Expunctions & Record Sealing in Collin County

A criminal record in Texas is not as permanent as people often assume, but the path to clearing one is narrower and more procedural than most clients expect. If you have been searching for an expungement attorney in Collin County, start with the word itself: Texas statutes call the remedy an expunction, and the two terms mean the same thing. A criminal record that lingers can cost a job offer, an apartment, a professional or occupational license, even a college or financial-aid application, often long after the case itself is over. Kent’s office is in McKinney, the county seat where most Collin County petitions are filed and heard. Texas distinguishes between two related but separate remedies: expunction, which destroys the record entirely, and an order of nondisclosure, which seals the record from most public view. Choosing the right remedy and filing a correct petition in the right court is the difference between a clean background check next year and a denied application five years from now. Kent Starr handles both expunctions and nondisclosure orders in Collin County and across North Texas, and has practiced criminal law since 1997.

Expunction is governed by Chapter 55A of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure (recodified from former Chapter 55 effective January 1, 2025; the renumbering reorganized the statute without changing what it requires). It is available, broadly, when an arrest did not result in a final conviction: dismissals, acquittals, no-bills by a grand jury, identity-theft arrests, certain Class C deferred adjudications that have been completed, and successfully completed pretrial diversion programs in many counties. When expunction is granted, the law directs every agency holding the record, police, jail, prosecutors, courts, the Department of Public Safety, the FBI through state reporting, to destroy or return the records. The arrest, in legal terms, no longer exists, and applicants may truthfully say so on most employment and housing applications.

Nondisclosure is governed by Chapter 411 of the Texas Government Code, Subchapter E-1. Some orders issue automatically for certain nonviolent misdemeanors discharged after deferred adjudication on or after September 1, 2017 (Section 411.072). Others require a petition: Section 411.0725 covers most other deferred adjudications, and Section 411.0731 covers community supervision after certain DWI convictions. Every route first has to satisfy the baseline eligibility rules in Section 411.074, and the exclusions are detailed, most notably, certain family-violence offenses, sex crime offenses, and offenses involving children remain ineligible regardless of how favorable the disposition was. When granted, a nondisclosure order seals the record from most private background-check companies and public records requests, while leaving it visible to law enforcement, certain licensing boards, and a defined list of governmental agencies. It is not invisibility; it is partial privacy.

The eligibility analysis is where most expunction cases are won or lost. Waiting periods vary by offense, three days, 180 days, one year, two years, three years, five years, depending on the underlying charge and disposition. A misdemeanor DWI result that is eligible for nondisclosure has different waiting periods and conditions than a misdemeanor theft. A deferred adjudication that pre-dates September 1, 2017 follows different rules than one entered after that date. A pending charge in another county, or a subsequent arrest during the waiting period, can disqualify the petition. Filing too early or in the wrong court can result in dismissal and a wasted filing fee, and clients often have to wait months for another opportunity. An incomplete identification of agencies can do the same.

Common predicate offenses Kent works with include DWI defense outcomes, drug possession and distribution dispositions, and juvenile records that may still appear on commercial background checks even when the underlying juvenile case was resolved years ago. For each, the analysis follows the same shape: confirm eligibility against the controlling statute, verify the waiting period has run, gather the disposition documentation, identify every agency that received the original arrest data, and draft the petition with the precise findings the court will need to sign.

The procedural reality is that Texas judges grant expunctions and nondisclosure orders when the petition is correct on its face and the State does not object. Hearings, when they occur, are short. The work is in the preparation. Kent has appeared before Collin County district judges enough times to know which courts demand which formats and how local prosecutors handle State responses. As a solo practitioner, he files the petition himself and attends the hearing himself. He follows up with the agencies after entry of the order, and clients are not handed to a paralegal between filing and final destruction.

How an Expunction Petition Moves Through the Collin County Courts

The record you are trying to clear usually starts at the Collin County Detention Facility at 4300 Community Ave. in McKinney. Booking creates entries with the arresting agency, the jail, the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, which forwards arrest data into state and federal databases. An expunction order has to reach every one of those agencies, which is why the petition names each of them.

An expunction is a civil case, not a criminal one. The petition is filed in a Collin County district court at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building, 2100 Bloomdale Road in McKinney, even when the underlying charge was a misdemeanor. Nondisclosure works differently. That petition goes back to the court that handled the original case, which for most misdemeanors means one of the County Courts at Law in the same building.

Chapter 55A requires the court to set the hearing no sooner than thirty days after filing, which gives the named agencies time to respond. The District Attorney’s Office reviews the petition and tells the court whether the State opposes it. When the paperwork is right and the State has no objection, many petitions are resolved without a contested hearing. After the judge signs, each agency destroys or returns its records on its own schedule, so a granted expunction can still take months to clear commercial background checks.

Where Expunction Petitions Get Contested

Most petitions that fail do not fail at a dramatic hearing. They fail on eligibility details the State catches and the petitioner missed. A few fights come up again and again.

Arrests with more than one charge. Texas courts have generally treated expunction as attaching to the arrest rather than to a single charge. If one charge from the arrest was dismissed but another ended in a conviction, the State will often argue the entire arrest record stays. How the charges were filed and how the dismissal was documented can decide that question, and Kent examines both before filing rather than discovering the problem in the State’s response.

Dismissed felonies and the limitations clock. A dismissal does not always mean immediate eligibility. Unless the case was dismissed on grounds such as lack of probable cause or a defective charging instrument, Chapter 55A generally requires waiting until the statute of limitations for the offense has expired. The dismissal language entered in your case can move your eligibility date by years, which is why Kent reads the actual order before quoting anyone a timeline.

Trouble during the waiting period. Nondisclosure is built on a successfully completed deferred adjudication, and the waiting period that follows has conditions of its own. A new arrest, or a motion to revoke or adjudicate filed during supervision, can take the remedy off the table entirely. If you hope to seal a record later, protecting that eligibility is one more reason to fight an alleged violation now.

Starr Law, P.C. handles expunctions and nondisclosure for clients in Collin, Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson, and Parker Counties. Free initial consultations review your records and confirm what relief, if any, is currently available.

Frequently Asked Questions About Expunctions and Nondisclosure in Texas

Is there a difference between expunction and expungement in Texas?

No. Expunction is the term the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure uses, and expungement is the word most people search for. Lawyers and judges use both, and the remedy is the same: a court order directing every agency that holds your arrest record to destroy it. Nondisclosure is the remedy that actually differs, because it seals the record from public view instead of destroying it.

How long does an expunction take in Collin County?

Plan on several months from filing to a signed order. Chapter 55A requires the hearing to be set no sooner than thirty days after the petition is filed, and the setting depends on the docket of the court hearing your case at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building in McKinney. After the judge signs, each agency clears its records on its own schedule, so background checks may take additional months to come back clean.

Can a conviction be expunged in Texas?

Generally, no. Expunction under Chapter 55A is for arrests that did not end in a final conviction, so a conviction usually stays unless it is pardoned or overturned on appeal. Completed deferred adjudication can lead to a nondisclosure order under Chapter 411 for many offenses, and since 2017 certain first-time DWI dispositions can be sealed, with waiting periods that depend on whether an ignition interlock was used. The first step is an eligibility review of your disposition paperwork, which Kent does in a free consultation.

Will an expunction erase my record from the internet?

Not by itself, and this surprises people. An expunction order compels government agencies to destroy or return their records, but private background-check companies and data brokers that copied the arrest earlier are not automatically reached by the order. Once the order is signed, those companies can be sent a copy and required to correct their files, and Kent helps clients follow that step through so the cleared record stops resurfacing online. Clearing the government’s records is the court’s job; getting private databases to match is a separate, practical follow-through.

Does a nondisclosure order hide my record from everyone?

No. A nondisclosure order seals the record from most private background checks and public-records requests, but it stays visible to law enforcement, the courts, and a defined list of licensing and government agencies under Chapter 411. It is partial privacy, not erasure. If your disposition instead qualifies for expunction under Chapter 55A, that is the remedy that destroys the record outright rather than sealing it.

How We Serve Collin County for Expunctions and Non-Disclosure

McKinney Expunction Defense

Kent represents expunction and nondisclosure clients from McKinney, and their Collin County petitions are heard in the district courts in McKinney, the county seat.

Plano Expunction Defense

Kent represents expunction and nondisclosure clients from Plano; their Collin County petitions are heard in McKinney, and a petition for an arrest that happened in another county is filed in that county.

Frisco Expunction Defense

Kent represents expunction and nondisclosure clients from Frisco; their Collin County petitions are heard in McKinney, and Frisco cases that arose in Denton County can be filed in Denton County.

Allen Expunction Defense

Kent represents expunction and nondisclosure clients from Allen, whose Collin County petitions are heard in McKinney.

If a job application or a professional license has reminded you that an old arrest is still showing up, call (214) 982-1408 for a free consultation. Kent will tell you honestly whether you are eligible and what the work would look like. If you are not eligible yet, he will tell you when you will be.

ADVERTISEMENT. This site is attorney advertising. Kent Starr is responsible for the content of this website. Information provided here is general and is not legal advice; reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Expunction petitions for Collin County arrests are filed in the county's district courts in McKinney. The firm's Collin County criminal defense hub covers the courts these petitions run through.