Court-ordered expunction of criminal history records

Plain-language summary

This is Florida's court-ordered expungement statute. Expungement is the strongest remedy: the court orders your record destroyed. FDLE keeps one confidential copy, and only a court order can open it. Every other agency's copy is destroyed. After that, with narrow exceptions, you may lawfully deny the record exists.

No court will look at your petition until FDLE issues a certificate of eligibility. The statute sets what the application takes: a certified disposition of your case — the paper that shows how it ended — a fingerprint card taken by an authorized agency, and a $75 processing fee paid to FDLE. The certificate is not the relief itself. It says your record is the kind a court is allowed to expunge.

The eligibility test is strict. As a rule, the charge must have ended without an adjudication of guilt — dropped, dismissed, or never filed. A conviction for an offense on the section 943.0584 list closes the door, even if adjudication was withheld. You must be done with court supervision. And Florida generally gives you one court-ordered expunction in a lifetime — one arrest record, in one proceeding.

One path starts elsewhere. A record sealed under section 943.059 for 10 years may then qualify for expungement. Once FDLE certifies you, you petition the court in the county where your case was handled. The judge decides, and may grant or deny an eligible petition.