Can You Expunge a Criminal Record in Texas? A Bexar County Attorney’s Guide to Chapter 55A
Almost every week, someone calls our office asking the same question in different words: can I make this arrest disappear. Usually they already know, in general terms, that Texas allows something called an expunction. What they do not know, and what almost no one outside the courtroom knows, is that the law changed in a meaningful way at the start of 2025. The old Chapter 55 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, which governed expunction for decades, was repealed and replaced by Chapter 55A under House Bill 4504 from the 88th Texas Legislature, effective January 1, 2025. The underlying eligibility rules did not change as dramatically as the renumbering suggests, but several provisions were reorganized, clarified, and in a few respects expanded, and a page that still cites the old Chapter 55 is already out of date.
We wrote this guide because expunction in Texas is one of the more consequential and more misunderstood remedies in Texas criminal law. Done correctly, it does not just seal a record. It erases it, legally and in practice, to the point that you can deny under oath that the arrest ever happened. Done incorrectly, or attempted without understanding the strict eligibility gates and waiting periods, it wastes time your case may not have. This page explains who qualifies under Chapter 55A, what the current waiting periods actually are, how expunction differs from the related remedy of nondisclosure, and how the process plays out in Bexar County courts specifically. If you are trying to determine whether your arrest qualifies, call Barton & Associates at 210-500-0000 for a free, confidential consultation.
What an Expunction Actually Does
An expunction under Chapter 55A is not a seal. It is an erasure. Once a court grants an order of expunction, every Texas government agency that holds a record of the arrest, from the arresting police department to the Texas Department of Public Safety to the county clerk’s office, is required to destroy or return those records, and the records are removed from public and most private databases. Texas law then allows the person whose record was expunged to deny, in nearly every context including under oath in most civil proceedings, that the arrest ever occurred. This is a meaningfully stronger remedy than an order of nondisclosure, which we discuss below, and it reflects why the eligibility requirements for expunction are considerably stricter.
Who Qualifies For Expunction Under Chapter 55A
Eligibility for expunction turns on how your case ended, not on how serious the original charge was. This surprises a lot of people. Someone acquitted of a minor charge and someone acquitted of a serious felony have the same statutory right to seek expunction of that arrest. The disposition, not the charge, controls. The main categories of eligibility are as follows.
- Acquittal. If a judge or jury found you not guilty at trial, you are generally eligible to expunge the arrest. Chapter 55A provides a streamlined path for these cases, and a court can enter an expunction order as early as the 30th day after an acquittal once the required petition information is submitted.
- Charges dismissed or never filed. If you were arrested but the district attorney’s office declined to file charges, or the case was later dismissed, you generally qualify once the applicable waiting period has passed, discussed below, and you were not placed on any form of community supervision for the offense.
- No-bill by a grand jury. If a grand jury reviewed the case and declined to indict, this is generally treated the same as a dismissal for expunction purposes.
- Pardon. A person convicted of an offense who later receives a pardon, including a pardon based on actual innocence, may be eligible for expunction of that conviction, which is otherwise the one narrow avenue by which a conviction itself can be expunged.
What expunction does not cover. This is the point that trips up the most people. A conviction, including one where a defendant successfully completed straight probation, is not eligible for expunction. Just as importantly, deferred adjudication is not eligible for expunction, even when it was completed successfully and the case was ultimately dismissed. This distinction, between a dismissal following deferred adjudication and a dismissal because charges were dropped outright, is one of the most consequential and least understood lines in this entire area of law, and it is the reason the separate remedy of nondisclosure exists.
Waiting Periods Under Chapter 55A
When charges were never filed after an arrest, or the statute of limitations has expired without an indictment, Chapter 55A imposes waiting periods tied to the severity of the alleged offense before a petition can be filed, generally as follows: 180 days from the date of arrest for a Class C misdemeanor, one year from the date of arrest for a Class A or B misdemeanor, and three years from the date of arrest for a felony. These periods exist to give a prosecutor a defined window to file charges before the arrest becomes permanently eligible for erasure, and they generally apply only when no felony charge arose from the same criminal transaction. An acquittal or a dismissal that follows an actual court proceeding, rather than an arrest where charges were simply never filed, can move on a different and often faster timeline, including the 30-day path following an acquittal described above.
Expunction Vs. Nondisclosure: Two Different Remedies
Texas provides two separate statutory tools for people trying to move past a criminal record, and they are not interchangeable. Expunction under Chapter 55A erases a record entirely and is available only for the categories described above: acquittals, dismissals, no-bills, and certain pardons. An order of nondisclosure under Texas Government Code Chapter 411, Subchapter E-1, by contrast, does not erase anything. It seals the record from most private entities, including most employers and landlords, while leaving it accessible to law enforcement, courts, and certain licensing agencies.
Nondisclosure exists specifically for the gap that expunction does not cover: successful completion of deferred adjudication, and in some circumstances certain qualifying probations. If your case was resolved through deferred adjudication and you completed it without incident, expunction is not available to you no matter how much time has passed, but an order of nondisclosure may be. Waiting periods for nondisclosure vary depending on the offense and the type of community supervision, and Section 411.074 of the Government Code excludes certain categories of offenses from nondisclosure eligibility entirely, including family violence offenses, most sex offenses, and other serious violent crimes, regardless of how the case was ultimately resolved. Understanding which of these two remedies actually applies to your specific case, before you spend money filing the wrong petition, is one of the most valuable things an experienced attorney provides in this area.
How the Expunction Process Works in Bexar County
An expunction is a civil proceeding, filed separately from the underlying criminal case, and in Bexar County it is filed in a district court with jurisdiction over the matter. The petition must identify every agency believed to hold a record of the arrest, since each of those agencies is entitled to notice and an opportunity to respond before the court rules. Missing an agency is one of the most common reasons an expunction petition gets delayed or challenged, particularly when an arrest led to bookings or record entries at more than one law enforcement agency, which is common when a Bexar County arrest is initially processed at a municipal or county level before proceeding further.
Once an expunction order is signed, it is not automatically the end of the process. We recommend, and routinely handle for our clients, a follow-up audit approximately 60 to 90 days after the order is entered, requesting a fresh criminal history report from the Texas Department of Public Safety to confirm that every agency identified in the order actually complied. Agencies do occasionally miss the deadline or fail to fully purge a record, and catching that early, while the order is fresh and enforceable, is far more effective than discovering the problem years later when a background check surfaces a record that should have been destroyed.
Frequently Asked Questions: Texas Expunction Under Chapter 55A
1. What is the difference between expunction and nondisclosure in Texas?
Expunction under Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure erases a criminal record entirely, requiring every Texas agency holding the record to destroy or return it. Nondisclosure under Chapter 411, Subchapter E-1 of the Government Code does not erase anything. It seals the record from most private entities, including most employers and landlords, while law enforcement, courts, and certain licensing agencies retain access.
2. Did Texas expunction law change recently?
Yes. The former Chapter 55 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure was repealed and replaced by Chapter 55A under House Bill 4504 from the 88th Texas Legislature, effective January 1, 2025. The recodification reorganized expunction law and clarified several eligibility scenarios, though the core eligibility categories remain similar to the prior law.
3. Can I expunge a conviction in Texas?
Generally, no. Expunction under Chapter 55A is not available for a conviction, including a conviction where the defendant successfully completed straight probation. The one narrow exception involves certain pardons, including pardons based on actual innocence, which can open a path to expunction of the underlying conviction.
4. Can I expunge an arrest that resulted in deferred adjudication?
No. Deferred adjudication is not eligible for expunction under Chapter 55A, even when it was completed successfully and the case was ultimately dismissed. This is one of the most misunderstood distinctions in Texas record-clearing law. A case resolved through deferred adjudication may instead be eligible for an order of nondisclosure under Chapter 411 of the Government Code, which is a different remedy with different eligibility rules.
5. How long do I have to wait to expunge an arrest where charges were never filed?
Under Chapter 55A, the waiting periods are generally 180 days from the date of arrest for a Class C misdemeanor, one year from the date of arrest for a Class A or B misdemeanor, and three years from the date of arrest for a felony, assuming no felony charge arose from the same criminal transaction and the statute of limitations has expired without an indictment.
6. How quickly can I expunge an arrest if I was acquitted at trial?
Chapter 55A provides a streamlined path following an acquittal. A court can enter an expunction order as early as the 30th day after the acquittal, once the required petition information has been submitted, without needing to wait through the longer waiting periods that apply to arrests where charges were never filed.
7. Does expunction eligibility depend on how serious the original charge was?
No. Expunction eligibility depends on the disposition of the case, not the severity of the charge. A person acquitted of a serious felony has the same statutory right to seek expunction of that arrest as someone acquitted of a minor offense. The determining factor is whether the case ended in an acquittal, dismissal, no-bill, or qualifying pardon, not what the original charge was.
8. What happens if I was acquitted of one charge but convicted of another from the same incident?
If a single arrest or incident led to multiple charges, and you were acquitted of one but convicted of, or still face prosecution for, another charge arising from the same criminal episode, the acquitted charge generally cannot be expunged. Texas law treats charges from the same transaction as connected for this purpose.
9. What does an expunction order actually do once it is granted?
An expunction order requires every Texas agency holding records related to the arrest, including police departments, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and court records, to destroy or return those records. Once the order is final, the person is generally entitled to deny under oath, in nearly every context, that the arrest ever occurred.
10. Who is excluded from receiving an order of nondisclosure in Texas?
Section 411.074 of the Texas Government Code excludes certain categories of offenses from nondisclosure eligibility regardless of how the case was resolved, including offenses involving family violence, most sex offenses, capital murder, murder, aggravated kidnapping, and several other serious violent offenses. A person must also not have been convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for another offense, other than a fine-only traffic offense, during the relevant waiting period.
11. How long do I have to wait for an order of nondisclosure after deferred adjudication?
Waiting periods for nondisclosure depend on the type of offense and the specific statutory provision that applies, and can generally range from no waiting period for certain nonviolent misdemeanors up to two years for other misdemeanors and five years for eligible felonies. Certain offenses, including those involving family violence, are permanently excluded regardless of the waiting period.
12. Do I need to identify every agency that has a record of my arrest?
Yes. An expunction petition must identify each agency believed to hold a record of the arrest, since those agencies are entitled to notice and an opportunity to respond before the court rules. Missing an agency, which is common when an arrest was processed at more than one law enforcement agency, is one of the most frequent causes of delay or complication in an expunction case.
13. Should I check whether my expunction order was actually carried out?
Yes. We recommend requesting a fresh criminal history report from the Texas Department of Public Safety approximately 60 to 90 days after an expunction order is signed, to confirm that every agency named in the order actually destroyed or returned the records as required. Agencies occasionally miss the deadline, and catching a compliance failure early is far more effective than discovering it years later.
14. Can an expunged or nondisclosed record still be used against me in a later criminal case?
An expunged record is treated as though the arrest never occurred and generally cannot be used against you. A record under an order of nondisclosure is treated differently. It remains accessible to certain criminal justice agencies and courts, and Texas law allows limited use of nondisclosed records in specific circumstances in subsequent criminal proceedings, which is a meaningful difference from the more complete protection that expunction provides.
15. Why does it matter whether my Bexar County attorney understands the recent changes to Chapter 55A?
Because the recodification took effect January 1, 2025, older articles, older court forms, and even some attorneys may still reference the repealed Chapter 55 by its former section numbers. An expunction petition citing outdated statutory language can create unnecessary delay or confusion in a Bexar County court. At Barton & Associates, our attorneys track these changes as part of an active criminal defense practice, not as a one-time update, which matters when the accuracy of a filing affects how quickly your record is actually cleared.
Why This Matters Beyond the Paperwork
An arrest record, even one that never led to a conviction, can quietly follow someone for years. It can surface on a background check for a job application, an apartment lease, a professional license, or a security clearance renewal, often at the exact moment the person least expects it and can least afford the complication. We have represented clients who did not realize an old dismissed charge was still sitting in a database until it cost them an opportunity they had no reason to think was at risk. Chapter 55A gives Texas residents a genuine, powerful path to close that door permanently, but only when the case is handled correctly from the first filing.
If you believe an old arrest may qualify for expunction, or if you are unsure whether expunction or nondisclosure is the right remedy for your situation, do not guess. Contact Barton & Associates, Attorneys at Law, for a free, confidential consultation, and we will review the disposition of your case and tell you honestly where you stand under current Texas law.
Barton & Associates, Attorneys at Law
115 Camaron St, San Antonio, TX 78205
Office: 210-500-0000
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Disclaimer
This page is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Texas expunction and nondisclosure law is governed by Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Chapter 411 of the Government Code, both of which are subject to amendment by the Texas Legislature. Eligibility depends on the specific facts and disposition of each case, and this guide is not a substitute for a consultation with a licensed Texas criminal defense attorney about your specific situation.
