Clear your Missouri record.

An expunged record is closed, not destroyed. The public cannot see it. Police, prosecutors and criminal justice agencies still can. Some job and license forms still ask about it.

Some crimes cannot be expunged under this section. Class A felonies and dangerous felonies are on that list. So are offenses that need sex offender registration. So are felony assault, domestic assault and felony kidnapping. So is driving, boating or flying while intoxicated. The list goes on, so check it. A first intoxicated-driving misdemeanor has its own ten-year rule, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.130.

The wait runs from the day you finish your sentence or probation. It is one year for a misdemeanor, an ordinance violation or an infraction. It is three years for a felony. You must have no new misdemeanor or felony in that time. Traffic tickets do not count. You must owe nothing on the case, with no charge pending. An arrest with no charge can be expunged eighteen months later. You must have had no new misdemeanor or felony since.

Your petition must name every agency and court that holds the record. The clerk tells the prosecutor. The prosecutor has thirty days to object in writing. If there is an objection, the court holds a hearing within sixty days. The court must grant or dismiss the petition within six months of filing. If it is dismissed for not meeting the rules, you wait a year from your filing date to file again.

In a lifetime, you can expunge no more than three misdemeanors or jailable ordinance violations, and two felonies. Infractions do not count. Crimes from one course of conduct count once, at the highest level.

A new law, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.141, has the state clear some drug possession and paraphernalia convictions on its own. No petition is needed. It starts by January 1, 2027. Those count toward the same limits.