Chad M. Seibel
Criminal Defense
407.846.8008
Sealing & Expungement
A Florida arrest never deletes itself. Even dropped charges live on in court records, mugshot sites, and background checks read by landlords, employers, and licensing boards — explaining a ten-year-old dismissed case to every hiring manager is its own sentence. Florida law provides exactly two cures: Charges dropped? The arrest may still show up. Depending on your record and how the case ended, you may be able to seal or expunge it. and expungement. They are powerful, strictly limited, and available — for most people — once in a lifetime. That makes doing it correctly, and doing it for the right case, a genuine strategic decision.
A Florida arrest never deletes itself. Even dropped charges live on in court records, mugshot sites, and background checks read by landlords, employers, and licensing boards — explaining a ten-year-old dismissed case to every hiring manager is its own sentence. Florida law provides exactly two cures: sealing and expungement. They are powerful, strictly limited, and available — for most people — once in a lifetime. That makes doing it correctly, and doing it for the right case, a genuine strategic decision.
Chad Seibel handles record clearing throughout Central Florida. For a free eligibility review, call or text 407-846-8008.
Sealing vs. Expungement
• Expungement (§ 943.0585): the record is physically destroyed; agencies answer that no record exists. Available when charges were never filed, dismissed, or ended in acquittal.
• Sealing (§ 943.059): the record is made confidential and hidden from the public. Available when adjudication was withheld on a qualifying offense.
• With either, you may lawfully deny the arrest in most settings — with statutory exceptions (law enforcement jobs, the Bar, certain licensing, work with children or vulnerable adults, firearm purchases).
• A sealed record may be expunged after 10 years, completing the clean-up.
The Eligibility Checklist
You can likely seal or expunge if all of these are true:
1. You have never been adjudicated guilty of any criminal offense — anywhere, ever. (A single conviction for anything, even an old misdemeanor, is disqualifying.)
2. You were not adjudicated guilty in the case you want cleared — it was dropped, dismissed, acquitted, or adjudication was withheld.
3. The charge is not on Florida's disqualifying list (§ 943.0584). Sealing is barred — even with a withhold — for a long list including domestic-violence battery, aggravated assault and battery, felony battery and strangulation, stalking, most sex offenses, kidnapping, robbery, burglary of a dwelling, child abuse, trafficking, and manufacturing drug offenses.
4. You have never sealed or expunged a record before — the one-time rule.
5. All supervision in the case is complete.
Juvenile diversion expunctions and certain other special categories have their own routes — ask rather than assume.
The Process and the Timeline
1. Certificate of eligibility from FDLE — certified disposition, fingerprints, State Attorney sign-off on expunctions, $75 fee. This stage runs months, and errors restart it.
2. Petition in the court of the original case, with the certificate attached; the State can object, and some cases require a hearing.
3. The order then goes to every agency holding the record — court clerk, sheriff, FDLE, FBI.
Realistic total: six months to a year. Private background-check companies and mugshot sites are a final mop-up step — they're obligated to honor the court order once notified, and we notify them.
Strategy: Protect Eligibility Before You Need It
The most important sealing decisions happen during the criminal case, not after: fighting for the withhold of adjudication, choosing the count that survives, and avoiding disqualifying-list offenses in a plea. If you're currently charged with anything, your future record should be part of today's defense strategy — it's built into how we negotiate every case.
Frequently Asked Questions
My charges were dropped — isn't my record already clear?
No. The arrest remains public until expunged. “No conviction” and “no record” are very different things to a background check.
I have two old arrests. Can I clear both?
Generally only one (courts have discretion for arrests arising from the same episode). Choosing which record hurts you more is part of the analysis.
Will sealed records show up for jobs?
Not for ordinary private employers. Statutory exceptions (criminal justice employment, licensure for work with children, the Bar, firearm purchases) still see them.
I live out of state now. Do I need to come back?
Usually not — the process is handled by counsel and by mail, with a hearing appearance only rarely required.
One Chance to Clean the Slate — Use It Well
A Florida arrest never deletes itself. Even dropped charges live on in court records, mugshot sites, and background checks read by landlords, employers, and licensing boards — explaining a ten-year-old dismissed case to every hiring manager is its own sentence. Florida law provides exactly two cures: Ask in one free call whether you may qualify. and expungement. They are powerful, strictly limited, and available — for most people — once in a lifetime. That makes doing it correctly, and doing it for the right case, a genuine strategic decision.
Call or text 407-846-8008 for a free eligibility review with former prosecutor Chad Seibel.
Attorney Chad M. Seibel, Of Counsel at Perez LaSure Law. Office in Kissimmee. Consultations and meetings available throughout Florida by appointment. Hablamos español. Atendemos em Português.