Expunctions in Travis County: Who Qualifies and How the Process Works

An expunction is one of the most valuable remedies in Texas criminal law — and one of the most misunderstood. People frequently assume they qualify when they do not, or assume they do not qualify when they actually do. The eligibility rules under Texas law are specific, the process has its own procedural requirements, and the consequences of filing incorrectly or missing a qualification threshold can affect whether relief is available at all.

If you were arrested in Austin or Travis County and the case did not result in a conviction, understanding whether you are eligible for an expunction — and what an expunction actually does — is worth getting right from the start.

What an Expunction Does

An expunction under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55 is a court order requiring all agencies that have records related to an arrest to destroy or return those records. That includes the arresting agency, the Travis County District Attorney’s office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and any other entity that received information about the arrest through official channels.

Once an expunction is granted and the order is served on all respondent agencies, those agencies are required to destroy their records of the arrest. After an expunction is complete, you are legally entitled to deny that the arrest ever occurred — in most contexts, including on job applications, rental applications, and in response to questions from private individuals. The arrest is not sealed. It is destroyed.

That distinction between expunction and nondisclosure matters. A nondisclosure order seals a record from public view but does not destroy it — law enforcement, courts, and certain licensing agencies retain access. An expunction eliminates the record entirely from the agencies covered by the order. It is the stronger remedy, and it is only available in specific circumstances.

Who Qualifies for an Expunction in Texas

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 55.01 sets out the eligibility requirements. The circumstances that qualify a person for expunction fall into several categories.

• Acquittal at trial is the clearest path to expunction. If you were tried for a criminal offense in Travis County and the jury or judge returned a not guilty verdict, you are entitled to expunction of the arrest and all records related to that charge. There is no waiting period. The right to expunction attaches at the moment of acquittal.
• Dismissal is a common basis for expunction, but with conditions. If your case was dismissed, you may be eligible — but the eligibility depends on the reason for the dismissal and the level of the offense. For Class C misdemeanors dismissed after a deferred disposition, expunction is generally available immediately. For higher-level offenses, the statute requires that the applicable statute of limitations has expired and that there is no indication the case was dismissed as part of a plea agreement on another charge.
• No bill from the grand jury — meaning the grand jury declined to indict — can also support an expunction, subject to the statute of limitations requirement for the offense charged and a waiting period that in some cases runs until the limitations period expires.
• Acquittal on appeal qualifies, as does a pardon from the Governor of Texas or the President of the United States.
• Completion of certain pre-trial diversion programs administered by the Travis County DA’s office may also qualify, depending on the specific program and how the case is resolved. Travis County has expanded its diversion programming in recent years, and cases resolved through those programs may be eligible for expunction once the program is completed and the case is dismissed.

Who Does Not Qualify

This is where most expunction misconceptions arise. A completed deferred adjudication does not qualify for expunction. Under Texas law, deferred adjudication results in a dismissal, but it is specifically excluded from expunction eligibility under Art. 55.01. A person who completes deferred adjudication may be eligible for a nondisclosure order under certain circumstances, but not for expunction. That is a meaningful distinction that affects what employers, landlords, and licensing boards can see.

A conviction — whether after trial or through a guilty plea — does not qualify for expunction, with narrow exceptions involving pardons. A DWI conviction, a drug possession conviction, an assault conviction — none of these can be expunged regardless of how long ago the conviction occurred or how otherwise clean the person’s record is.

A case that was dismissed as part of a plea bargain on another charge in the same criminal episode does not qualify, even if the dismissed charge was never prosecuted to conviction. This is a specific exclusion under Art. 55.01(b) that catches people off guard when they believe a dismissal automatically means eligibility.

Prior felony convictions within a certain window can also affect eligibility for expunction of a later arrest, depending on the circumstances.

Waiting Periods Before Filing

Even when a person is otherwise eligible, the statute imposes waiting periods in some situations before a petition for expunction can be filed. For a felony arrest where the case was not indicted and the statute of limitations has not yet run, the person generally must wait until the limitations period expires — which for most felonies in Texas is three years under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 12.01, though certain offenses have longer or no limitations periods.

For misdemeanor arrests where no charges were filed, the waiting period is generally 180 days for a Class B or Class A misdemeanor and 180 days for a Class C. Getting the waiting period right matters because filing too early can result in the petition being denied, and in some circumstances a premature filing can complicate future eligibility.

How the Expunction Process Works in Travis County

The expunction process begins with the filing of a petition in the appropriate court. In Travis County, expunction petitions for felony arrests are filed in the district court, typically in the court that had jurisdiction over the criminal case. Misdemeanor expunctions are filed in the county court. If the arrest never resulted in a filed case, the petition is filed in the court of the county where the arrest occurred — which for an Austin arrest means Travis County.

The petition must identify the petitioner, the date of the arrest, the offense charged, the case number if one was assigned, and all agencies that are believed to have records related to the arrest. Each of those agencies is named as a respondent and must be served with the petition. The Travis County DA’s office is always a respondent and will review the petition to determine whether the state agrees that the petitioner qualifies.

The court sets a hearing date. If there is no objection from any respondent, the court may grant the expunction without a contested hearing. If the DA’s office or another respondent objects — typically because they dispute that the petitioner meets the eligibility requirements — the matter is heard before the judge and each side presents its position.

Once the court grants the expunction order, the order is sent to every respondent agency. Each agency is then required under Chapter 55 to destroy or return the records covered by the order within a set period. DPS updates its records to reflect the expunction. The FBI’s records can also be addressed through the process, though the mechanism for federal record correction operates somewhat separately.

After the expunction is complete, if any agency fails to destroy its records or improperly discloses the expunged information, that agency can be held in contempt of the expunction order.

Nondisclosure as an Alternative When Expunction Is Not Available

For people who do not qualify for expunction — most commonly because their case resolved through deferred adjudication — a petition for nondisclosure under Texas Government Code § 411.071 may be available. A nondisclosure order prohibits most public and private entities from disclosing the record, making it effectively invisible in standard background checks. Law enforcement, courts, and certain licensing boards retain access, but private employers and most landlords do not.

Eligibility for nondisclosure after deferred adjudication depends on the offense, whether the offense is on the list of excluded charges under § 411.0715, and whether the applicable waiting period has passed. For most felony deferred adjudications, the waiting period is five years after discharge from supervision. For most misdemeanors it is two years, and for certain lower-level misdemeanors there is no waiting period.

The nondisclosure process in Travis County follows a similar procedural path to expunction — petition, service on respondents, hearing if contested, court order — but the outcome is a sealing order rather than a destruction order.

Why Getting the Analysis Right Before Filing Matters

Filing an expunction petition before you are eligible, or for a case that does not qualify, does not just result in a denial. In some circumstances it creates a record of the filing itself that can complicate future eligibility or signal to the DA’s office that a petitioner is attempting to expunge a record they are not entitled to clear. Getting a thorough eligibility analysis before filing — including a review of your full criminal history, the disposition of every charge involved, and the applicable waiting periods — is not optional. It is the foundation of the process.

Gary Barton is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a credential held by fewer than two percent of Texas attorneys in the state. Before founding Barton & Associates, he prosecuted felony cases in Bexar County, serving as the youngest Major Crimes Unit chief in Texas history and trying more than 100 jury trials. Barton & Associates handles expunctions and nondisclosure petitions throughout Travis County from our Austin office.

If you were arrested in Austin and believe you may be eligible for an expunction or nondisclosure, call 512-THE-FIRM (843-3476) or use the Schedule a Free Consultation form on our website. The eligibility analysis is the starting point, and it matters more than most people realize.