Clearing your record — what it can and cannot do

Source: California Courts self-help, Clean your record.

What a dismissal does not do

These come straight off the court's own order granting relief (form CR-181), and they matter more than the marketing usually admits:

• It stays disclosable for public office, for state and local licensing, and for contracting with the State Lottery Commission.
• It still counts as a prior. A dismissed DUI can be pleaded and proved in a later case exactly as if nothing had been dismissed — so it still makes a future DUI a second offense.
• The DMV is unaffected. Suspensions and revocations stand and the DUI stays on your driving record.
• It does not restore firearm rights if you are otherwise prohibited.
• It does not end a DNA sample requirement or a criminal protective order.

Source: Judicial Council form CR-181.

What it does do

For most private employment, a dismissed case is one you can answer honestly as dismissed. That is the practical value, and for a lot of people it is the difference in getting hired. Landlords and background-check services see the disposition changed.

Who qualifies

• You are not currently charged with an offense, and not on probation or parole in any case.
• If probation was granted and you completed it and satisfied its terms, the dismissal is mandatory — the court must grant it.
• If you did not complete every term, it becomes discretionary: the judge decides in the interests of justice.
• Still on probation? You can ask the court to terminate probation early under Penal Code 1203.3 and petition at the same time.
• No probation was imposed? Generally a one-year wait from conviction.
• State prison cases go a different route — Penal Code 1203.41 or 1203.42 rather than 1203.4.

Some relief is now automatic

Under Penal Code 1203.425, many convictions are now dismissed automatically without anyone filing anything. Worth checking before you pay for a petition — though the courts note that formally requesting a dismissal can still carry additional benefits.

Separate proceedings, each needing their own petition: reducing a felony to a misdemeanor under Penal Code 17(b), a Certificate of Rehabilitation, and a Governor's pardon.

How we do it

We pull your record first — people are often wrong about what they were actually convicted of, and sometimes relief has already been granted. Then the petition on form CR-180, service on the prosecutor, and the hearing if the court sets one. Tell us what you are trying to accomplish, because sometimes the answer is a 17(b) reduction rather than a dismissal.

This page is general information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Penalties and procedures vary by county, by judge and by the facts of your case. Talk to us about yours.