How it works in Louisiana

The steps

1. Request your record

   Get a certified copy of your Louisiana criminal history from the Louisiana State Police through its Right to Review: schedule a fingerprint appointment at a Louisiana Applicant Processing System site, pay at the appointment, and choose the mailed printed copy (stamped "True Copy" with a raised seal) — the one the state police recommend for an expungement. If you cannot appear, two fingerprint cards, the Bureau's forms and the fee go by mail. Under art. 978.1, the background check that goes with your motion must be dated within sixty days of filing, so time this step close to your filing.

   Record request fee: $26.00 — Base statutory fee per R.S. 15:587.B. Separate $5 technology surcharge (R.S. 15:587 D(1), effective December 1, 2024) brings LAPS out-of-pocket to $31.

2. Review your record

   Confirm there is no disqualifying information in your history. If there is something incorrect, follow the process to challenge the issue. If everything is accurate, make a copy for your file and keep the original somewhere safe.

3. Request certified documents

   Collect the documents the motion must carry. Under art. 978.1, the Louisiana State Police receive, with the motion: your background check from the Louisiana State Police or a sheriff's office dated within sixty days of filing (Step 1); a certification letter from the district attorney saying that, to his knowledge, you have no convictions or pending charges within the waiting period and whether any charges from the arrest were refused; the court minute entries showing the final disposition of the case — or a charge disposition report, or a letter from the clerk of court that no such records exist; and the charging instrument (the bill of information, indictment or affidavit). The district attorney's certification is also what La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 977 and art. 978 require with a motion filed after the waiting period. Get certified copies from the clerk of the court that handled your case. If your conviction was for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, attach the certified letter from the Office of Motor Vehicles that article 984 requires; it carries its own court cost. Louisiana clerk-of-court fees are set per parish; the figure cited here is the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court schedule as a baseline.

   Certified copy fee: $10.00

4. Verify the final documents

   Review each document for accuracy. Confirm each one is certified and clearly shows you completed your obligations. Make copies of every original.

5. Prepare your motion

   Complete the motion for your type of charge and outcome — the Code's own form (article 989; article 998 for a first-offense marijuana possession conviction). Note the waiting periods. A misdemeanor conviction under La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 977 can be expunged when more than five years have passed since you completed the sentence, deferred adjudication, probation or parole, with no felony conviction in those five years and no felony charge pending — or at once if the court set the conviction aside and dismissed the prosecution under article 894(B), and after ninety days for a first-offense possession of marijuana. A felony conviction under art. 978 can be expunged when more than ten years have passed since you completed the sentence, deferred adjudication, probation or parole, with no other conviction in the ten years before the motion and no charge pending — or at once if the conviction was set aside and dismissed under article 893(E) or you are entitled to a first offender pardon (not for a crime of violence or a sex offense). Six listed felonies — aggravated battery, second degree battery, aggravated criminal damage to property, simple robbery, purse snatching, and illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities — can be expunged only after a contradictory hearing, with the same ten years. An arrest that did not end in a conviction has no waiting period under art. 976 — the charge was refused, dismissed or quashed, you were acquitted, or the time to prosecute ran out — except an arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated that went to pretrial diversion, which waits five years from the arrest. A conviction for domestic abuse battery, stalking or a sex offense cannot be expunged; a crime of violence only if it is one of the six above; and a drug offense only if it was possession, possession with intent to distribute, an offense punishable by five years or less, one set aside under article 893(E), or one with a first offender pardon.

6. Finalize your motion

   Take the completed motion from Step 5, the documents collected in Step 3, and the background check from Step 1, and put them together in a complete package. Double-check every file in the package is the original and ensure you have a copy of the complete package for your personal file.

7. File your expungement motion

   Once you have confirmed you have everything, file the motion with the clerk of court in the parish where you were arrested or convicted. The clerk collects every processing fee when you file — under art. 983, the Louisiana State Police's, the sheriff's, the district attorney's and the clerk's own — by money order or an attorney's check; none is refunded if the motion is denied. You pay no fee if the district attorney certifies (the Certification of Fee Waiver, article 988) that you have no felony convictions and no pending felony charges and your case ended in an acquittal after trial, a dismissal or a refusal to prosecute without pretrial diversion, or no prosecution within the time limit, or you were the victim of identity theft or another misuse of your identity; a person with a pardon (not a first offender pardon), a person found factually innocent, a juvenile who completed a juvenile drug court program, and a certified victim of human trafficking also pay no fee. Otherwise you may ask to proceed without paying costs (article 983(L)).

   Filing fee: $550.00 — The statute's cap on the total: $250 to the Louisiana State Police, $50 to the sheriff, $50 to the district attorney and up to $200 to the clerk of court, all collected by the clerk when the motion is filed and not refunded (art. 983(A)-(E)); waived for the cases art. 983(F)-(J) lists.

8. Work with the court

   After you file, the clerk serves the motion on the district attorney of the parish of conviction, the Louisiana State Police (its Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information) and the arresting agency. Under art. 980, each has sixty days to file an objection with its reasons, and the court may extend that by up to thirty days; an agency may also file a "No Opposition" early. If any of them objects, the court sets a contradictory hearing and the objecting agency must show why the motion should not be granted. If no one objects, you may waive the hearing, and the court grants the motion if you are entitled to it under the law. Respond promptly to anything the court asks for.

9. Receive the court's order

   Once the court rules on the motion, it issues an order either granting or denying expungement. Review the order's terms carefully — they spell out which records are covered. Keep a certified copy of the order for your own files.

10. Verify the record update

    Under art. 982, the clerk of court serves the order and judgment on the district attorney of the parish of conviction, the Louisiana State Police (its Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information), the sheriff of the parish of conviction and the arresting agency; the judgment does not bind an agency that was not served with the motion and the judgment (article 981). An expunged record is removed from public access, not destroyed, and stays confidential except to the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, prosecutors, judges, courts and licensing bodies that art. 973 lists; you need not disclose the arrest, the conviction or the expungement to anyone else. Confirm with the arresting agency and the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information that their records reflect the expungement. A private background-check company must stop reporting the arrest or conviction once it has notice of the order: send it a certified copy by certified or registered mail with a return receipt (article 974), and keep your own certified copy as your authoritative reference.

If you have to mail anything, remember to keep a copy of whatever you send and to use a method with a tracking number like the USPS Flat Rate Envelope.