How it works in New Hampshire

The steps

1. Request your record

   Get your own full record from the New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police, with its Criminal History Record Information Release Authorization Form. Under Purpose of Record, check the reason code Annulment/Expungement, check Other, and write that you want a full and confidential record — the one that shows arrests with and without a conviction. A mailed request must be notarized; at the public counter in Concord you show a government-issued photo ID. No one may receive your record on your behalf. The State Police also suggest your driving record from the DMV and a case summary from each court you want an annulment in, since some cases are not on the record.

   Record request fee: $25.00

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. Gather your case details

   Gather the case details the petition asks for: the case number, the offense and its RSA section, the offense date, the date of conviction or other disposition, the date you completed every term of the sentence, and a description of the sentence. If you lack any of them, the court's checklist says you may request a computer case summary from the court or the Information Center. RSA 651:5 and the court's checklist require no certified copies with the petition; if you want a certified copy of the disposition for your own file, the clerk charges a certification fee per document.

   Certified copy fee: $10.00

4. Verify the final documents

   Check each item against your record and the court's file: the names, the addresses, the dates, and every charge and request listed. Make copies of every original.

5. Prepare your petition

   Use the court's form for your case: the Petition to Annul Record for an offense resolved before January 1, 2019; the Petition of Eligibility for Annulment of Record — Conviction, or Non-Conviction — for one resolved on or after that date; and the marijuana petition under RSA 651:5-b for possessing three-quarters of an ounce or less before September 16, 2017, which you may file at any time. Under RSA 651:5, a conviction can be annulled once you have completed all the terms and conditions of the sentence and have since been convicted of no other crime — a motor vehicle violation other than driving while intoxicated does not count — for: one year for a violation, unless the offense is one RSA 259:39 lists; two years for a class B misdemeanor; three years for a class A misdemeanor; five years for a class B felony; ten years for a class A felony; ten years for sexual assault under RSA 632-A:4, for felony indecent exposure or lewdness under RSA 645:1, II, and for a misdemeanor domestic violence offense under RSA 631:2-b (a later domestic violence conviction holds the earlier one until it is itself eligible); and two years for a class A misdemeanor or felony under RSA 318-B:26, II. The court's checklist adds that the wait begins the day after the last fine, restitution, suspended sentence, good-behavior term, probation or court-ordered program ends, and that an offense with an enhanced penalty for a second conviction waits out that period first. With more than one conviction, every offense's wait must have run. No petition may be brought for a violent crime, a felony crime of obstruction of justice, or an offense that drew an extended term of imprisonment under RSA 651:6, and a conviction for driving under the influence cannot be annulled until ten years after the date of conviction (RSA 265-A:21). A charge that ended with no conviction — a not guilty finding, a dismissal or no prosecution — or a conviction a court vacated can be petitioned at any time if it was disposed of before January 1, 2019; for a case disposed of on or after that date the court must annul the arrest record and court record, thirty days after a dismissal or a not guilty finding on every charge from the arrest if no appeal is taken, or when an appeal affirming the dismissal ends. If a petition is denied, you may not bring another for three years. A conviction for conduct between May 14, 2014 and July 1, 2015 while you were seventeen has its own door, RSA 651:5-a: an application with no filing fee once the sentence is over.

6. Finalize your petition

   Take the completed petition 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 annulment petition

   File the petition with the court where the charge was disposed of — under RSA 651:5 the sentencing court — one petition per charge. The court's filing fee is charged per court location and covers the petitions you file there at the same time; the court may waive it if it finds you indigent, or if you were found not guilty or the case was dismissed or not prosecuted — ask on the court's own form. Two agency fees follow and are paid to the agency, not the court: the Department of Corrections bills you for its report soon after you file, and the Department of Safety bills you to research and correct the record once the petition is granted — each waived if you show you are indigent, were found not guilty, or the case was dismissed or not prosecuted.

   Filing fee: $125.00 — Per court location; one fee covers the petitions you file there at the same time. The court may waive it, on its own form, if it finds you indigent from an affidavit of your assets and liabilities, or if you were found not guilty or the case was dismissed or not prosecuted (N.H. R. Crim. P. 31(b); RSA 651:5, IX). Two agency fees follow, paid to the agency: $100.00 to the Department of Corrections for its report soon after you file, and $100.00 to the Department of Safety to research and correct the record once the petition is granted — each waived if you are indigent, were found not guilty, or the case was dismissed or not prosecuted (RSA 651:5, IX and X(d)). From January 1, 2027, no filing fee is charged for a petition under RSA 651:5, II-a(a) — a case disposed of on or after January 1, 2019 that ended in a not guilty finding, a dismissal or no prosecution.

8. Work with the court

   Under RSA 651:5, the court requires the Department of Corrections to report on your state and federal convictions, arrests and prosecutions and anything else the court wants to know; for a conviction before January 1, 2019 or a class A misdemeanor or felony, the court's checklist says the petition goes to the Department and the arresting agency, and that the court will not act until the report is in, so answer the Department's questionnaire promptly. The court gives the prosecutor a copy of the petition and lets them be heard. For a violation or class B misdemeanor conviction dated on or after January 1, 2019 that was your highest offense, the court instead sends its determination to you and the prosecutor, who has twenty days to object that the offense is not eligible or the sentence is not complete; if no timely objection comes, or the court denies it, the court annuls the conviction. The court may grant or deny the petition without a hearing unless you asked for one on the form. If you are charged with a new offense that would bar or delay the annulment before the court rules, the petition waits until that charge is disposed of; a petition that does not meet the eligibility rules is dismissed without a hearing. The checklist warns the process can take several months.

9. Receive the court's order

   Under RSA 651:5, when the court grants the petition it issues you a certificate stating that your behavior after the conviction warranted the order and that its effect is to annul the arrest, conviction and sentence, and it notifies the State Police criminal records unit, the prosecuting agency and the arresting agency. Keep the certificate; it is your proof of the annulment. If the petition is denied, no further petition may be brought more often than every three years.

10. Verify the record is annulled

    Under RSA 651:5, once the order is entered you are treated in all respects as if you had never been arrested, convicted or sentenced — except that if you are convicted of a crime committed after the order, the court may consider the annulled conviction at sentencing and count it toward habitual offender status under RSA 259:39. The court seals its records, open only to you, your attorney, a sentencing court, and law enforcement for legitimate law enforcement purposes. The State Police criminal records unit removes the annulled record and informs the state and federal agencies once its fee is paid or waived; the State Police say a not guilty, dismissed or not prosecuted charge comes off the state record within one to two business days, a conviction within one to two business days of your payment, and the FBI record in two to four weeks. The arresting agency and the prosecuting agency mark the arrest, conviction and sentence annulled in their files; officers may still keep the record and share it with other officers for legitimate investigative purposes, in defense of a civil suit over the arrest, or with the police standards and training council. On a job, license or other application, or as a witness, you may be asked only in terms such as whether you have been arrested for or convicted of a crime that has not been annulled. Confirm with the clerk of court and the arresting agency that their records show the annulment, and keep your certificate as your authoritative reference when a background-check report is out of date — the statute imposes no penalty on a journalist or anyone else who does not remove or correct a report made before the annulment, so ask the provider to correct it and send the certificate.

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.