Expungement Filing in Miami

Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County. The city is served by the Miami Police Department, which is the largest municipal police department in Florida. The county police department is the Miami-Dade County Police Department, which is the eighth-largest police department in the U.S. The Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts maintains court records. The Criminal Court has two operation levels. Records of misdemeanor arrests are kept in County Criminal. Circuit Criminal receives and processes felony affidavits of probable cause, arrest warrants, and grand jury indictments. If you want to find out about expungement filing in Miami, you should discuss your situation with the Miami expungement lawyers at Hanlon Law. We have expunged and sealed thousands of criminal records across the state.

Expungement filing in Miami can be a drawn-out process. You must meet strict eligibility criteria. Among other things, your petition will need to include a certificate of eligibility obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

Certain requirements must be met to obtain a certificate of eligibility from the FDLE. You need to satisfy the eligibility criteria. You need to have submitted the appropriate documents, including a certified copy of the disposition of the charge, and the requisite processing fee of $75, unless this requirement was waived. You must have a written certified statement from the appropriate state attorney or statewide prosecutor that confirms that your record complies with the criteria.

If you receive the certificate of eligibility, it will be valid for 12 months after the date on it, so if you do not utilize it within 12 months, you will need to reapply to the FDLE for a new certificate of eligibility. There are various reasons why the FDLE might deny your petition. Among the reasons why you could be denied is receiving a prior court-ordered expungement or sealing; you are entitled to only one court-ordered expungement or sealing in your life.

A petition for expungement must include a valid certificate of eligibility along with a sworn statement. In the sworn statement, you will need to swear that you satisfy the eligibility requirements for expungement, and you do not have a separate petition pending to expunge or seal. It is a third-degree felony to knowingly provide false information on a sworn statement.

The court should not deny your petition without considering the facts established in your case. Before denying a petition to expunge or seal, the lower court is supposed to conduct an evidentiary hearing and provide specific reasons for the denial of the petition, based on the facts and circumstances of the case. An order denying a petition needs to show the lower court’s specific reasoning; it cannot deny your petition based on unproven allegations in a probable cause affidavit, for example. While the court does not have unfettered discretion over whether to grant your petition, it has enough discretion that it is important to seek out a knowledgeable lawyer to represent you during the expungement process.

In most situations, people file for court-ordered expungement. However, you may be able to file for other kinds of expungement. Some other kinds of expungement include juvenile diversion expungement, early juvenile expungement, lawful self-defense expungement, administrative expungement, and human trafficking expungement. If you meet the criteria for any of these types of expungement, you may be able to obtain relief. You need to obtain a certificate of eligibility before petitioning for some of these forms of relief. For example, you need to get a certificate of eligibility in order to petition for lawful self-defense expungement. However, you do not need a certificate of eligibility to petition for human trafficking expungement.

Filing for expungement involves complicated eligibility requirements and several steps that you will need to take. If you are considering starting the process of expungement filing in Miami, you should discuss your situation with the experienced criminal defense attorneys at Hanlon Law. Call us at 800.373.1974 or contact us through our online form.