Expungement Assistance

An expungement is a way to remove past offenses from your public record. Expansions under the “Clean Slate” laws include eligibility for up to three felonies and unlimited misdemeanors, excluding certain assault or weapons offenses and felonies that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Currently, the entire expungement process can take up to eight months.

• MC 227, Application to Set Aside Conviction(s) (PDF). Applicant submits application. All expungement applications can be found in the "Applications & Checklists" section below.
• Michigan State Police (MSP) process expungement applications. Once MSP has the required documentation, please allow up to two months for your Criminal History Report to be processed.
• The Department of Attorney General's response will be processed up to three months after the Criminal History Report has been completed. 
• Expungement hearing

• All offenses punishable by life imprisonment
• Assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct
• Child sexually abusive material or activity offenses
• Felony domestic violence if the person has a previous misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence
• Fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct (committed after January 12, 2015)
• Human-trafficking related offenses
• Second-degree child abuse
• Second-degree criminal sexual conduct
• Some traffic offenses such as: convictions for driving while intoxicated, traffic offenses that cause injury or death, and commercial driver’s license violations
• Terrorism-related offenses - includes convictions for attempts to commit any of these offenses
• Third-degree criminal sexual conduct
• Using a computer to commit sex crimes offenses

Important Reminders:

1. Please remember to review the Checklist and Instructions before you begin the process.
2. The Convicting Court and Case number must be listed for your application to be processed.
3. Only include your CURRENT attorney on your application if applicable
4. If you have convictions in multiple courts, you must complete a separate application for each court

• If the MSP Criminal History Report is not complete, please check the status of your application after the report is finalized.
• If you are being represented by an attorney, the application can only be discussed with the retained attorney. Please contact your attorney for more information.
• Unless an attorney has been retained, we can only discuss information regarding a person's Application to Set Aside Conviction with the actual applicant.
• Once calls are returned, we cannot leave a message if there is no identifying information such as the legal name of the person we are trying to reach on your voicemail.

• Expanded number of convictions that can be expunged to 3 felonies and unlimited misdemeanors;
• Reduced the waiting time required to expunge a conviction in certain circumstances;
• Certain traffic offenses can now be expunged;
• First Time Operating While Intoxicated offenses are now eligible for expungement;
• Misdemeanor Marijuana convictions can now be expunged for past conduct that is now legal with no statutory waiting period;
• “One bad night” provision which combines separate, but related, offenses into one offense for the purpose of counting convictions; and
• The automatic expungement mandate which will allow for certain convictions to be expunged without an application.

A person convicted of 1 or more misdemeanor or local ordinance marijuana crimes may petition the convicting court to set aside the convictions if they were based on activity that would not have been a crime after December 6, 2018, when a 2018 voter-passed initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Michigan went into effect.

Filing requirements: MCL 780.621e(2) provides an application to expunge a misdemeanor marijuana conviction must contain all of the following information:

• The full name and current address of the applicant; and

• A certified record of each conviction that the applicant is seeking to expunge.

The application must be filed either by mail or in person in the court where the conviction occurred.

Checklist for Misdemeanor Marijuana Adult Offenses

As of February 19th, 2022, first time operating while intoxicated convictions are now eligible to be set-aside (expunged) under certain circumstances.

• Only one operating while impaired/intoxicated offense can be set-aside in a person's lifetime;
• If the operating while intoxicated caused an injury or death it is ineligible to be set aside; and
• The waiting period to have a first-time operating while intoxicated offense expunged from your record is 5 years. 

While some traffic offenses can be expunged, an order expunging a conviction for a traffic offense cannot require that the Michigan Secretary of State remove or expunge the conviction from the person's driving record.

A person convicted of 1 or more criminal offenses including felonies and misdemeanors, but not more than a total of 3 felony offenses, may file an application with the convicting court to expunge all of his or her convictions, with the following exceptions:

• A person cannot seek to expunge more than 2 "assaultive crime" convictions during his or her lifetime; or
• A person cannot seek to expunge more than 1 felony conviction for the same offense if it is punishable by more than 10 years' incarceration.

Waiting Time

• When seeking to expunge one or more serious misdemeanor convictions or one felony conviction, at least 5 years from the latest of the following events: date of the sentencing, completion of a term of probation, discharge from parole, or completion of any term of imprisonment.
• When seeking to expunge more than one felony conviction, at least 7 years from the latest of the following events: date of the sentencing, completion of a term of probation, discharge from parole, or completion of any term of imprisonment.
• When seeking to expunge one or more misdemeanor convictions (other than serious misdemeanors and any misdemeanor conviction for an assaultive crime), at least 3 years from the latest of the following events: date of the sentencing, completion of a term of probation, or completion of any term of imprisonment.