Questions people actually ask

The court withdraws your plea or sets aside the verdict and dismisses the case, which releases you from most of the penalties of the conviction. It does not erase or destroy the record. The conviction can still be used in a later criminal case, it does not restore firearm rights, and you must still disclose it when applying for public office, a state or local licence, or a California State Lottery contract.

Possibly. Since October 2024 the Department of Justice reviews records monthly and grants relief automatically under Penal Code 1203.425 for a large class of convictions, with no petition and no cost. It notifies nobody. Between July 2022 and December 2023 it relieved 6,861,324 people, though fewer than half had every entry covered. Order your own Department of Justice record and look for a note reading 'relief granted'.

Flat fees, published, with the court filing fee included. A misdemeanour dismissal is $599 all in. There is no separate processing fee and no surcharge if you had a probation violation. The pricing page lists every service and exactly what it covers.

Two to four months from filing is typical across California, and it varies by county. Before that there is the records review, which takes two to three weeks because it depends how fast the court and the Department of Justice send records back.

Usually not. Many of these petitions are decided on the papers with nobody appearing. Where a court does set a hearing, the firm appears for you. You do not need to be in California at all.

On an ordinary employment background check it generally should not, and a California employer with five or more employees may not consider a dismissed conviction. On a fingerprint-based Department of Justice or FBI check the case still appears, with the dismissal noted. Commercial background databases are not required to keep up and often report stale data, which is one reason having the court order matters.

In most California job applications, no — the employer may not lawfully ask. The statute names three situations where you must still disclose: applying for public office, applying for a state or local licence, and contracting with the California State Lottery.

No. The statute says so directly. The routes that can work are the expiry of a ten-year misdemeanour prohibition, a reduction to a misdemeanour in some circumstances, or a full Governor's pardon based on a Certificate of Rehabilitation. We route every firearms question to an attorney rather than guessing, and we will not sell you an expungement as a firearms fix.

Yes, if probation is complete, though it is discretionary rather than mandatory. What it will not do is touch your DMV record: a dismissal expressly does not affect a licence suspension, and the conviction still counts as a prior if you are charged with another DUI within ten years.

Almost certainly not, and we will not take your money for it. A Penal Code 1203.4 dismissal is generally not effective to eliminate a conviction for federal immigration purposes. The tools that can work are a motion to vacate under Penal Code 1473.7, relief under 1016.5, or 1203.43. You need a post-conviction immigration attorney.

No. California law is explicit that a petition shall not be denied because restitution or a restitution fine is unpaid, and that unpaid restitution is not grounds for finding you failed probation. Most court-imposed fees were separately made uncollectible in 2022. The restitution itself remains owed, but it does not block the petition.

Yes. A judge can end probation early under Penal Code 1203.3, and the dismissal can be filed immediately afterwards. It works best where you have completed the conditions and have a concrete reason the relief matters now, such as a job or a licence.

Each case needs its own petition. Additional cases are $199 each on top of the main service. If you have four or more, or cases in more than one county, the check routes you to an attorney rather than quoting — the sequence these are cleared in starts to matter.

No. A California court has no power over another state's judgment, and neither do we. The same goes for federal convictions, where there is no general expungement statute at all. Our check will tell you that rather than taking the work.

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Because this is a new practice and we are not going to invent them. Instead of star ratings you get published prices, the actual filing fee in your county, the statutes we are relying on, and a free check that tells you no when the answer is no.