Memphis Expungement Lawyer | Clearing a Shelby County Record

An expungement removes a charge from your public criminal record. In Tennessee the process runs through the court where the case started, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-32-101, and it is not automatic — even a dismissed charge stays visible on a background check until someone files the petition.

Brooks Law Firm files expungements in Shelby County and across West Tennessee. Call the office at (901) 324-5000 or call or text 901-412-2973.

What can be expunged

• Dismissed charges, nolle prosequi, no true bill, and not guilty verdicts. Eligible, and there is no clerk fee for the expungement itself.
• Arrests that never resulted in a charge. Eligible.
• Completed diversion — judicial or pretrial. Eligible on successful completion, subject to a clerk fee.
• Certain convictions under § 40-32-101(g), available five years after the sentence is fully served. Eligibility is narrow: the offense has to be on the statutory list, all costs, fines, and restitution must be paid, and there are strict limits on how many charges can be cleared.

What cannot

A DUI conviction cannot be expunged in Tennessee. Neither can most violent offenses, sexual offenses, or offenses requiring registration. If your DUI was dismissed or reduced below DUI, that is a different situation and the record can be cleared — which is one of the reasons how a DUI case ends matters so much. See Memphis DUI defense.

The two problems that stop most petitions

“Dismissed with costs.” If your disposition reads dismissed with costs, or retired, there are unpaid court costs sitting on the file and the expungement will not go through until they are resolved. Where those costs are old enough, they may be time-barred and subject to a motion to waive them. That motion is often the actual work in an expungement case.

Missing dispositions. A charge with no disposition entered sits on your TBI record indefinitely and will block a firearm purchase or a professional license even though nothing was ever proven. Getting the judgment located and transmitted is its own task.

How the process works

1. Pull the record and identify every charge, court, and docket number — including cases in city courts and other counties, which people routinely forget.
2. Confirm the disposition on each charge and clear any outstanding costs.
3. File the petition and proposed order in the court of origin. You generally do not have to appear.
4. The signed order goes to the arresting agency, the jail, the clerk, and the TBI.
5. Get certified copies. Keep them — private background-check companies buy bulk data and often keep reporting an expunged charge after the State has cleared it, and a certified order is what fixes that.

Where the case started decides where it is filed

A Memphis case is filed at 201 Poplar. A charge that started in a suburb municipal court is filed there, and a felony that was bound over is filed in Criminal Court rather than General Sessions. If you were charged in Tipton, Fayette, or another West Tennessee county, the petition goes to that county’s court. We handle all of them.

For the misdemeanor-specific rules and timelines, see misdemeanor expungement in Tennessee. Related: misdemeanor defense · felony defense · Memphis criminal defense

Bring us what you have — even a name and an approximate year is enough to start. Office (901) 324-5000 · 901-412-2973.