Texas: Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Texas's ordinary adult-conviction remedy is nondisclosure, not expunction.
An order directs criminal-justice agencies not to disclose the covered criminal
history to the public, and § 411.076 requires the clerk to seal the affected
court records. The conviction remains legally usable: § 411.0775 permits the
information to be admitted in a later criminal trial when otherwise admissible
and disclosed to a prosecutor for a criminal-justice purpose.

One narrow conviction category receives true expunction. Article 55A.005
covers a person tried and convicted under former Penal Code § 46.02(a) for an
offense committed before September 1, 2021. After a final expunction order,
Article 55A.401 prohibits release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the
expunged records and lets the person deny the arrest and order except when
questioned under oath in a criminal proceeding.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

There is no general automatic path for a completed conviction in this survey's
scope. Section 411.072 can produce a court-issued nondisclosure order without a
petition, but it expressly requires deferred adjudication followed by discharge
and dismissal, not a conviction. Chapter 55A's automatic procedures similarly
address acquittal, actual-innocence pardon, or a qualifying program dismissal.

Convictions eligible by petition

The general nondisclosure paths are sentence-specific:

• Section 411.073 covers specified misdemeanor convictions followed by
  successfully completed community supervision.
• Section 411.0735 covers specified misdemeanor convictions not eligible under
  § 411.073, including fine-only and confinement sentences.
• Sections 411.0731 and 411.0736 cover limited Penal Code § 49.04 DWI
  convictions, respectively with community supervision and outside that route.
• Article 55A.005 separately allows expunction of the pre-September 2021 former
  § 46.02(a) handgun conviction.

The general nondisclosure sections are first-record routes. They require that
the person never previously have been convicted or placed on deferred
adjudication for another offense, except a fine-only traffic offense.

Excluded offenses and statuses

Sections 411.073 and 411.0735 exclude the listed alcohol, intoxication, and
organized-crime provisions from their ordinary misdemeanor routes. The DWI
sections cover § 49.04 but not an offense punishable under § 49.04(d), and the
court cannot issue DWI nondisclosure when the state proves the offense caused a
collision involving another person, including the petitioner's passenger.

Section 411.074 adds exclusions that look beyond the target conviction. A
requested or prior sex-registration offense, the enumerated serious offenses,
any other family-violence offense, or a family-violence finding in the target
case bars relief under the subchapter. Section 411.0735 also bars an offense the
court determines was violent or sexual in nature, except an offense under Penal
Code § 22.01.

Waiting period and when it starts

The waiting clock always starts at completion, but the required event differs:

• Under § 411.073, an ordinary covered misdemeanor may be filed at completion
  of community supervision; misdemeanors in Penal Code Chapters 20, 21, 22, 25,
  42, 43, or 46 require two years after supervision completion.
• Under § 411.0735, a fine-only misdemeanor may be filed at sentence completion;
  another covered misdemeanor requires two years after sentence completion.
• Under § 411.0731, covered DWI after community supervision requires two years
  after completion if the person successfully completed at least six months of
  ignition-interlock restriction, and five years otherwise.
• Under § 411.0736, covered DWI outside that supervision route requires three
  years after sentence completion with the same six-month interlock condition,
  and five years otherwise.

Article 55A.005 does not state a separate postconviction waiting period for its
narrow former § 46.02(a) expunction category.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The nondisclosure provisions require completion of community supervision or
the sentence, including any confinement and payment of all fines, costs, and
restitution. Section 411.074 then requires the period from sentence or
supervision through the applicable wait to remain free of any new conviction or
deferred adjudication other than a fine-only traffic offense.

For a shorter DWI clock, the person must also have successfully complied with
at least six months of a condition restricting driving to an ignition-
interlock-equipped vehicle.

Petition process and decision standard

A nondisclosure petition goes to the court that imposed the sentence or placed
the person on community supervision. Section 411.0745 permits filing in person,
electronically, or by mail, requires the ordinary civil-case filing fee, and
directs the court to notify the state. The court applies both statutory
eligibility and a best-interest-of-justice standard.

A hearing is generally required, but § 411.0745(e) permits a decision without
one when the state does not request a hearing within 45 days after notice and
the court finds both eligibility and best interest of justice. The DWI petition
must include evidence showing entitlement.

For Article 55A.005 expunction, Articles 55A.251 and 55A.253 require a verified
petition in a district court for the county of arrest or alleged offense, with
the information Article 55A.253 lists. The court sets the hearing at least 30
days after filing
and must order expunction if entitlement is proved.

Who can still see or use the record

Nondisclosure changes public access but preserves a long exception list. Under
§§ 411.076 and 411.0765, the person, criminal-justice agencies, regulatory-
licensing users, the noncriminal-justice agencies and entities listed in the
statute, and recipients required by federal law may still receive the
information. Section 411.0755 allows the person to omit the proceeding from
employment, information, and licensing applications, but § 411.0775 preserves
later-criminal-case use.

Expunction is broader. Articles 55A.353 and 55A.401 require return or
obliteration of listed governmental records, deletion of public index
references, and prohibit release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the
expunged records after the order becomes final, subject to Chapter 55A's stated
exceptions.

What trips people up

Expunction and nondisclosure are not interchangeable. The general
misdemeanor conviction routes seal information from the public but preserve
government and regulated access. Article 55A.005 is a narrow offense-and-date
exception with the broader legal effect of expunction.

The shorter DWI clock depends on actual interlock compliance. A DWI case
does not receive the two- or three-year clock merely because an interlock was
mentioned. The statute requires successful compliance for at least six months.

Prior and later records are separate gates. The general routes usually
require no earlier conviction or deferred adjudication beyond fine-only
traffic. Section 411.074 separately bars a new conviction or deferred
adjudication during the sentence and waiting period.

Common questions

Does nondisclosure remove the conviction? No. It limits public disclosure
and seals court records, but § 411.0775 expressly preserves later criminal use.

Can the person deny the case on a job or license application? Under
§ 411.0755, a person with a nondisclosure order need not state the related
criminal proceeding in an employment, information, or licensing application.
That does not prevent an authorized agency listed in § 411.0765 from receiving
the record.

Is every misdemeanor eligible after two years? No. Eligibility also turns
on the exact offense, sentence type, prior and later record, completion and
payment, violence or family-violence rules, and the court's best-interest
finding.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Gov't Code §§ 411.072–411.0775 — conviction and deferred-adjudication
  nondisclosure routes, eligibility, waits, procedure, effect, and retained
  access.
  https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/GV/htm/GV.411.htm (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Tex. Code Crim. Proc. ch. 55A — narrow conviction expunction, petition and
  hearing procedure, record disposition, and effect of the final order.
  https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/CR/htm/CR.55A.htm (accessed 2026-07-19)