Arrests can cause you to lose opportunities even if the arrests never resulted in a conviction or never even made it to court. The best way to protect yourself from possible problems is to clear your record as much as possible. In Missouri, there are three main categories of arrest record expungement which you may qualify for. The first is for cases which were filed in court and then dismissed, The second is an arrest based on a lack of probable cause, sometimes referred to as factual innocence. The third is for arrests based on driving-related offenses which were dismissed.
You can take our free online eligibility test to see if you are eligible.
Expungement of dismissed cases filed in court is very broad and many cases are eligible. This type of expungement shares a lifetime limit with expungements that can be granted for convictions, and it is a cap of 1 felony and 2 misdemeanors in a person’s lifetime, with no limit on the number of infractions that can be expunged.
If your case was dismissed, there is a very good chance that your case is eligible for dismissed case expungement. You can also take our free online eligibility test to verify if your case is eligible for expungement.
If you are “factually innocent,” this means that there was no reasonable cause that existed to believe that you committed the offense for which the arrest was made. Even if you were not convicted and the case was dismissed does not necessarily mean you were factually innocent. You will need to disprove at least one element of the offense you were charged with using either direct evidence, such as your testimony of the events that led up to the arrest or the police report, or indirect evidence, such as the fact that you have never been convicted of a similar crime before.
Under Missouri Revised Statute §610.122, any arrest record may be expunged based on factual innocence if the court finds that the arrest was based on false information and the following conditions exist:
Certain arrests and dismissed driving-related offenses are also eligible for expungement. If your dismissed misdemeanor was for a chapter 303 offense (no proof of financial responsibility) or a moving violation under Missouri Revised Statute §302.010, except for any alcohol-related traffic or boating offense, and the case resulted in either a dismissal, nolle prosse, or a not guilty finding, you can apply to have the record expunged as long as you are not a commercial driver.
Expunging your arrest record will close your record meaning that it will not be available to the public without an order from the court, although it will still be available to criminal justice agencies and certain licensing agencies. This will remove your case from commercial background checks and make it much less likely that anyone will ever find out about your case. This will also allow you to tell potential employers that you have never been arrested, saving the need to explain the case.
To see if you’re eligible to have your arrest record sealed based on factual innocence, you can take a few moments by filling out our free online evaluation to see if you’re qualified.
The time it takes to have an arrest record sealed in Missouri can take several months and will depend on how many cases the court has in front of yours because the court reviews cases on a first come, first served basis.
We will research your case, then write and file any necessary paperwork with the appropriate authorities. If there are any objections to your case, we will file a response to those objections. We will also have one of our highly skilled attorneys appear in court on your behalf. You can always check the status and progress of your case 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through our online case management system.
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.
Our exclusive Expedited Record Clearance Update service allows us to have the leading background check companies reflect changes to your criminal record in less than 14 days, instead of months and even years like our competitors.
Arrest Record Expungement | Our Law Firm | Typical Law Firm |
Price* | $1,000.00 | $1,500.00 |
Payment Plans | Yes | No |
Low-Price Guarantee | Yes | No |
Pays Court Costs | Yes | No |
Specializes in Record Clearing | Yes | No |
Get started with $99.00 Plus 4 interest-free monthly payments of only $225.00. |
* Court filing fees and any document processing fees are not included in the price and will be due at the time of court filing and not according to the payment plan. Filing fees range from $98 to $200, but are sometimes waived for arrest only cases depending on court.
In some instances, a report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol or FBI may be needed, which may require you to be fingerprinted and to pay an additional fee for that service(s).
Benefits | RecordGone.com | Typical Attorney Site |
More than 30,000 successful cases | Yes | No |
"A+" rating with Better Business Bureau | Yes | No |
Updates background check companies | Yes | No |
Gladly offers to price match | Yes | No |
Work starts with your first payment | Yes | No |
Fastest possible results | Yes | No |
50+ combined years of experience | Yes | No |
National law firm | Yes | No |
Online case management system | Yes | No |
Experts who helped create expungement law | Yes | No |
Award-winning customer service | Yes | No |
Interest-free payment plans | Yes | No |
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* You must first take our free eligibility test in order to sign up online.