Expeal compared with doing it yourself
You can clear a Florida record entirely on your own. Nothing in the law requires a service or a lawyer, and the government's fees are the same for everyone. This page describes what the on-your-own path takes, so you can decide whether Expeal's part of it is worth paying for.
What doing it yourself involves
You would obtain a certified disposition of your case from the clerk, have a fingerprint card taken by an authorized agency, complete FDLE's certificate-of-eligibility application, and send the packet with FDLE's processing fee. When the certificate comes back, you would draft the petition and supporting documents the statute requires — Fla. Stat. § 943.0585 for expungement, Fla. Stat. § 943.059 for sealing — and file them with your county's clerk of court, with the clerk's service charge under Fla. Stat. § 28.24(26). Then the court rules.
What is the same either way
Every government fee and every eligibility rule. FDLE's certificate wait applies to all applicants, the clerk's charge is statutory, and the judge's discretion is the same whoever prepared the paperwork. The pricing page lists each government figure with its source and date — those rows are what you would pay on your own too.
Where Expeal fits
Expeal's DIY+ package is $99, flat, for the document-preparation part: we create all the necessary documents and send them to you, and you handle the filing yourself. What you are paying for is drafting against the statute's requirements — not access, not speed, and not any change to your odds with FDLE or the court.
Choosing
If you are comfortable reading the statute and assembling the packet, the on-your-own path is real and complete. If you want the documents prepared for you, check your eligibility first — the check is free either way, and its questions are the same ones the application asks.
Sources
- The FDLE certificate-of-eligibility application requires a certified disposition, a fingerprint card taken by an authorized agency, and the processing fee — FDLE Certificate of Eligibility Instructions (retrieved )
- The clerk's statutory service charge for sealing or expunging a record is set by statute, county-administered — Fla. Stat. 28.24(26) (2025), leg.state.fl.us (retrieved )
- The petition's eligibility rules and required contents follow the statute regardless of who prepares it — Fla. Stat. 943.0585 (2025), leg.state.fl.us (retrieved )
- Expeal's DIY+ package prepares the documents and sends them to you; you handle the filing yourself — Expeal — how it works in Florida (quoting the application's own package description) (retrieved )
Methodology
Category comparison only — no named competitor. The fully-on-your-own path is described from the same primary sources Expeal's own product follows (the statutes and FDLE's published process, each cited with its retrieval date); Expeal's figures come from the application's published price data and the registry's sourced government-fee rows. Re-checked when any cited source or the Expeal price changes.
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