Expungements

All petitions for expungement must contain the information required by the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. Please see the PA Bulletin dated Saturday, October 9, 2010 for the changes regarding expungements adopted by the PA Supreme Court at the following link -
http://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol40/40-41/1920.html

It should be further noted that it takes approximately six months to a year to have a record completely expunged and in some instances the expungement process can take significantly longer. If all the required criteria are met and all case financials have been resolved (no outstanding costs, fines and/or restitution and all restitution checks cashed), the Clerk's office submits the expungement Order to the Administrative Office of PA Courts (AOPC) for immediate removal from the Common Pleas Case Management System (CPCMS or statewide docketing network) and from the UJS Portal.

In addition to servicing the expungement order on AOPC the Order is provided to the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) Central Repository where an expungement Order may experience a substantial delay in being processed. At times PSP - at the direction of their Chief Counsel - will reject an expungement as the charge(s) are not considered legally expungable.

At the PA Supreme Court's direction, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) has developed petition forms or templates for use by petitioners in requesting the Court to have their record expunged available at the following link - http://www.pacourts.us/forms/for-the-public Please note that the petition pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 490 relates to SUMMARY offenses ONLY and the petition pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 790 relates to CRIMINAL (misdemeanors, felonies, AND summary offenses if included with other offenses). The petition pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 790 is to be used for partial expungements as well.

You MUST attach the required Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) background check as per Pa.R.Crim.P. 490 and 790. Disregard the last box on the form petition(s) that inaccurately makes it appear that such a petition can be successfully filed without the required background check. Please see PSP website for additional information: PSP Website

Further information regarding your case(s) and offenses to include the Offense Tracking Number (OTN) can be found on the case docket sheets available at the PA Unified Judicial System's website at the following link - http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/. See "Reference Guides" on the menu bar located on the left side of the screen for information on how to navigate to both the Magisterial District and Common Pleas Court case docket sheets.

Expungement petitions and the required PSP background check attachment are filed upon payment of the $74.00 filing fee with the Clerk of Courts office open Monday - Friday 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. excluding holidays. The Clerk's office is located on the first floor of the York County Judicial Center at 45 North George Street, York, PA. A copy of the petition and attachment MUST also be delivered, by the filer, to the District Attorney's office located on the third floor of the Judicial Center.

NOTE - by law, expungements of criminal offenses (misdemeanors/felonies) may only be considered for expungement if the charges were either dismissed, withdrawn, nolle prossed, found not guilty. The ONLY exception a guilty disposition may be considered, by law, is if the defendant is 70 years of age or older and has not committed any new offenses in the past ten years following any period of incarceration.

NOTE - by law, expungements of summary offenses with a guilty disposition may only be considered if the defendant remains free of arrest or prosecution for five (5)years following the conviction.

To learn more please review the expungement law - Act 134 of 2008 - originally House Bill 1543 of 2007.

The directions and links above provide information about the law and expungement process designed to help filers address their own legal needs. But legal information is not the same as legal advice – the application of the law to an individual’s specific circumstances. Although we go to great lengths to ensure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation. We cannot provide legal advice and to do so would be considered the unauthorized practice of law.