Missouri Expungement Law 101

What expungement does

Expungement closes a qualifying record to the public. Once granted, most employers, landlords, and members of the public can no longer see the offense, and in most situations you can lawfully answer that you were not convicted of it.

It is not the same as a pardon, and it does not necessarily destroy every trace of a record. Certain government agencies may still access sealed records in limited circumstances. But for everyday background checks, an expungement can be life-changing.

The main statute: RSMo § 610.140

Most Missouri expungements happen under Revised Statute § 610.140. It sets out which offenses qualify, how long you have to wait, and what the court must find before granting your petition.

Missouri reformed this statute to shorten waiting periods and broaden eligibility, which is why information you read even a few years ago may be out of date.

Who qualifies: the offenses that can be cleared

Eligibility starts with the offense. Many Class C, D, and E felonies qualify, along with most misdemeanors, a large share of municipal and ordinance violations, and arrests that never led to a conviction. Many drug and marijuana charges are eligible too. The class of the offense is what sets your waiting period and how the charge counts against your lifetime limits, so the same charge name can play out very differently for two different people.

What Missouri will not expunge

Some offenses are excluded no matter how much time passes. The main categories are Class A felonies, any offense that meets Missouri’s dangerous-felony definition, offenses that require sex-offender registration, felonies where death is an element, and any domestic assault. There are more, and there are exceptions in both directions, so a charge that lands near one of these categories is a reason to check rather than to assume.

Waiting periods

• Felonies: generally 3 years after you complete your entire sentence.
• Misdemeanors and ordinance violations: generally 1 year after completion.
• The clock runs from completion of the whole disposition (including probation or parole and payment of all fines and restitution), not from the date of the offense or conviction.

Lifetime limits

Missouri caps how many offenses a person can expunge in a lifetime: up to two felonies and up to three misdemeanors (or ordinance violations that carry possible jail time). Infractions don’t count against these limits.

If you have more than one record, the order and timing of your petitions matters, which is one reason it helps to have a lawyer plan the strategy.

Meeting the waiting period isn’t enough

Even when you meet the waiting period, the court still has to make several findings before it grants your petition: that you’ve had no new convictions, satisfied all obligations, have no pending charges, are not a threat to public safety, and that expungement serves the public welfare and the interests of justice.

Arrests and dismissed charges

An arrest that never led to a conviction can still surface on a background check, and it is often one of the faster records to clear. If your case was dropped, dismissed, or never charged, you may be able to expunge the arrest, sometimes within about eighteen months of the arrest rather than the usual one- or three-year wait.

SIS and SES: sentencing that is not a conviction

A Suspended Imposition of Sentence, or SIS, that you completed successfully is not a conviction, and it is closed to most public background checks. An arrest record can still exist, though, which is where expungement can still help. A Suspended Execution of Sentence, or SES, is different: it is a conviction, and it follows the ordinary expungement rules. Which one you have changes the analysis, so it is worth confirming before you assume your record is already clear.

DWI follows its own rules

A first-time alcohol-related driving offense is expunged under a separate statute, § 610.130, not the general § 610.140. That route is available only once in a lifetime, and the waiting period is much longer, generally ten years. Felony DWI and repeat alcohol-related offenses are treated differently again. Because the DWI rules stand on their own, that charge is worth reviewing separately from anything else on your record.

Marijuana and other drug cases

Marijuana records are their own story. Missouri’s 2022 legalization directed courts to automatically expunge many past marijuana offenses, so a large number were cleared without anyone filing. Not every record was reached, and anything beyond simple possession may still need a petition. Other drug charges follow the general § 610.140 path today, and certain drug-possession and paraphernalia convictions will begin clearing automatically in 2027, which is covered below.

What expungement costs

We charge one flat fee for most single-charge expungements, quoted in writing before you hire us, plus the court’s filing fee, which the county sets. Multi-charge and complex felony matters are quoted up front after a free review. There is no hourly billing and no surprise invoice, because you deserve to know what clearing your record costs before you start rather than after.

The process, step by step

Once you are eligible, the case itself is fairly predictable, and most of it resolves within a few months of filing.

• Confirm the record qualifies and locate the exact case, usually on Missouri’s Case.net.
• Prepare the petition, naming every party and agency the statute requires.
• File it in the correct court, generally the court where you were charged or found guilty.
• Serve the prosecutor, the arresting agency, and the other required parties.
• Let the objection window pass, then attend the hearing, which the attorney can often handle for you.
• When the court grants the petition, the record is sealed and you receive the signed order.

After expungement: what a background check can see

Once a court grants your expungement, the record is closed to the public, and a standard employment, housing, or licensing background check should no longer turn it up. In most situations you can lawfully answer that you were not convicted of the expunged offense. There are narrow, statute-defined exceptions for certain jobs, and some private data brokers lag before their databases catch up, but for the checks that decide most jobs and apartments, a granted expungement is designed to make the offense invisible.

Expungement and firearm rights

This is one of the most misunderstood questions, and one of the few where a wrong assumption can carry real consequences. Whether a granted expungement restores the ability to lawfully possess a firearm depends on the specific offense and involves both Missouri law and federal law, which do not always line up. It is genuinely fact-specific. If firearm rights matter to you, raise it early and confirm it with the attorney for your exact record rather than relying on any general statement, including this one.

What’s changing: automatic expungement

Under RSMo § 610.141, and starting no later than January 1, 2027, Missouri will begin automatically expunging certain drug-possession and paraphernalia convictions, without a petition. It’s a meaningful reform, but it’s narrow: almost everything else still requires filing under § 610.140.

Common questions