Expeal compared with a private attorney
A private attorney and Expeal are different tools. The honest comparison starts there.
What an attorney provides that Expeal does not
A licensed attorney gives you advice about your specific situation, exercises judgment on the parts of your record that do not fit the common path, represents you in court, and answers for the work under the rules of their profession. Expeal does none of that. Expeal is not a law firm, using it creates no attorney-client relationship, and the documents we prepare are driven by the information you supply.
If your record is complex — several arrests, out-of-state history, unresolved court-ordered amounts, federal charges, immigration consequences, or active supervision — an attorney's judgment is worth more than any document service. Our disclosures say the same thing, state by state.
What is the same either way
Florida's eligibility rules do not change with representation. The certificate of eligibility from FDLE, the fees the government charges, and the court's discretion over the petition are set by Fla. Stat. § 943.0585 and Fla. Stat. § 943.059 — the same for every applicant. FDLE processes certificate applications in the order received and expedites no one, so the typically-12-week wait is the same with or without counsel.
What the costs look like
Attorney pricing has no single honest number: it varies with the market, the scope of the engagement, and the complexity of your record — which is why no figure appears here. Expeal's DIY+ package is $99, flat: we create all the necessary documents and send them to you, and you handle the filing yourself. The government fees on our pricing page apply in either case, because Florida charges them to every applicant.
Choosing
If you want representation, start with your state bar's referral pathway — our bar-referral directory lists every state's, with the phone number the bar publishes. If your record fits the common path and you are comfortable filing yourself, the eligibility check is where Expeal starts.
Sources
- The eligibility rules, the certificate-of-eligibility prerequisite, and the government fees are set by statute and apply whether or not you have a lawyer — Fla. Stat. 943.0585 (2025), leg.state.fl.us (retrieved )
- FDLE processes every certificate application in the order received, typically in 12 weeks — no filer is expedited — FDLE Seal and Expunge Process (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 )
- Each state bar's lawyer-referral pathway, with phone numbers and verification dates — Expeal bar-referral directory (retrieved )
Methodology
Category comparison only — no named competitor. Every factual claim above cites a primary source with the date we read it; statements about attorney pricing are deliberately unquantified because no single citable figure describes them. Figures shown for Expeal come from the application's own published price data. Re-checked when any cited source or the Expeal price changes.
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