Tennessee record-clearing statutes

These are the Tennessee statutes that govern expungement. Each entry links to the official text.

• subsections (c)–(e) as added by Public Chapter 268 (2025), § 3: the TBI's request-for-certification form the court submits before an order on a conviction (c); the court sends the order to the TBI within thirty days (d); the clerk keeps expunged records confidential (e) — subsections (a)–(b) not restated by the act — Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-32-102 Officials required to destroy records
• the results expunged without cost on petition — a dismissal other than by diversion, a no true bill, an arrest and release without a charge, a nolle prosequi, a not guilty verdict, an implied consent violation dismissed without cost, a charge abated by death, mistaken identity, the segregation-protest convictions (a)(1); a defended order of protection and an expired bond (a)(2); the exclusions (b); partial removal (c)(2); a dismissal after diversion with the clerk's fee (d); the acquittal inquiry (e)(2) — as enacted by Public Chapter 268 (2025), § 2 — Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-32-106 Destruction or release of records
• the listed Class C, D and E felonies and the misdemeanors not excluded (a)(1); the five- and ten-year waits and the sentence's requirements (a)(3); two offenses (b); illegal registration or voting at fifteen years (c); a pardoned conviction other than the felonies (d)(1)(A) lists (d) — as enacted by Public Chapter 268 (2025), § 2, and amended by Public Chapter 719 (2026) and, for burglary other than habitation committed on or after July 1, 2026, Public Chapter 930 (2026) — Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-32-107 Eligible petitioners
• the petition in the court of conviction with the clerk's fee under § 8-21-401 (a); service on the district attorney general and sixty days for recommendations (b); evidence (c); the order no sooner than sixty-one days, the TBI certificate, the presumption, two years after a denial (d); for a pardoned conviction, whether the offense was violent (d)(2), as amended by Public Chapter 719 (2026); the district attorney general's office prepares the petition and proposed order (e) — as enacted by Public Chapter 268 (2025), § 2 — Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-32-108 Procedure for expunction of criminal records
• all public records of the expunged conviction destroyed (a); restoration to the status before the arrest, indictment, information, trial and conviction (b); no perjury for not reciting them (c); firearms (d); a copy of the order as proof (e) — as enacted by Public Chapter 268 (2025), § 2 — Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-32-110 Legal effects and restoration of rights by expunction of criminal records
• Chapter 32 Destruction of Records Upon Dismissal or Acquittal. (40-32-101 to 40-32-110)