Juvenile Record Sealing and Expungement: Check the Case and the Order

Privately list the county and court, case or petition number, final disposition, relevant offense and current age. If the case involved a program, keep its completion record and the final court or probation decision. For multiple petitions or counties, do not assume an order in one case covers the others.

Distinguish a juvenile adjudication from an adult criminal conviction. California Courts explicitly directs people convicted in adult court as minors to adult record-cleaning instructions. An arrest or allegation that was never sustained also needs its own route; do not describe it as a conviction merely because a record exists.

Identify the record holder causing the problem: the court, probation, police, a different agency or a particular report. Keep a private copy of the order and application documents before asking whether the correct records were covered. This website does not collect them.

Welfare and Institutions Code §786 provides dismissal and sealing after satisfactory completion of its covered supervision or probation. The court issues an order and sends notice; age 18 by itself is not the trigger. Satisfactory completion has statutory conditions about later findings or convictions and substantial compliance with reasonable orders within the person's ability to perform.

Section 786(d) excludes sustained §707(b) offenses committed at age 14 or older unless the finding was dismissed or reduced as specified. A separate petition route may need review. The Courts also explain distinct procedures for deferred entry of judgment and pre-petition diversion; do not treat every program as the same case.

Under §786(c)(2), the specified unfulfilled restitution orders or conditions do not make completion unsatisfactory. An unpaid balance is not a universal reason to postpone all juvenile sealing; the rule depends on the actual remedy.

Under §781, a person can generally petition after reaching 18 or after the applicable five-year period following juvenile jurisdiction or the specified probation or police contact. The court must consider rehabilitation and the rule about later felony convictions or misdemeanors involving moral turpitude. Subsection (a)(1)(G) recognizes specified later relief from those convictions; do not treat every later conviction as a permanent bar.

Certain §707(b) records from age 14 or older have additional age, commitment and supervision-completion rules. Some such records can be sealed but must be retained. The statute separately prohibits sealing the specified §707(b) registration cases under Penal Code §290.008. Do not replace these distinctions with all serious offenses are eligible or none can ever be sealed.

Section 781 treats restitution converted to a civil judgment, restitution fines and court-ordered fees through particular provisions. Read those alongside the rehabilitation requirements. Sealing does not itself establish that a payment obligation was canceled.

Section 80-6-1004.5's automatic-order route requires age 18, a juvenile record consisting solely of nonjudicial adjustments, successful completion of each adjustment, and completion of all adjustments on or after October 1, 2023. It excludes the listed DUI, reckless-endangerment, negligent-homicide, sexual-battery and weapon offenses. It does not automatically clear every adjudication at 18.

For records consisting solely of pre-October-2023 adjustments, subsection (3) provides a different legal effect when its age, restitution and offense conditions are satisfied. That provision is not the same as the automatic expungement order in subsection (1). Check whether an actual order exists and whether a petition is needed for the records you want cleared.

Utah Courts starts its guide by asking whether you dealt only with probation or appeared before a judge. If the answer is unclear, ask the juvenile court which dispositions appear in your record before choosing the paperwork.

Adjudication — §80-6-1004.1 generally requires age 18 and one year after the specified end of jurisdiction or release from secure care; the court can waive age or timing with stated reasons. Rehabilitation and the statute's violent-felony, pending-case, restitution and murder exclusions still matter. A hearing has its own notice and possible waiver conditions.

Nonjudicial adjustments only — §80-6-1004.2 supplies a petition route for records not eligible for automatic expungement. It has an age rule and possible judicial waiver, as well as restitution and pending-proceeding conditions. The court guide identifies form 1101EX for this route.

Arrest, investigation or a case without adjudication — §80-6-1004.3 has age and possible waiver rules and requires the applicable screening, dismissal, prosecutor-consent or limitations condition for each case. No pending delinquency or criminal proceeding is allowed. A dismissal label alone does not establish every condition.

Allegations not found true — §80-6-1004.4 uses a separate petition at least 30 days after the finding, with no appeal filed in that period. It concerns the incident covered by the finding, not automatically the person's whole record. An adult criminal-history report is required when the petitioner is 18 or older. The court guide identifies form 1103EX for this route.

In California, §781 separates sealing from later destruction and requires certain serious-offense records to be retained. Section 786 allows specified access for purposes including later juvenile proceedings, services and firearm restrictions. This is not unrestricted access for every employer or agency.

Utah §80-6-1006.1 preserves fingerprints and contains special rules for records held by the Board of Pardons and Parole, Department of Corrections, and particular child-welfare systems. Those rules show why expungement cannot be defined as every copy is destroyed and nobody can ever see it.

Read the order's named cases and agencies and the governing law's exceptions. A privacy restriction, the right to answer a history question differently and physical destruction of a record are separate effects. Do not assume one proves the others.

For California petition sealing, the Courts direct you to the probation department in the county of the case for local instructions. Its guide identifies Request to Seal Juvenile Records, form JV-595, or the local forms provided. Some counties receive the request at court. The Courts say there is no cost to ask for juvenile sealing; an optional DOJ history request or private representation is a separate expense.

Utah uses different petitions for the dispositions above and a juvenile petition cover sheet. Check the current instructions for any required criminal-history report, filing charge or fee-waiver request. Do not apply an invented national court-fee or attorney-fee range to a particular case.

After an order, confirm the cases and agencies it names. California directs named agencies to report compliance to the court. Utah generally requires an agency affidavit within 60 days after receipt of the order, but §80-6-1006.1 expressly exempts the Board of Pardons and Parole and Department of Corrections from that mailing requirement. Ask about the actual record holder if confirmation is missing; this is not a universal 60-day completion promise.

California's sealing provisions give rights to respond as if the covered proceedings had not occurred, subject to the governing rules and exceptions. The Courts specifically flags military and federal security-clearance applications as situations needing additional review. Utah's expungement statute also states the legal effect of the order while retaining specified records.

Read what the particular application asks and which law governs it. Obtain guidance about the actual question when necessary. Do not assume a rule about adult convictions is a rule about juvenile adjudications, or that confidentiality alone proves a seal was entered.

A cleared record is not a promise of admission, a job, housing or a license. If an institution relies on a record, identify the entry and decision rule so you can ask about a specific correction or review process.