Minnesota: Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Minnesota calls the remedy expungement, but its ordinary operation is
sealing. Section 609A.03 says the existence of the record may be withheld and
the record kept closed except for statutory access. It also says records are
not destroyed or returned.

The conviction remains usable in a later prosecution. If the expunged
conviction is a statutory crime of violence, the order must preserve the
firearms restriction unless separate relief restores firearm rights.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identifies qualifying records without an
application, petition, or motion. It makes the first eligibility decision
within 30 days after the waiting period and rechecks annually if the record is
not yet eligible. BCA seals its record 60 days after notifying the judicial
branch unless contrary information or a judicial order stops sealing; the
judicial branch then seals the case records.

Automatic relief does not extend to records held by the commissioners of
children, youth, and families; health; and human services. A separate petition
may be needed to reach those records.

Convictions eligible by petition

The petition route is broader than automatic eligibility for misdemeanors and
gross misdemeanors. It covers petty misdemeanors, misdemeanors, gross
misdemeanors, specified felonies reduced under § 609.13, and the closed felony
list in § 609A.02, subdivision 3(b).

That route matters when an offense is excluded from automatic relief or when
the person seeks an order directed to a record holder outside the automatic
order.

Excluded offenses and statuses

Automatic eligibility uses detailed exception lists for misdemeanor, gross-
misdemeanor, and felony convictions. It also requires no new Minnesota offense
other than a petty misdemeanor during the applicable period and no pending
non-petty Minnesota charge when the period ends or BCA later reviews the
record.

Petition-based felony relief is not open-ended. The felony must fall within
§ 609A.02's enumerated list or one of its specified reduced-felony rules.

Waiting period and when it starts

Every conviction clock runs from discharge of the sentence.

For automatic relief, the waits are two years for a petty misdemeanor or
misdemeanor, three years for a gross misdemeanor, four years for a felony under
§ 152.025, and five years for another qualifying felony.

For a petition, the waits are two years for a petty misdemeanor or misdemeanor,
three years for a gross misdemeanor, and generally four years for a felony on
the statutory list. One reduced-felony category uses five years.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The person must complete the sentence before the clock begins. Automatic
relief and the petition route each impose the applicable new-offense screen;
automatic relief also checks for a pending non-petty Minnesota charge.

Outstanding restitution is not written as an absolute petition bar. The court
must consider the amount outstanding, prior payment efforts, and measures to
ensure payment continues after expungement.

Petition process and decision standard

The petition is signed under oath and must disclose the offense, rehabilitation,
complete conviction and charge history, pending cases, prior record-relief
requests, and related protection or no-contact orders. The person serves the
prosecutor and every affected agency; requested victim notice follows. The
hearing occurs no sooner than 60 days after service.

For conviction relief, the petitioner must prove by clear and convincing
evidence that the benefit is commensurate with the public and public-safety
disadvantages of sealing and administering the order. Indigency can waive the
filing fee. An entered order is automatically stayed for 60 days for appeal.

Who can still see or use the record

Criminal-justice agencies may open, use, or exchange the record without a
court order for investigation, prosecution, sentencing, probation, or
corrections. The statute also preserves specified access for criminal-justice
hiring, human-services background studies, educator licensing checks, victims
in substantially related matters, prosecutors seeking certified records, and
the person whose record was sealed.

The automatic process tells law enforcement not to disclose affected records
to ordinary requesters, while preserving criminal-justice access. A record
opened by an authorized recipient remains subject to the expungement order.

What trips people up

Automatic and petition felony clocks differ. Many listed felonies may be
petitioned after four years even though the general automatic felony clock is
five years.

Automatic relief does not reach every agency. Health, human-services, and
children-and-family records require attention to the petition and service
rules.

A signed change is not effective yet. Beginning August 1, 2026, BCA may
reverse an automatic sealing when its criminal-history system later shows the
record was ineligible.

Common questions

Must restitution be fully paid before petitioning? The statute makes
outstanding restitution and payment efforts decision factors, not an express
automatic bar.

Is a hearing required for a conviction petition? Yes. It must be scheduled
at least 60 days after service, and a victim may submit a statement.

Can the record be used in a later criminal case? Yes. Criminal-justice
access remains, and an automatically expunged record has the same effect in a
later prosecution as if relief had not been granted.

Statutes and sources

• Minn. Stat. § 609A.015 — automatic eligibility, offense exceptions, waits,
  BCA review and sealing, agency limits, and later-prosecution use.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609A.015
  (accessed 2026-07-30)
• Minn. Stat. § 609A.02 — petition eligibility, conviction-free periods, and
  enumerated felony list.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609A.02
  (accessed 2026-07-30)
• Minn. Stat. § 609A.03 — petition contents, service, hearing, standard,
  restitution factor, sealing effect, firearms order, access, and appeal stay.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609A.03
  (accessed 2026-07-30)
• Minn. Stat. § 645.02 — default August 1 effective date for a nonappropriation
  act without a different specified date.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/645.02
  (accessed 2026-07-30)
• 2026 Minn. Laws ch. 70, § 5 — future BCA correction and unsealing process,
  effective August 1, 2026.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2026/0/70/laws.0.5.0
  (checked 2026-07-31)