Two people can walk out of the same Harris County courtroom on the same day, both having completed deferred adjudication, and only one of them will ever be able to seal the record. The difference is not effort or remorse. It is which subsection of Chapter 411 of the Texas Government Code the offense falls under, and whether anything else appeared on the record during the waiting period.
Texas orders of nondisclosure are governed by Subchapter E-1 of Chapter 411, roughly sections 411.071 through 411.0775. That subchapter creates several separate routes to sealing, each with its own waiting period and its own conditions, plus a hard list of offenses that no route can reach. Getting the category right at the outset is most of the work, which is why people generally start with a non-disclosure lawyer in Houston rather than filing blind and paying the fee twice.
This guide sorts the cases into eligible, conditionally eligible, and permanently barred, and explains what sealing actually accomplishes once granted.
First, Nondisclosure Is Not Expunction
These are different remedies with different eligibility and different results, and confusing them wastes months. Expunction, governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, destroys the records. Nondisclosure seals them from public view while leaving them accessible to a defined list of government agencies.
| Expunction | Order of nondisclosure | |
|---|---|---|
| Governing law | Code of Criminal Procedure expunction provisions | Government Code Chapter 411, Subchapter E-1 |
| What happens to the record | Destroyed or returned | Sealed from public disclosure, retained by DPS |
| Typical qualifying outcome | Acquittal, pardon, dismissal without community supervision, no-bill, Class C deferred | Deferred adjudication, and certain probated or completed misdemeanor sentences |
| Who can still see it | Essentially no one | Criminal justice agencies plus a statutory list of licensing and public safety entities |
| Can you lawfully deny it happened | Yes, in nearly all settings | Generally yes, with an exception for sworn testimony in a criminal proceeding |
If a case was dismissed outright, or ended in acquittal, ask about expunction first. Nondisclosure is the fallback for cases that ended in deferred adjudication or a conviction-level disposition that the statute nonetheless allows to be sealed.
The Routes to Nondisclosure, and What Each One Requires
Automatic sealing for a first misdemeanor deferred adjudication
Section 411.072 provides for nondisclosure without a petition and without a filing fee for certain first-time misdemeanor deferred adjudications. It applies to a person with no prior criminal history other than a fine-only traffic offense, and it excludes the offense categories the statute carves out. When it applies, the court is to issue the order at the time of discharge and dismissal. In practice records are sometimes missed, so confirm the order actually issued rather than assuming.
Deferred adjudication that is not automatic
Section 411.0725 covers deferred adjudication cases outside 411.072, including felonies. The waiting periods run from discharge and dismissal:
| Disposition | Waiting period after discharge | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| First misdemeanor deferred, eligible offense | None, order should issue automatically | 411.072 |
| Misdemeanor deferred under Penal Code chapters 20, 21, 22, 25, 42, 43, 46 or 71 | 2 years | 411.0725 |
| Other misdemeanor deferred | None, may petition immediately | 411.0725 |
| Felony deferred, eligible offense | 5 years | 411.0725 |
| Misdemeanor conviction with community supervision | Generally immediately, or 2 years for the listed chapters | 411.073 |
| Misdemeanor conviction, sentence completed or fine paid | 2 years | 411.0735 |
| First DWI conviction, sentence completed | 2 years with a qualifying interlock period, otherwise 5 years | 411.0736 |
Read the chapter list in the second row carefully, because it captures a great deal: assault, family offenses, weapons, public indecency, and disorderly conduct all sit inside those chapters. A misdemeanor assault deferred adjudication is not immediately sealable even though many other misdemeanors are.
DWI cases under the Second Chance Law
The 2017 legislation commonly called the Second Chance Law opened nondisclosure to certain first-time driving while intoxicated convictions, which had previously been unreachable. The waiting period after completing the sentence is generally two years where an ignition interlock was required for a qualifying period, and five years otherwise. Two exclusions matter enormously: the case cannot have involved a motor vehicle accident with another person, including a passenger in the defendant’s own car, and the enhanced high blood alcohol variant of the offense is carved out. Impaired driving offenses therefore turn on facts in the offense report that most defendants never think about again after the plea.
Offenses That Can Never Be Sealed
Section 411.074 sets out the disqualifying list. Regardless of disposition, waiting period, or clean conduct since, an order of nondisclosure is not available where the offense was:
- Any offense requiring registration as a sex offender under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
- Murder or capital murder
- Aggravated kidnapping
- Injury to a child, an elderly individual, or a disabled individual
- Abandoning or endangering a child
- Violation of a protective order or of a bond condition in a family violence, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking case
- Stalking
- Trafficking of persons or compelling prostitution
- Any offense involving family violence, as that term is defined in the Family Code
The final item is the one that surprises people most often. A family violence finding attaches to the case, not to the offense name, so an assault that carries an affirmative finding of family violence is permanently barred from sealing even though an identical assault without that finding may be eligible. Check the judgment for the affirmative finding before anything else. The statutory scheme is deliberately protective of vulnerable populations, and courts read those exclusions strictly.
The Clean Record Condition That Disqualifies Otherwise Eligible People
Even a perfectly eligible offense fails if the applicant was convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for any other offense, other than a fine-only traffic offense, during the period between the original arrest and the end of the applicable waiting period. This condition defeats more petitions than the offense list does.
Two practical consequences follow. First, the waiting period should be treated as a probationary window in which even a minor new case is expensive. Second, order your own criminal history from the Texas Department of Public Safety before filing, because old cases from other counties routinely appear on the state record when the person had forgotten about them entirely.
What Sealing Actually Does, and What It Does Not
A granted order restricts public disclosure. It does not erase the record, and it does not close it to everyone. Criminal justice agencies retain access, and the statute lists a substantial set of other entities entitled to receive sealed information, including school districts, hospitals and nursing facilities, the State Bar, and numerous state licensing and financial regulators. If your goal is a nursing licence, a teaching certificate, or bar admission, a nondisclosure order helps with employers generally but does not hide the case from the board that matters most to you.
There is also a practical gap. Private background check companies that purchased the record before it was sealed do not automatically forget it. Texas law restricts consumer reporting agencies from reporting sealed offenses once notified, but enforcement is complaint-driven. After the order issues, obtain a certified copy, run background checks on yourself through the major commercial vendors, and send the certified order to any vendor still reporting the case. Applicants who skip this step often conclude that sealing did not work when in fact the order simply never reached the database.
Filing in Harris County: The Sequence
- Pull the judgment and the docket sheet from the county or district clerk and confirm the exact offense, the disposition, the discharge date, and whether any affirmative finding was entered
- Order your DPS criminal history to verify that nothing occurred during the waiting period
- Identify the correct statutory section, because the petition must cite it and the court will deny a petition filed under the wrong one
- File the petition in the court that handled the case, with the statutory nondisclosure fee of twenty-eight dollars plus the ordinary clerk filing fee
- Serve the State, which has an opportunity to respond, and be ready to show that sealing is in the best interest of justice where the statute requires that finding
- Attend the hearing if one is set, then obtain certified copies of the signed order
- Send certified copies to DPS and to any private background reporting company still showing the case
Timelines vary by court and by docket congestion, but a straightforward uncontested petition commonly resolves in a matter of a few months rather than weeks. Petitions filed under the wrong section, or filed a few weeks early, are denied and must be refiled with a new fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does deferred adjudication automatically mean my record is sealed?
Only in a narrow situation. Section 411.072 provides automatic, no-petition sealing for certain first-time misdemeanor deferred adjudications where the person has no other criminal history and the offense is not excluded. Every other deferred adjudication, including all felonies, requires a petition, the correct statutory section, a filing fee, and completion of the applicable waiting period.
Can a DWI be sealed in Texas?
A first DWI conviction can be, under the provisions added by the 2017 Second Chance Law, after the sentence is complete and the waiting period passes, generally two years where a qualifying ignition interlock period applies and five years otherwise. It cannot be sealed if the incident involved a motor vehicle accident with another person, including your own passenger, or if the enhanced high blood alcohol version of the offense was charged.
What does family violence do to eligibility?
It ends it. Any offense involving family violence as defined by the Family Code is on the statutory list of cases that cannot receive an order of nondisclosure, regardless of disposition or how much time has passed. Because the bar attaches to the affirmative finding in the judgment rather than to the offense title, always read the judgment itself before assuming a case is eligible.
Will employers still see a sealed case?
Most private employers running standard background checks will not, once the order reaches DPS and the commercial databases. However, the statute allows disclosure to a listed set of entities including school districts, hospitals and nursing facilities, the State Bar, and many state licensing and financial regulators. If your career requires one of those licences, expect the agency to see the case and to ask about it.
What if I was arrested but never charged?
That is usually an expunction question rather than a nondisclosure question, and expunction is the better remedy because it destroys the record instead of sealing it. Waiting periods depend on the level of the offense and on whether limitations have run. An arrest with no charge sitting on a criminal history is common and fixable, so it is worth asking a lawyer to review it.
Do I need a lawyer to file?
It is not legally required, but the failure modes are unforgiving. Choosing the wrong statutory section, miscounting the waiting period from the wrong date, or missing an affirmative finding in the judgment all produce a denial and a lost fee. For background on the procedural rights involved, see our overview of Texas Criminal Cases and the broader Criminal Law section.
What to Do Next
Before you do anything else, get two documents: the signed judgment from the clerk in the county where the case was handled, and your own criminal history record from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Between them they answer every threshold question, namely the disposition, the discharge date, whether an affirmative finding of family violence was entered, and whether anything else landed on your record during the waiting period. Bring both to a consultation rather than a memory of what happened.
This article is general information about Texas record sealing law and is not legal advice; consult a licensed Texas attorney about your own case.
