How to Expunge a Record in Virginia, and When You Cannot

To expunge a record in Virginia the charge must have ended without a conviction. Va. Code § 19.2-392.2 allows a person charged with a crime, a civil offense or an offense defined in Title 18.2 to petition for expungement of the police and court records where they were acquitted, or where a nolle prosequi was taken or the charge was otherwise dismissed. There is no court fee for filing that petition.

A conviction is not on that list, and no amount of time passing changes it. That single fact answers most of the questions people arrive with.

Which charges you can expunge from a Virginia record

The petition asks the circuit court to order the expungement of the police records and the court records relating to a charge. Subsection C is specific about where it goes: the circuit court of the county or city in which the case was disposed of — so a traffic or misdemeanor charge dismissed in a general district court is expunged by petition to the circuit court for the same locality, not by going back to the court that heard it. How that second court’s records are searched is a page of its own, on Virginia circuit court case information. Three situations qualify under the section:

• The charge ended in an acquittal at trial.
• A nolle prosequi was taken, or the charge was otherwise dismissed, including dismissal by accord and satisfaction.
• Someone else was charged or arrested using the petitioner’s name or identification without consent. That petition is filed with the court that disposed of the charge and must include a complete set of the petitioner’s fingerprints.

Two further routes exist that are not really petitions at all. Where a charge is dismissed because the court finds the person arrested was not the person named in the summons, warrant, indictment or presentment, the court must order expungement on that person’s motion — a situation that usually surfaces when someone looks a Virginia case up by its number and finds a charge they know nothing about. And where the court receives a copy of an absolute pardon for a crime the person did not commit, or a writ vacating a conviction, it must order expungement of the records relating to the charge and conviction.

A conviction cannot be expunged — including a reduced one

This is where the disappointment usually lands. A conviction of any offense, however small, is outside § 19.2-392.2. A traffic conviction is a conviction, and so is one that came from prepaying a ticket: Va. Code § 16.1-69.40:1 requires a person prepaying to be told first that a signature on a plea of guilty has the same force and effect as a judgment of court and that the record of conviction goes to the Commissioner of the DMV.

This is why how a Virginia case actually ends matters so much to anyone hoping for an expungement: the stage at which a charge stops, and the words the court uses to stop it, decide everything. A charge that was amended or reduced is also outside it. A reckless driving charge reduced to a lesser offense produces a conviction of that lesser offense; it is not a dismissal of the first charge, and the reduced conviction cannot be expunged. What the case record shows in each situation — and what a disposition of “amended” actually means on the screen — is covered on the page about reading a Virginia case status entry.

How the petition works

1. File in the right circuit court. The petition goes to the circuit court of the county or city in which the case was disposed of by acquittal or dismissal — not the district court that heard it.
2. Set out the details. The petition states the specific charge or civil offense to be expunged, the date of final disposition, the petitioner’s date of birth, and the full name used at the time of arrest, and attaches the warrant, summons or indictment if it is reasonably available. The date of arrest and the arresting agency go in too, or the reason they are not available.
3. Ask the Central Criminal Records Exchange for the criminal history record, which is sent to the circuit court — under seal if the court cannot receive it electronically.
4. Serve the attorney for the Commonwealth. A copy of the petition is served on the Commonwealth’s attorney for that county or city, who may file an objection or answer, or give the court written notice of no objection, within 21 days of service.
5. The hearing. The court orders expungement if it finds that the continued existence and possible dissemination of information about the arrest causes or may cause circumstances amounting to a manifest injustice to the petitioner. Where the petitioner has no prior criminal record and the arrest was for a misdemeanor, or the charge was for a civil offense, the section entitles the petitioner to expungement in the absence of good cause shown to the contrary by the Commonwealth.
6. No filing fee. The section says a person is not required to pay court fees or costs for filing the petition. Other costs — an attorney, obtaining documents — are not covered by that.

The Commonwealth is made a party to the proceeding, and either side may appeal as in a civil case.

Sealing: the other route, for some convictions

Va. Code § 19.2-392.12 is a separate mechanism that does reach some convictions. A person convicted of, or who had a charge deferred and dismissed for, a misdemeanor, a Class 5 or Class 6 felony, or certain larceny felonies, where the offense date was on or after 1 January 1986, may petition the circuit court to seal the criminal history record information and the court records.

The conditions are strict, and worth reading before hoping:

• A conviction-free period of seven years for a misdemeanor or ten years for a felony, measured from the later of the conviction, the deferred dismissal, release from incarceration or a probation violation finding. Traffic infractions under Title 46.2 do not count against the petitioner for this purpose.
• No conviction ever of a Class 1 or Class 2 felony or another felony punishable by life; no Class 3 or Class 4 felony in the past 20 years; no other felony in the past 10 years.
• Any restitution ordered has been paid in full, and where alcohol or drugs were involved, rehabilitation is demonstrated.
• The same manifest-injustice finding as expungement.
• A maximum of two petitions granted in a lifetime, and no court fee for filing.
• A list of ineligible offenses in the section, which includes driving under the influence and the commercial-driver equivalents.

The Commonwealth’s attorney has 30 days to object or to notify the court of no objection, and where there is no objection the court may seal without a hearing.

What expungement does not do

It does not touch the DMV. Va. Code § 46.2-208 governs the driving record, which holds the convictions the courts have reported and the demerit points assessed for them, and § 19.2-392.2 reaches the police and court records rather than that. A driving record shortens on the DMV’s own schedule and not otherwise; the detail is on the page about Virginia driving records.

It also does not change what was never reported. Va. Code § 19.2-390 lists the charges that must be reported with fingerprints to the Central Criminal Records Exchange, and the reckless driving sections are not among them — so a reckless driving conviction usually does not appear on a Virginia State Police criminal history check in the first place, while remaining a misdemeanor conviction on the court record and the driving record.

And it does not hide a case retroactively from copies already taken. The Commonwealth’s own case information system stops showing an expunged charge, and §§ 17.1-208 and 16.1-69.54:1 forbid the redistribution of Virginia case data to third parties, which is why this site holds none — but commercial sites that copied a record before the order are outside the court’s reach, and getting a stale entry corrected is a matter of asking them. Which body holds which Virginia record, and how to ask each one, is set out on the page about Virginia public records.

Expungement and sealing are court proceedings with deadlines, a standard to meet and an opposing party. A Virginia attorney who does them regularly is the right person to prepare the petition, and the absence of a filing fee makes that the main cost to weigh.