How it works in Utah

The steps

1. Check that your case can be expunged

   Under Utah Code § 77-40a-303, a court cannot expunge a capital felony, a first degree felony, or a violent felony under section 76-3-203.5(1)(c)(i). It also cannot expunge a felony for driving under the influence under section 41-6a-501(2), or an offense that requires registration as a sex offender, kidnap offender or child abuse offender. The one exception is a qualifying sexual offense committed at age 14 to 17 by someone who was not tried as an adult. You also cannot get a certificate while a misdemeanor or felony case, or a plea in abeyance, is pending against you, unless it is for a traffic offense. The same holds while you are incarcerated, on parole or on probation, unless the probation or parole is for an infraction, a traffic offense or a minor regulatory offense. A civil protective order, criminal protective order or criminal stalking injunction in effect against you bars a certificate too. So does false or misleading information on your application. For a case with no conviction, Utah Code § 77-40a-302 applies the same pending-case, plea-in-abeyance and supervision bars, and bars a certificate while a criminal protective order or criminal stalking injunction is in effect for the case.

2. Count your convictions

   Under Utah Code § 77-40a-303, the bureau counts your whole record, including convictions already expunged, and each episode counts once. Two or more felony convictions other than drug possession offenses bar a certificate. So do five or more convictions of any degree other than drug possession offenses. Three or more convictions other than drug possession that include two class A misdemeanors bar it, as do four or more that include three class B misdemeanors. Drug possession offenses have their own limits: three or more felonies, or five or more convictions of any degree. An episode that mixes a drug possession offense with another offense counts under the general limits if the other offense is a felony or a class A misdemeanor, or carries the same or a longer wait. The bureau does not count an infraction, a traffic offense, a minor regulatory offense, or a clean slate case that was expunged automatically. Ten years after your last conviction or release, the felony and class A limits each rise by one. The class B and five-conviction limits then fall away for an episode whose highest offense is a class B or C misdemeanor, an infraction, or a drug possession offense with no felony or class A misdemeanor beside it.

3. Check the waiting period for your case

   Under Utah Code § 77-40a-302, a case with no conviction needs at least 30 days after the arrest or charge. It also needs one of these: the agency and prosecutor screened the case and filed no charges; every charge was dismissed with prejudice; you were acquitted on every charge; or the statute of limitations ran out on every charge. A charge dismissed without prejudice or without condition needs the prosecutor's written consent, or 180 days after the dismissal. A traffic conviction in the same case adds three years for a class C misdemeanor or infraction and four years for a class B misdemeanor. Under Utah Code § 77-40a-303, a conviction needs every fine, interest charge and restitution order paid in full. Its wait runs from the conviction or your release from jail, prison, parole or probation, whichever came last. It is three years for a class C misdemeanor or an infraction, and four for a class B misdemeanor. It is five for a class A misdemeanor or a drug possession felony, and seven for any other felony. The wait is ten years for a misdemeanor under section 41-6a-501(2), or the former felony of driving with a controlled substance in your body and causing serious injury or death.

4. Apply for your certificate of eligibility

   Apply to the Bureau of Criminal Identification for a certificate of eligibility and pay the application fee. Under Utah Code § 77-40a-304, the bureau checks state and national records, decides whether you qualify, and notifies you. If you qualify, it issues a certificate with an identification number that stays valid for 180 days from the day it is issued. You then pay an issuance fee. You owe none for a no-conviction case under Utah Code § 77-40a-302, unless the charges were dismissed under a plea in abeyance or a diversion agreement. You also pay no issuance fee up front if you tell the bureau on the application that you expect the court to waive your filing fee because you cannot afford it. In that case the bureau bills the issuance fee after the court decides, unless the court tells the bureau it waived your filing fee. The bureau sets both fees under the state fee process in section 63J-1-504, and the Utah State Courts say its review can take several months. If the bureau cannot find a disposition for an arrest, it may issue a special certificate instead and leave the eligibility decision to the court.

   Cost: $65.00 — the Bureau of Criminal Identification's fees for the certificate of eligibility: a $65 application fee when you submit the application, then $65 for each case's certificate (a conviction, a plea in abeyance or a special certificate); no fee is charged for a certificate for a dismissal, an acquittal or a declination (its Expungements FAQ, read 2026-10-23). The court charges its own fee to file.

5. Prepare your petition

   Use the Utah State Courts' forms: the Petition to Expunge Records and the Order on Petition to Expunge Records that match your case, one set for a certificate of eligibility and another for a special certificate. Under Utah Code § 77-40a-305, the petition follows Rule 42 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure and must carry your certificate's identification number. The certificate's information comes into the petition by that number. Use the case number of the case you want expunged; if there is none, the court assigns one. Bring the original certificate with the petition, and make copies of everything before you file.

6. File your expungement petition

   Under Utah Code § 77-40a-305, file in the court where your case was filed. If that court no longer exists, file in the court that would hear the case today. If charges were never filed, file in the district court of the county where you were arrested or cited. File before the certificate's 180 days run out: a court may not accept a petition on an expired certificate, and the court itself obtains your certificate from the bureau. Pay the filing fee, or ask the court to waive it under section 78A-2-302 if you cannot afford it. A waiver one court granted within the last 180 days carries to another court when you ask.

   Filing fee: $150.00 — District Court ($135.00 in Justice Court)

7. Respond to any objection and attend the hearing

   Under Utah Code § 77-40a-305, the court notifies the prosecutor's office within three days after you pay the filing fee or the court waives it. If there were no court proceedings, the notice goes to the county attorney where the arrest occurred. The prosecutor may file a recommendation or objection within 35 days of the court's notice, and a victim within 60 days of your filing. The court may ask the Division of Adult Probation and Parole for a written response on why your probation ended and whether you completed every requirement. You may reply in writing to any objection or response within 14 days of receiving it. If anyone objects, the court sets a hearing, and you, the prosecutor, the victim and anyone with relevant information may testify. If no objection arrives within 60 days of your filing, the court may grant the expungement without a hearing.

8. Receive the court's order

   Under Utah Code § 77-40a-306, the court issues an order of expungement when it finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that your certificate was valid when you filed and holds what the court needs, that the statute's requirements are met, and that expunging the records would not harm the public interest. For a case dismissed without prejudice or without condition, the prosecutor must also have consented in writing and not intend to refile. If someone objected and the petition covers a charge dismissed under a plea in abeyance that could enhance a later offense, the court also needs good cause. The court then expunges its own records, notifies the bureau and sends it the order. You may request certified copies of the order within 28 days after the court issues it, and the court must provide them.

   Certified copy fee: $4.00 — the South Salt Lake City Justice Court's figure for a certified copy of case information, plus $0.50 a page for printing; each court sets its own, so ask the court that signed your order

9. Confirm the record is expunged

   Under Utah Code § 77-40a-307, once the court notifies the bureau, the bureau notifies every agency the order affects and forwards a copy to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. You may also deliver copies of the order to those agencies yourself. Each agency must then expunge all records of the case under Utah Code § 77-40a-401: the records are sealed or restricted, kept and indexed, not destroyed. An agency may keep using its records until it receives the order. Under Utah Code § 77-40a-404, you may ask any agency for written confirmation that it found and restricted every record the order covers; the bureau may charge a fee for its letter. From the order's entry, you may answer any inquiry as though the arrest, investigation, detention, prosecution or conviction did not occur, unless a law or court order says otherwise.

   Cost: $15.00 — the Bureau of Criminal Identification's fee for a letter stating what has been expunged from your Utah record, with a valid form of ID (its Auto Expungement/Clean Slate Expungement page)

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.