Missouri expungement, all in one place.
By Ty McDuffey, J.D. · Author of state expungement guides
Missouri now has two ways to clear a criminal record: a petition you file under RSMo §610.140, and — starting no later than January 1, 2027 — an automatic system created by the Clean Slate law signed July 9, 2026. This hub covers both, statewide, in plain English.
Start with your question
Do I qualify?
Waiting periods, lifetime limits, the exclusion list, and the ten-year DWI rule — who can clear a Missouri record and who can't.
Check the rules → Hub · AutomaticThe Clean Slate law
What Missouri's new automatic expungement actually covers, when it starts, and why most records still need a petition.
Read the breakdown → Hub · ProcessHow the petition works
Where to file, who gets notified, what the judge decides, and how long it takes from petition to sealed record.
See the steps → Hub · CostsWhat it costs
The $250 statutory surcharge, the additional filing fees, the indigency waiver, and what attorneys typically charge.
See the numbers → Hub · Gun RightsDoes expungement restore gun rights?
The honest two-part answer: what Missouri law restores, and why the federal question deserves a lawyer's written analysis.
Get the straight answer →The short version
Petition track (§610.140): file in the court where the case happened, wait out the statutory period (generally one year for eligible misdemeanors, three for eligible felonies, eighteen months for arrests without conviction), stay clean, and a judge decides. Lifetime limits: three misdemeanors and two felonies. Automatic track (Clean Slate): the Highway Patrol clears certain eligible nonviolent records — the enacting push centered on drug possession and paraphernalia convictions — on a rolling basis, no petition and no fee, with the system required no later than January 1, 2027. Neither track touches the long statutory exclusion list, and the one-time ten-year expungement of a first alcohol-related driving offense under §610.130 remains petition-only.
Why this hub exists
Fewer than one percent of Missourians eligible for record relief ever receive it — not because the law is stingy, but because the process has been invisible, confusing, and intimidating. The Clean Slate law fixes that for the simplest records and leaves everyone else exactly where they were: needing a straight answer about which kind of record they have. That's what these pages are for.
Educational content only, current as of July 13, 2026. Not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.