Tennessee expungement eligibility.

Wait periods by offense category

Years required between completion of all sentence requirements and the earliest date relief is available.

Wait periods are counted from the latest of: release from custody, end of probation/parole, or final restitution payment. Statute citation applies. Confirm with a licensed attorney before relying.

Compute your earliest eligible date

Enter your sentence-completion date and offense category to compute the earliest petition date.

How to file in Tennessee

1. Pull a certified copy of your record from Tennessee's criminal history repository.
2. Confirm restitution and fines are fully paid. Outstanding obligations block almost every petition.
3. Confirm probation/parole discharge. Get a final discharge letter or a current letter from your supervising officer.
4. Verify the wait period for your offense (table above) is satisfied.
5. File the petition at the Tennessee Criminal / Circuit Court. Filing fee: $280.
6. Serve the prosecutor with notice of the petition. Most states require this before a judge will rule.
7. Attend the hearing if the court schedules one. Many uncontested petitions are decided on the papers.

Recent amendments

Major statutory changes affecting record relief in Tennessee.

• 2025

  2025 reorganization of TCA Title 40 Ch. 32

  Tennessee reorganized its expungement statutes: dismissal expungements moved primarily to TCA 40-32-106; conviction expungements moved to 40-32-107 and 40-32-108. TCA 40-32-102 was amended so the TBI must develop a request-for-certification form completed by the court and submitted to TBI before an order of expunction is entered.

  Primary source: tncourts.gov ↗

Tennessee-specific carve-outs

Categories the law treats differently in this state.

• Numerical lifetime cap

  Tennessee remains one of the strictest states by volume — only people with one or two eligible convictions (counting other states and federal) are eligible to have a conviction expunged.

  Source: tncourts.gov ↗

Common mistakes to avoid

Reasons Tennessee petitions get bounced or sealings fail to land.

• !Filing the expungement order without first obtaining a TBI certificate-of-eligibility request form (post-2025 reorganization) results in TBI rejecting the order at the records-destruction stage.
• !An out-of-state conviction discovered in the TBI background check after filing will defeat the petition under the one-or-two-conviction lifetime cap.

Excluded categories

These categories are typically excluded from petition relief in Tennessee based on our research. An attorney may still see options.

• Sex offenses

  Excluded from automatic and petition relief in nearly every state. A few narrow carve-outs exist for older non-registerable offenses.

  See state-by-state pages

• Violent felonies

  Generally excluded from automatic Clean Slate sealing; some states allow petition relief after long wait periods.

• DUI / DWI

  Treatment varies widely. Some states (e.g. Michigan, Virginia) carve out DUIs entirely; others treat them as standard misdemeanors.

• Pending cases or unpaid restitution

  Most states require all sentence requirements — including restitution to victims — to be fully discharged before the clock starts.

• Federal convictions

  Federal expungement is functionally non-existent. There is no statutory federal expungement remedy for most offenses.

Related reading

• When the eligibility clock starts

  Why the wait period in Tennessee runs from the latest of release, end of supervision, or restitution paid.

• What most states leave out

  Categories of offenses excluded from automatic sealing and petition relief.

• Unpaid restitution as a silent block

  How an open balance on the criminal docket blocks an otherwise eligible record.

• Sealing and professional licensing

  Why FBI-fingerprint background checks see records that consumer reports don't.