Fort Worth Expunction Timeline

Any time after the person has been found not guilty, if they go through a trial, and they are found not guilty by a judge, or jury, then they can immediately file for an expunction. In fact, if they file within thirty days, no court costs are involved. So, with a Fort Worth expunction attorney’s help with the expunction filed within thirty days, saves the person about $350 in court costs in filing fees. If the case was dismissed, then they have to wait for the statute of limitations to expire, which could be anywhere from two years up to ten. Most offenses are eligible for expunction, but it is two years for misdemeanors, and anywhere from three to ten years for felony offenses.

There are some felony offenses, which there is no statute of limitations, and murder is one of those. Murder has no statute of limitations. Therefore, if you are arrested for murder, and it is dismissed, or it is never filed, unfortunately, you cannot get that expunged. If you are not guilty, you can get that expunged.

Disclosing An Arrest Following An Expunction

If the FBI and the NSA require that you tell them that you have ever been arrested even if it was for an expunction, I guess you could not tell them, but then they will probably find out about it, and you will not get the job, or whatever you were applying for. Otherwise, if you are asked about it when you are testifying in a court of law, and in any type of a court proceedings, you do not have to disclose this information, but you are supposed to turn to the judge and say, “There was a matter that was subject to expunction”, and that is supposed to end the inquiry.

Importance of Consulting With An Attorney

There are many pitfalls into which a layperson could fall, which is not properly preparing the petition, prosecuting it, or in properly drafting any order, which could cause the expunction to be denied, or ineffective. If an expunction is one-time denied for any reason, say they did not properly plead or prepared the petition, then they are barred from later filing that petition for expunction again, but with an experienced attorney would plea it correctly the first time.

It is very important that they have counsel who is not just attorneys, but experts in expunction who know how to prepare the petition, the order, and to prosecute the expunction, so it is granted properly, and affectively expunged.