Expungement in New Jersey: Who Qualifies, the Wait, and the Cost

New Jersey expungement eligibility and waiting periods, by record type

Find the row for each case on your record. The table is read from the current text of N.J.S.A. 2C:52 on the New Jersey Legislature's site. Each row names the section it comes from, so you can check it yourself or show it to a lawyer.

It tells you when you can file, not that you will win. A petition must be denied if a statutory requirement is missing, and a judge can deny it on that ground even if nobody objects. It can also be denied when the need for the records outweighs your interest in clearing them, but only after a party given notice objects, and the objector carries the burden of raising that ground. The prosecutor must check your petition against the record either way.

The Judiciary's short version says you can expunge no more than one indictable conviction and up to three disorderly or petty disorderly persons offenses. The statute goes further in two places, shown in the sixth row: crimes on a single judgment, and closely related crimes committed in a short span. A later conviction counts against you even if it happened in another state.

Every section number above has its own entry in the source list at the end of this page. To read the law directly, start with N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2 on the Legislature's site, the section on indictable crimes.

Searching for how long after a felony you can file? New Jersey's term for a felony-level charge is an indictable offense, as our criminal defense cost guide explains, so use the indictable rows above.

What cannot be expunged in New Jersey, and the narrow exception

Waiting longer does not fix these. The statute lists crimes whose convictions are not subject to expungement, and the regular routes and Clean Slate are closed to them. The bar is on convictions: a charge for one of these crimes that was dismissed, or ended in acquittal, falls under the first row of the table above. Clean Slate excludes any conviction barred by subsection b. or c. of 2C:52-2. The list below follows the statute. If your conviction is close to one of these, read the exact section number on your judgment against the statute before you decide anything.

Apart from the exceptions written into the drug item below, there is one narrow exception. Since November 1, 2026, N.J.S.A. 2C:52-5.5 lets a court expunge a conviction, notwithstanding 2C:52-2, if it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that you were a victim of domestic violence or of substantial physical, sexual or psychological abuse, and that the abuse was a contributing factor to the conviction. The court can refuse if it determines that expungement is not in the interest of justice or that you were the primary aggressor. You can file only one petition under that section. It does not cover murder or any crime listed in 2C:7-2(b), the sex-offender registration law, which includes sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, and luring or enticing. Crimes outside those exclusions, such as robbery, arson and perjury, can be considered on this one route. The law is new, so ask a lawyer how courts are applying it.

• Criminal homicide, except death by auto and strict liability vehicular homicide.
• Kidnapping, luring or enticing, and human trafficking.
• Sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, and criminal sexual contact where the victim is a minor.
• Criminal restraint or false imprisonment where the victim is a minor and the offender is not the parent.
• Robbery, arson and related offenses, perjury, false swearing, and terrorism.
• Child endangerment under 2C:24-4(a), the child sexual exploitation offenses in 2C:24-4(b) named in the statute, leading a network to share that material, and promoting the prostitution of your own child.
• Producing or possessing chemical weapons, biological agents, or nuclear or radiological devices.
• Older convictions, under statutes the Code repealed, for murder, manslaughter, treason, anarchy, kidnapping, rape, forcible sodomy, arson, perjury, false swearing, robbery or embracery, or aiding, assisting or concealing someone accused of them.
• A conspiracy or attempt to commit any of these.
• A crime committed while holding public office or public employment, if the crime involved or touched that office or employment.
• Selling, distributing or possessing with intent to sell a controlled dangerous substance, unless it is marijuana under one ounce, hashish under five grams, or a third- or fourth-degree conviction where a court finds compelling circumstances. Separately, 2C:52-5.1 allows a petition after 3 years for marijuana or hashish distribution under 2C:35-5(b)(11).
• Motor vehicle offenses in Title 39, which is where driving while intoxicated sits (N.J.S.A. 39:4-50). Chapter 52 says nothing in it applies to them. The abuse route does not mention Title 39, so ask a lawyer before relying on it for a DWI.

Does Clean Slate clear your record automatically in New Jersey?

No. Clean Slate in New Jersey is still a petition you have to file. The 2019 law told the State to build an automated process that would seal a whole record after ten years (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-5.4). A Senate bill introduced on May 14, 2026 says that process "still does not yet exist, and people with criminal records that are eligible for expungement must still file a petition with the court." When the Legislature asked the Judiciary in its fiscal 2027 budget review when a fully automated system would be available, the answer listed filing improvements and gave no date.

That bill, S4270, would build the automated process and shorten its waits to five years for disorderly persons offenses and seven for eligible crimes. On November 8, 2026 the Legislature's record showed it referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and nothing after that. It is not law, so do not plan around it.

The route itself is narrower than its name. Clean Slate is for someone who is not eligible under any other section, and it covers every New Jersey conviction on the record at once, including municipal violations. A past expungement does not block it. A conviction barred by 2C:52-2(b) or (c) does. The law also says no new Clean Slate petitions may be filed once the automated process exists, so check this page's date against the Judiciary's current filing page.

Three other things do work without a Clean Slate petition:

• Dismissed, acquitted or discharged charges: the court is to order expungement at that moment (2C:52-6(a)). If it did not, you can petition at any time.
• Marijuana and hashish: the 2021 law expunged many of these cases by operation of law (2C:52-6.1). NJ Courts says you can go to the court where the case was heard to confirm it and get a certification.
• Recovery Court: the court can order it when you graduate, and you need to apply only if you graduated before April 18, 2016 (2C:35-14(m)).

How much does expungement cost in NJ?

Filing is free. N.J.S.A. 2C:52-29 says a person who files for expungement shall not be charged a fee, and the Judiciary's court fee schedule, revised August 2026, lists the expungement application as No Fee. NJ Courts says of the eCourts Expungement System, "It's free."

Owing the court money does not always stop you. If the waiting period has otherwise passed and a balance in the courts' comprehensive enforcement program is unpaid for reasons other than willful noncompliance, you may still apply. If the court grants it, the unpaid balance does not go away: it becomes a civil judgment in the name of the State Treasurer. On a regular petition the court may grant it; on a Clean Slate petition the court shall. Where the balance is paid but the wait since payment is short, you can still file if the rest of the time has run and you substantially complied with a payment plan or could not because of compelling circumstances.

Any other cost depends on how you file. The Judiciary's paper kit, last updated in June 2020, describes fingerprinting through a private vendor to get your State Police record, a step it says you need only if you do not already have your history. The Judiciary told the Legislature that the eCourts system now retrieves criminal history information automatically.

How long does expungement take in New Jersey?

No statute gives one total. The pieces that are written down are below. Added together, the hearing window and the State Police deadline come to roughly three to six months when nothing goes wrong. That is arithmetic from these numbers, not a promise, and the Judiciary reports 76,484 petitions filed in 2025.

• You file through eCourts, which serves the State Police, the Attorney General and the county prosecutor electronically (2C:52-10(b)).
• Those offices have 60 days to check the petition and report inaccurate data or any ground for denial (2C:52-10.1(b)).
• The court sets a hearing not less than 35 nor more than 60 days after filing (2C:52-9).
• If nobody objects and no ground for denial appears, the court may grant the order without a hearing (2C:52-11).
• A pending charge stops a petition: it cannot be heard while a crime, disorderly persons or petty disorderly persons charge is open (2C:52-13). That rule does not apply to the expungement a court orders at dismissal under 2C:52-6(a), or to the marijuana and hashish petitions under 2C:52-5.1, which are exempt from 2C:52-8 to 2C:52-14 (2C:52-5.1(c)(1)).
• After the order, the Public Defender reports that the State Police are legally bound to process it within 120 days, aiming for 90, following a class action over a backlog of about 46,000 orders, and that most orders now take 60 to 90 days.
• You can follow the State Police step on a free online portal (2C:52-15.1).

What an expungement does, and what it does not

Once the order is granted, the arrest, conviction and related proceedings are deemed not to have occurred, and you may answer questions about them accordingly (2C:52-27). The records are removed from the files of the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies that hold them, and those agencies must reply that there is no record information (2C:52-15). Revealing an expunged record, knowing it was expunged, is itself a disorderly persons offense, with a maximum fine of $200 (2C:52-30).

It has limits, and these are the ones to weigh before deciding it is worth doing:

• A later petition to expunge a crime must state under oath whether you have ever had an expungement or similar relief (2C:52-8(b), 2C:52-27(a)).
• An expunged dismissal after a diversion program must be disclosed to a court deciding whether to admit you to diversion on a new charge (2C:52-27(b)).
• If you seek a job with the judicial branch, law enforcement or corrections, you must still reveal it (2C:52-27(c)).
• If charges were pending and undisclosed at the time of the petition or hearing, or another statutory disqualification surfaces, a party given notice has 5 years to tell the court, which must then vacate the order and reconsider (2C:52-26).
• The statute's definition covers records held by courts, detention and correctional facilities, and law enforcement or criminal justice agencies. It does not name private data companies, so check a commercial background report yourself afterwards.
• This guide covers New Jersey law only. Ask a lawyer before relying on a New Jersey order in an immigration or federal matter.

Do you need an expungement lawyer in New Jersey?

You can file without one. The Judiciary publishes a guide for people filing for themselves through eCourts. It also says, "The court system can be confusing, and it is a good idea to get a lawyer if you can," and its staff cannot give you legal advice.

The harder cases are the ones the statute marks itself: filing early on compelling circumstances, a third- or fourth-degree drug distribution conviction, several convictions you want treated as closely related, a prior expungement, a prosecutor's objection, or a job where the record must still be disclosed. Those are the cases where a lawyer's reading of your record matters most.

If cost is the obstacle, start with the free routes. The Office of the Public Defender's Expungement Unit runs free expungement clinics, and NJ Courts points people to Legal Services of New Jersey's Expungement Navigator and their county's legal services program. The sources read for this page publish no schedule for private lawyers' fees.

This guide is legal information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. This site does not take requests, documents or payments, does not match visitors with lawyers, and does not rank lawyers, endorse anyone, or award a status.

For how New Jersey lawyers must quote fees, read what a criminal defense lawyer costs in NJ.

If a charge is still open, expungement has to wait, and the open case is a criminal defense question first. One attorney whose criminal practice is described on this site is Don Savatta. His reviewed profile describes criminal litigation in federal and state courts and lists an Oradell, New Jersey office. It does not list expungement work, so do not read this link as saying he handles one.

That profile states its own contact boundary: contacting him does not create an attorney-client relationship, and no confidential information should be sent until he confirms that one has been established.

Before you rely on any lawyer, check the New Jersey license and discipline record in the Judiciary's own records.