and you must file all of the petitions within a one-year period.
Given these restrictions and the complexities of Indiana expungement law, working with an experienced Indiana expungement attorney is critical to make sure your request covers as much of your criminal history as possible, meets all the requirements of the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure, and is appropriately and timely filed.
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Lawyers at Keffer Hirschauer LLP are skilled litigators, shrewd legal researchers, and compassionate legal service providers who want to help protect your rights
Eligibility for expungement of your adult criminal record is determined by looking at the following information:
- The nature of the record (arrest, charge, or conviction)
- The level and nature of the offense
- The amount of time that has passed since the arrest, charge, or conviction you wish to have expunged
- Additional characteristics of the petitioner
The expungement requirements explained below are summarized in this table on Indiana’s Sealing/Expungement Law.
Expungements
In Indiana, arrests, dismissed charges, and juvenile delinquency records are eligible for expungement, but expungement is not automatic. For example, records of an arrest are not automatically expunged if charges are not filed or are dismissed, and juvenile records are not automatically expunged when the offender turns 18 years old. However, you can request expungement upon meeting all of the following criteria:
- The arrest or charge did not result in a conviction or juvenile delinquency adjudication OR the arrest resulted in a conviction or juvenile delinquency adjudication that was overturned on appeal
- You are not currently participating in a pretrial diversion program
- You are one or more years from the date of arrest
- You have had no convictions in the year prior to seeking expungement
- You have no criminal charges currently pending
- You have successfully completed all diversion program requirements
If all of the necessary requirements for expungement are met, the court must grant the request to expunge the listed records of your arrests, charge, or juvenile delinquency adjudications.
A conviction for a misdemeanor, a D felony or Level 6 felony, or a D Felony/Level 6 felony that has been reduced to misdemeanor is eligible for expungement if you satisfy all of the following:
- Five or more years have passed from the date of conviction
- You have had no conviction in the five years before requesting the expungement
- You have no criminal charges currently pending
- You have paid all fines, fees, court costs, and restitution orders
- You have paid the expungement filing fee
If all of these requirements are met, the court must grant the request to expunge misdemeanor conviction records.
For expungement of a D felony or Level 6 felony that has not been reduced to a misdemeanor, you must meet the following requirements:
- Eight or more years have passed since your conviction
- You have had no convictions in the eight years prior to requesting expungement
- You have no criminal charges currently pending
- You have paid all fines, fees, court costs, and restitution orders
- You have paid the expungement filing fee
If all of these requirements are met, the court must grant the request to expunge low-level felony conviction records.
Eligibility for expungement of major felony convictions requires meeting higher and additional conditions over those required for expungement of lower level offenses. Major felonies include C level felonies and higher under the prior sentencing level scheme and Level 5 felonies and higher under the current felony level class scheme.
To qualify for expungement of this class of convictions, you must satisfy the following requirements:
- Eight or more years have passed since your conviction OR three or more years have passed from the completion of your sentence, whichever is later
- You have had no convictions in the eight years prior to requesting expungement
- You have no criminal charges currently pending
- You have paid all fines, fees, court costs, and restitution orders
- You have paid the expungement filing fee
Requesting expungement of serious felonies adds a new requirement: prosecutor approval. These offenses fall into this category:
- Offenses resulting in serious bodily injury to another person
- Offenses committed while serving an elected public office or as a candidate for public office
However, under no circumstances is expungement available for the following offenses:
- Sex or violent offender under Indiana Code § 11-8-8-5
- Official misconduct under Indiana Code § 35-44.1-1-1
- Homicide, voluntary manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter
- A person convicted of two or more offenses involving the use of a deadly weapon that were not committed as part of the same episode of criminal conduct
Those requesting expungement of eligible serious felonies must meet all of the following:
- Ten or more years have passed since your most recent conviction OR five or more years have passed from the completion of your sentence, whichever is later
- You have had no convictions in the ten years prior to requesting expungement
- You have no criminal charges currently pending
- You have paid all fines, fees, court costs, and restitution orders
- You have paid the expungement filing fee
- The prosecutor consents to expungement
As with expungement of major felonies, the court may or may not grant the request to expunge these serious felony conviction records.
Having your criminal records sealed protects you from discrimination based on past mistakes. Expunged records will not show up in public records databases, and a prospective employer may not ask you about your prior arrest or criminal record.
In recent years, the Indiana General Assembly has revised the expungement statutes in the Indiana criminal code. These revisions have affected what it means to expunge Indiana records in Indiana. Currently, successful expungement limits most access to criminal records and seals those records from all but those with a court order for access to the records or a law enforcement officer acting within the course of duty. What happens to expunged records?
- Expunged arrest records are placed under seal. Where an arrest resulted in a related or collateral action, the court records of that case will also be redacted to remove the individual’s name.
- Expunged misdemeanor records and D Level or Level 6 felony records are treated as follows:
- The Indiana Department of Correction, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and any law enforcement agency or person who incarcerated, prosecuted, or provided treatment or services pursuant to a court order shall be ordered not to release the person’s records or information about the person.
- The state repository for criminal history information shall be ordered to seal the expunged records, including records related to any collateral action such as a civil forfeiture case.
- The expungement of major felony and serious felony conviction records is treated differently. These records, including records of collateral actions, remain public records but they are marked as “expunged.” The Indiana State Police, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and any other law enforcement agency with records relating to the arrest, charge, or conviction for a major or serious felony (equal to or higher than a C felony or a Level 5 felony) must add a notation to their records about the case that the case has been expunged.
With limited exceptions, expungement does not result in the destruction of expunged records. Law enforcement, federal officials, and others who conduct background checks may still have restricted access to expunged criminal records.
The Indiana criminal defense attorneys at Keffer Hirschauer LLP routinely assist clients with evaluating their eligibility for expungement and see the expungement process through to completion. We can help you with all aspects of the expungement process:
- Confirming that you qualify for an expungement
- Gathering your case records
- Researching your criminal history
- Gathering any other necessary court documents
- Preparing your expungement petition
- Arguing on your behalf in court
- Distributing notice of your expungement to state agencies
We are so confident as Indiana expungement and record sealing attorneys that we offer a no-risk, 100 percent money-back guarantee on our infraction, misdemeanor, and felony expungement services. In other words, if we don’t get your conviction expunged, you don’t have to pay us anything!
Why would you want to pay for legal assistance that did not produce the outcome you desire? Our Indianapolis criminal defense attorneys pride themselves on obtaining positive results for our clients, as we feel that it is only fair that you only have to pay us when we get the job done.
A criminal history, even a record of an arrest, can follow you for the rest of your life. It can keep you from certain jobs, firearms licenses, and other privileges and tarnish your reputation. And, given that our world is becoming more connected, your criminal history can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection who knows where to look. Why let them? And why let your criminal history hold you back?
Now is the time to act! To determine your eligibility to file for expungement and permanently seal your criminal records, you need to contact an Indiana expungement attorney from our team. We stand ready to provide our clients with trusted representation and accurate information regarding their eligibility to file. Our firm can answer any questions you have regarding record sealing and help provide you with a favorable resolution to your case.
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