Many people have found themselves needing to cleanup an arrest or conviction from their record and think, “Oh, this should be easy, I just need to file a few documents with the clerk and my record will be expunged.” There are forms for this, right? Free stuff? LegalZoom! BeALawyer! Expungements-R-Us! Yeah!
No.
Unfortunately, obtaining an expungement is not an easy task. The process was overhauled by Louisiana lawmakers in 2014 and in doing so, the relief of expungement is now a tedious, time-consuming process that is not user friendly and has many trap doors.
There are several requirements that must be met in order to be eligible for an expungement. All pleadings require 100% accuracy to be processed by the various departments involved (there are 5 different agencies to contend with). Hitting a wall at any of these stages typically results with the first-timer being told: “Speak with an attorney.” Improper instructions or misfiled documents create greater problems for the applicant.
Legal practitioners who handle conviction set-aside and expungements on a routine basis know how to navigate the bureaucracy. We handle expungements every day as a part or routine services for our clients.