Move On To a New Life Sooner 
Once you serve your time, you want to move on in your life. It’s time for a new job, new apartment, maybe even new relationships. But old convictions can make moving on more difficult than you might realize. They have a way of appearing on background checks and criminal checks. New employers and new landlords may be reluctant to trust you with a negative mark on your background check. But there is a way that you can erase those black marks on your record. If you want to move on, talk to an Okmulgee expungement attorney about what they can do to help you. You will be glad you did.
Laws passed in 2016 have made it easier to move on with your life. These laws reduce the amount of time you have to wait to qualify for a criminal records expungement. These laws have specific waiting times for specific types of criminal convictions. And while these requirements vary quite a bit from conviction to conviction, your Okmulgee expungement attorney will know if you qualify and can help you take all the steps you need toward expungement.
What is Expungement and How Does it Help?
All expungements can give you peace of mind. But a criminal records expungement in particular, acts as an erasing of your old conviction. This type of expungement seals your records from public viewing if you qualify. And that can make it seem as if the crime never occurred. If your criminal records are sealed, you can lawfully say “no” if you are asked if you have ever been convicted of a crime. Okla. Stat. tit. 22 § 19(F).
The Oklahoma legislature wants you to move on and not return to its judicial system as a defendant. This single action makes that goal much easier to attain.
Nor will these records appear in a background or criminal records check. It is as if you have wiped the slate clean.
Do I Need an Expungement Attorney to Get an Expungement?
There are several different types of expungements available. Make sure that you are getting the one that fits your needs and make sure that you can qualify for the type of expungement that you want to obtain. An Okmulgee expungement attorney can help you understand the differences between the types of expungements available and will help you understand if you meet the qualifying criteria.
A criminal records expungement is the most desirable type as it seal every aspect of your prior conviction, including the arrest and all court records. But it is also the most difficult and complicated type of expungement to obtain. Okla. Stat. tit. 22 § 18. Only misdemeanors and non-violent felonies qualify for this kind of expungement. It also requires a complicated petition that is best handled by an experienced Okmulgee expungement attorney. The Petition for Expungement is a formal pleading that must be drafted, filed with the court and properly served upon all interested parties. If the service and notice requirements are not correctly attended to, the court will not hear your petition. All interested parties must have proper notice and a chance to respond to your petition.
It also requires a significant waiting period before you can even file your petition. Before the Oklahoma legislature took action in 2016 to shorten the waiting time for a criminal records expungement you had to wait 10 years after completion of your felony sentence to begin the process. The new legislation shortened this time to five years. Waiting times for other convictions vary. Some misdemeanors may be expunged immediately. Okla. Stat. tit. 22 § 18. This can be one of the most difficult aspect of expungements to understand.
Low-cost Consultation With an Okmulgee Expungement Attorney
If you’d like a confidential, no cost consultation with an Okmulgee expungement attorney, call (918) 756-9600 or toll-free (888) Wirth-Law for a low-cost strategy session at the Wirth Law Office – Okmulgee. Or, enter your legal question or concern in the firm at the top right of this page, and one of our attorneys will email or call you.
