How to Expunge a Criminal Record in California: Step-by-Step Guide

How to Expunge a Criminal Record in California: Step-by-Step Guide

A California conviction follows you. It shows up on background checks for jobs, rental applications, professional licenses, and even some volunteer positions. Expungement is the legal tool that lets you put that conviction behind you, and California's expungement law is one of the more generous in the country. If you've completed your sentence and stayed out of trouble, you've probably earned the right to clear your record.

This is the step-by-step guide on how to expunge a criminal record in California, what the law actually does for you, and where the process tends to get tricky.

Step 1: Confirm You're Eligible

California Penal Code 1203.4 is the foundational expungement statute. To qualify, you generally need to meet all of the following:

• You were convicted of a misdemeanor or eligible felony in California state court

• You completed probation successfully, or were granted early termination

• You're not currently charged with a new offense

• You're not currently on probation for any other case

• You did not serve time in California state prison for the offense (with limited exceptions added in recent years)

There are some convictions that PC 1203.4 specifically excludes, including certain sex offenses involving minors under PC 286(c), 288, 288a(c), 288.5, and 289(j). Most DUIs, drug offenses, theft crimes, and assault and battery convictions are eligible if you completed probation.

If you served a state prison term, you may still qualify for relief under PC 1203.41 or PC 1203.42, which are newer statutes that expanded eligibility for certain felony convictions handled under realignment.

Step 2: Know About Automatic Relief

In 2019, California passed AB 1076, which created an automatic record relief process for many eligible convictions. Under PC 1203.425, the state Department of Justice is supposed to identify and seal eligible records without anyone having to file a petition.

Sounds great. The reality is messier. The automatic system has a backlog, doesn't catch every eligible case, and doesn't include the formal court order that some employers and licensing boards specifically ask for. Even if you might be eligible for automatic relief, filing a PC 1203.4 petition gives you a court order in your name that you can hand to anyone who asks.

The bottom line: automatic relief is a safety net, not a replacement for filing.

Step 3: Gather Your Records

Before you file anything, you need to know exactly what you're trying to expunge.

Pull together:

• Your case number from the original conviction

• The conviction date and the sentencing date

• The penal code section you were convicted under

• The court where you were sentenced

• Documentation that probation was successfully completed

If you don't have your paperwork, you can request a copy of your case file from the court clerk's office, or request a copy of your California criminal history from the Department of Justice using a Live Scan request.

Step 4: File in the Right Court

You have to file your petition in the same court where you were originally convicted. For San Diego cases, that means filing in San Diego Superior Court at one of the following branches depending on where you were sentenced:

• Central Division at the Hall of Justice downtown for cases from central San Diego

• East County Division in El Cajon for cases from East County

• North County Division in Vista for cases from Oceanside, Vista, Carlsbad, and Escondido

• South Bay Division in Chula Vista for cases from Chula Vista, National City, and Imperial Beach

Filing in the wrong branch will get your petition rejected and bounce you back to square one.

Step 5: Choose the Right Form

The Judicial Council provides standardized expungement forms. The two main forms are:

• CR-180: Petition for Dismissal under PC 1203.4 and related statutes

• CR-181: Order for Dismissal (the proposed order the judge will sign)

You file both at the same time. The CR-180 lays out the basis for your request. The CR-181 is the order you're asking the judge to enter. Both are available free on the California Courts website.

If you served prison time and are filing under PC 1203.41 or PC 1203.42, the forms are slightly different, but the structure is the same.

Step 6: File the Petition & Pay the Fee

In San Diego, the filing fee for a PC 1203.4 petition currently runs around $150 per case, though fees change periodically. If you can't afford the fee, you can file a fee waiver request at the same time using form FW-001. The court grants fee waivers based on income and household size, and most legitimate requests are approved.

Once you file, the clerk gives you a hearing date, typically 6 to 12 weeks out depending on the court's calendar.

Step 7: Serve the District Attorney

This step trips up a lot of pro se filers. You're required to serve the petition on the prosecuting agency, which in most San Diego cases is the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. For some cases, particularly those filed by city attorneys, the proper party may be the San Diego City Attorney instead.

Service must happen at least 15 days before the hearing under PC 1203.4. The DA's office then has a chance to review the petition and either consent, oppose, or take no position.

Step 8: Attend the Hearing if Required

Many expungement petitions are granted without an actual courtroom hearing, particularly when the DA doesn't oppose. The judge reviews the paperwork and signs the order.

If the DA opposes or the judge has questions about your conduct since the conviction, you may need to appear. This is where having an attorney matters most. The judge has discretion under PC 1203.4 to grant or deny relief "in the interests of justice," which means your post-conviction conduct, employment history, community ties, and rehabilitation efforts can all factor in.

Step 9: Receive the Order & Use It

If the petition is granted, the court signs the CR-181 order. Your conviction is set aside and the case is dismissed. The DOJ updates your record, though it can take a few weeks for the update to flow through to background check databases.

You can now legally answer "no" to most questions about prior convictions on private employment applications. There are exceptions, including applications for public office, jobs requiring a state license, contracting with the California Lottery, and a few others spelled out in PC 1203.4.

What Expungement Does Not Do

Be honest with yourself about the limits. Expungement under PC 1203.4 does not:

• Restore firearm rights if you lost them due to the conviction

• Remove the conviction from law enforcement databases

• Erase the conviction for purposes of federal immigration consequences

• Prevent the conviction from being used to enhance future sentences

• Allow you to deny the conviction when applying for state professional licenses

For those issues, additional remedies exist (Certificates of Rehabilitation, Governor's Pardons, post-conviction motions to vacate), but they're separate processes.

Timeline & What to Expect in San Diego

In San Diego, a straightforward PC 1203.4 petition typically takes 4 to 6 months from filing to final order. Cases with complications or DA opposition can run longer. Filing in late summer or early fall tends to take longer because of court backlogs around the holidays.

Talk to a San Diego Expungement Attorney

The expungement process looks straightforward on paper, but the details matter. Filing in the wrong court, missing the service deadline, or filing under the wrong statute can sink an otherwise solid petition. If you want to know how to expunge a criminal record in California and have it handled correctly the first time, the Rudolph Firm has cleared records for clients throughout San Diego County. Call us today for a free consultation and let's see what we can do for your case.