How it works in Vermont

The steps

1. Request your record

   Ask the Vermont Crime Information Center for your criminal conviction report. Online, you give your name and date of birth, and the report comes back right away. If you need a notarized copy, ask by mail or in person at the Center's office in Waterbury. The court in each county where you had a case can also send you its records of your charges. Use the court's Criminal Record Check Request form (200-00331). There is a fee for the request.

   Record request fee: $30.00 — Per conviction report from the Vermont Crime Information Center's online Vermont Conviction Report website, which takes your name and date of birth.

2. Review your record

   Check each conviction against 13 V.S.A. § 7601, which defines the qualifying crimes that can be sealed. All misdemeanors qualify except the ones the section lists. The qualifying felonies are certain burglaries, certain property and drug crimes, and any crime the Governor pardoned without conditions. If you hold a commercial driver's license or permit, an offense you committed in a motor vehicle does not qualify. If something on your record is wrong, follow the process to challenge it. If everything is accurate, make a copy for your file and keep the original somewhere safe.

3. Gather your case records

   For each case, note the case number, also called the docket number. Note the year and a description of the offense, and the date of conviction. Under 13 V.S.A. § 7602, sealing requires full payment of the restitution and surcharges ordered for any crime you were convicted of. Expungement requires full payment of the restitution and surcharges the court ordered. In both cases, you do not have to pay surcharges the court waived. If you want certified copies of the court's records, the court charges a fee for each.

   Certified copy fee: $5.00

4. Verify the final documents

   Review each document for accuracy. Confirm your records show you finished your sentence and paid the restitution and surcharges the court ordered, or that the court waived the surcharges. Make copies of every original.

5. Prepare your petition

   Fill out the court's Petition to Seal Criminal History (200-00130) or Petition to Expunge Criminal History (200-00129). Under 13 V.S.A. § 7602, each wait runs from the day you completed the terms and conditions of your sentence. A qualifying misdemeanor can be sealed after at least 3 years, a qualifying felony after 7 and a qualifying DUI misdemeanor after 10. None of these apply if you hold a commercial driver's license or permit and you committed the offense in a motor vehicle. If you were 18 to 21 when you committed a qualifying crime, 13 V.S.A. § 7609 lets you file 30 days after you complete your sentence. That path is closed if your record holds both qualifying and nonqualifying offenses. A conviction for an act that is no longer a crime can be expunged once you complete your sentence or supervision. Under 13 V.S.A. § 7603, you can petition at any time to seal the record of a citation or arrest with no conviction.

6. Finalize your petition

   Put the completed petition from Step 5 together with the records from Steps 1 and 3. One petition can cover offenses from the same incident. If the offenses are not from the same incident, or you have offenses in more than one county, file a separate petition for each offense. Keep a copy of the complete package for your file.

7. File your expungement or sealing petition

   Before you file, you can ask the office that prosecuted the case, the State's Attorney or Attorney General, to agree. If it agrees, you both sign a stipulation, and the court grants the petition without a hearing (13 V.S.A. § 7602). File the petition with the Criminal Division of the Superior Court in the county where you had the case. There is no filing fee to ask to seal or expunge a record. The one exception is sealing a DUI conviction (23 V.S.A. 1201(a)) for an offense committed when you were 25 or older. If you cannot afford that fee, file the court's Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs (Form 600-00229).

   Filing fee: None — Vermont charges no fee to file a petition to expunge or seal a record. The one exception: sealing a conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol (23 V.S.A. 1201(a)) committed when you were 25 or older costs $90.00. If you cannot afford it, you can ask the court to waive it (Form 600-00229).

8. Work with the court

   The office that prosecuted the offense is the respondent, the other side in your petition. Under 13 V.S.A. § 7608, it must notify any victim it knows of, and the victim can give a statement to it or to the court. Under 13 V.S.A. § 7604, if a charge is pending against you, the court will not act on your petition until that charge is resolved. For a conviction, the court grants a sealing petition once you meet the conditions. It does not if the respondent shows that sealing would be contrary to the interests of justice. For a citation or arrest with no conviction, the court seals the record if both sides agree or if sealing serves the interests of justice. An expungement petition is granted once you complete your sentence or supervision and pay the restitution and any surcharges not waived. If the prosecutor opposes your request, the court schedules a hearing, in person or remotely; attend it. Respond promptly to anything the court asks for.

9. Receive the court's order

   Once the court rules on the petition, it issues an order either granting or denying sealing or expungement. Review the order's terms carefully — they spell out which records are covered and whether the outcome is sealing or expungement. Keep a certified copy of the order for your own files. If the court denies the petition, 13 V.S.A. § 7605 bars a new one for at least two years, unless the court allows a shorter wait.

10. Verify the record is cleared

    Under 13 V.S.A. § 7606, the court notifies the respondent and the Vermont Crime Information Center of an expungement. It notifies the arresting agency, the Restitution Unit of the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services and any other entity that may have a record. Under 13 V.S.A. § 7607, the court sends a sealing order to the parties and their attorneys, including the prosecuting agency. It also sends it to the Center, the arresting agency and any other Vermont State entity you name that may have the record. In both cases, the Center notifies the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The court removes an expunged offense from its databases and bars viewing of a sealed one. When every charge on a docket is expunged, the case file is destroyed. When every charge is sealed, the file becomes exempt from public access. Every other record holder notified of a sealing order must bar viewing of the offense or remove it from public databases, and label it “SEALED”. Applications for a job, a license, or a civil right or privilege can require answers only about arrests and convictions not sealed or expunged. The same holds when you appear as a witness. A sealed record still has the uses 13 V.S.A. § 7607 lists, such as criminal justice purposes and firearms background checks. Confirm with the arresting agency that its records reflect the order. If a background-check provider later produces an outdated report, your certified copy of the court's order is 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.