So what is expunging a criminal record in Palm Beach (all of Florida) County, Florida all about, you ask? Assume for a minute that you have been arrested for any offense, from a misdemeanor to a serious felony. Somewhere along the way the state attorney decides not to file a formal charging document, or does file but later the case is dismissed by either the prosecutor or the judge or a jury acquits you of the charge(s). This is where expunging the record comes into play.
First and foremost you cannot have any other criminal convictions as an adult. Second you may only have one expungement. This means that if you have been arrested at different times and were never convicted of a crime you can then only have one arrest expunged. However, if you had one arrest, and multiple charges arose out of the same arrest then you can have all the charges expunged assuming they were all under the same case number or even if a different case number as long as the same event gave rise to them.
So how do you "expunge my Florida arrest"I? I would suggest that "you" do not! It is always better to have a lawyer handle the matter for you. There is information to be gathered. There are forms to be sent to the Office of the State Attorney. A Certificate of Eligilbility must be obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Obtaining the Certificate takes several months as there is a waiting list. After the certifcate is obtained then the Petition to Expunge may be filed and a hearing date obtained.
Is there a guarantee that the court will grant the Petition to Expunge. No, but in all likelihood the Court will. The benefit to you of gaining the expungement is that you can lawfully deny ever being arrested except in a very few incidences such as if you wanted to become a law enforcement officer or become a member of The Florida Bar and several other fields. But by having the record expunged you have cleaned it up as much as it can be cleaned.
Please feel free to visit my website at www.expungemyfloridaarrest.com or if you have recently been arrested visit me at www.duilawyerofpalmbeach.com . You may also call me at 561-616-8700 pretty much 7 days a week if you simply wish to chat about life, the universe and everything.
Copyright 2008 by Timothy Foster, All Rights Reserved
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