How to Expunge Your Record: State vs. Federal Rules and Where Expungement Actually Works
By Barton Morris | Jurisdiction Triage | Updated August 21, 2026
You have been reading about how to clear your record, and no two answers seem to match. That is not your fault. Most of what you found was written without asking the one question that decides everything.
The question is not what you were charged with. It is which courthouse handled your case.
The Direct Answer
Record clearing depends almost entirely on jurisdiction. A state conviction can often be set aside under a state statute like Michigan Clean Slate. A federal conviction cannot be expunged at all, because Congress never wrote a law that allows it.
This page shows you how to tell which record you actually have, what relief exists on each side of that line, and what to do if you have records on both sides.
Understanding Jurisdiction: State vs. Federal Criminal Records
Record expungement depends entirely on court jurisdiction. State court convictions are prosecuted under state law and can often be sealed or expunged through state statutory programs like Michigan Clean Slate. Federal convictions originate in U.S. District Courts under federal law, where no general expungement statute exists and relief requires federal administrative mechanisms.
Two separate court systems handled two separate categories of cases, and each one controls only its own docket. A state circuit court judge has power over state records. A judge in a United States District Court has power over federal records. Neither reaches into the other.
That boundary is why the same person can hold a clean state record and a permanent federal bar at the same time. It is also why the first step is never a filing. It is a records question.
How to Tell Whether Your Conviction Is State or Federal
Read the caption on the judgment.
State cases are usually captioned People of the State of Michigan v. Your Name. Federal cases read United States of America v. Your Name.
Identify the court.
Circuit Court for the County of Oakland is a state court. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan is a federal court.
Identify who prosecuted you.
A county prosecutor or the state attorney general signals a state case. An Assistant United States Attorney signals a federal case.
Identify the investigating agency.
Local police, a sheriff’s department, or state police point to state court. The FBI, ATF, DEA, or Homeland Security Investigations point to federal court.
Check where the sentence was served.
A state corrections facility or county jail indicates state. A Bureau of Prisons facility indicates federal.
If your paperwork is gone, that is common and it is fixable. Court dockets, a state police record check, and an FBI identity history summary can reconstruct the picture.
The Dividing Line, in One View
Where Expungement Works
State Court Convictions
A state legislature can write record clearing laws, and Michigan did. Eligible convictions are set aside by petition or sealed automatically once the statutory clock runs.
Where Expungement Fails
Federal Court Convictions
Congress never passed a general expungement statute, so no federal judge has the authority to clear a valid federal conviction. Relief runs through federal mechanisms instead.
Where Expungement Works: State Court Convictions
State legislatures write their own record clearing laws, and many of them have gotten dramatically more generous over the past decade. Michigan is one of them.
State Statutory Frameworks and Michigan Clean Slate (MCL 780.621)
Expungement is a creature of statute. A judge can only set aside a conviction if a law grants that power, and state legislatures have the constitutional authority to grant it for state offenses.
Michigan exercised that authority through its Clean Slate framework. Under MCL 780.621, a qualified person may apply to set aside up to three felonies and an unlimited number of misdemeanors, once the statutory waiting period has run.
Setting aside a conviction is not the same as pretending it never happened. The record is sealed from public view, which is what matters for most employment, housing, and licensing decisions.
Petition-Based vs. Automatic State Set-Asides
Michigan runs two tracks, and most people qualify for one without realizing the other exists.
Track one, petition-based. You file an application with the convicting circuit court, submit fingerprints, serve the prosecutor and the attorney general, and appear at a hearing where a judge decides. Waiting periods are measured from the later of sentencing, completion of probation or parole, or release from confinement:
3 years for a single misdemeanor conviction
5 years for one felony or a serious misdemeanor
7 years where multiple felonies are involved
Track two, automatic. Eligible convictions are sealed by the state without any application, hearing, or court appearance once the statutory clock runs. Michigan’s automatic process generally reaches misdemeanors after 7 years and felonies after 10 years, subject to caps on how many convictions can be sealed this way.
Automatic sealing is narrower than the petition track. Assaultive offenses, serious misdemeanors, and offenses carrying long maximum sentences are commonly excluded from it even when a petition would still be available.
Important
Not everything is eligible, on either track. Michigan’s statute carves out categories that can never be set aside, including certain violent offenses, offenses with a life maximum, and most criminal sexual conduct convictions. Eligibility is decided offense by offense, not by how long ago it happened or how well your life has gone since.
Where Expungement Fails: Federal Court Convictions
If your case was prosecuted in a United States District Court, the expungement conversation ends and a different one begins.
The Legal Barrier: Federal Statutory Silence
Congress has never passed a general federal expungement statute. Because expungement requires statutory authority, federal district court judges have no power to clear, seal, or erase a valid federal conviction based on the years of good behavior that followed it.
Rehabilitation is not the obstacle. Authority is. A federal judge who is fully persuaded that you have rebuilt your life still has no statute to act under.
The narrow exceptions, including first-time simple drug possession relief under 18 U.S.C. § 3607, are covered in detail on our federal expungement page.
Have a federal conviction? Read Can a Federal Conviction Be Expunged? The Legal Reality and Your Real Options for the full statutory picture and the three pathways that do exist.
Why State Expungements Have Zero Effect on Federal Records
This is the point where people get hurt, so it is worth stating plainly.
Under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, a state court order operates on state law. A Michigan Clean Slate set-aside is a valid, powerful order, and it has no legal authority over a federal court judgment, a federal record, or a federal firearm prohibition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).
So the sequence that catches people looks like this. The petition is granted. The state record seals. The background check at the dealer still comes back denied, because the federal bar was never in the state judge’s reach.
Nothing went wrong with your paperwork. You cleared one lock, and there were two.
Dual-Track Restoration Strategies for Complex Records
Plenty of people carry records on both sides of the line. That is not a dead end, and it does not require choosing one system over the other. It requires sequencing.
| Evaluation Feature | State Court Expungement | Federal Administrative Relief |
|---|---|---|
| Governing authority | State legislature and state circuit court | The President, or the Department of Justice through the Office of the Pardon Attorney |
| Primary mechanism | Motion to set aside conviction (MCL 780.621), or automatic sealing | Executive clemency (28 C.F.R. Part 1), or restoration under 28 C.F.R. Part 107 |
| Record outcome | Conviction set aside and sealed from public view | Record stays intact; civil or firearm rights restored |
| Firearm rights impact | Resolves state status; does not touch federal bars | Addresses the federal prohibition itself |
| Speed | Months for a petition; automatic sealing runs on the statutory clock | Clemency runs multi-year; the § 925(c) process is staged and not yet open to the general public |
Where the Federal Firearm Rights Program Stands
Current Status: August 21, 2026
The final rule was announced August 17, 2026 by Attorney General Todd Blanche, creating 28 C.F.R. Part 107 under the Office of the Pardon Attorney. The application portal is staged and not yet open to the general public. Relief is an administrative mechanism, and it is not automatic and not guaranteed.
The rollout arrives in stages. The rule takes effect roughly 30 days after publication. A first application window opens roughly 75 days out and accepts 5,000 applicants nationwide. A wider window follows at roughly 120 days with a $30 application fee. Once an applicant starts, DOJ allows 30 days to finish, and its own guidance calls for roughly 25 years of records, fingerprints, and character references.
Read that last sentence again, because it is the whole strategy. Nothing is filed yet. Everything is prepared now.
Navigating Concurrent State and Federal Prohibitions
A dual-track plan runs both systems at once, in an order that keeps the federal application clean.
Step 1. Audit every record first. Pull state and federal dockets and an FBI identity history summary, and confirm exactly which conviction creates which disability. Guessing at this stage is what produces denials later.
Step 2. Move the eligible state convictions. File the circuit court petitions that qualify, or confirm which ones the automatic process will seal and when.
Step 3. Prepare the federal file in parallel. Sentencing records, proof of completed supervision, employment history, and character references take months to assemble, and the federal clock does not wait for the state case to finish.
Step 4. Choose the federal mechanism deliberately. A presidential pardon and a § 925(c) restoration do different things on different timelines, and some cases warrant both.
Step 5. Verify before you rely on anything. No purchase, no possession, no assumption until the federal side is resolved in writing. While a federal prohibition stands, ordinary situations at home or in a vehicle can carry serious exposure.
Considering counsel?
Records on both sides of the line need both tracks running in the right order.
A clemency lawyer works both systems at once. The state petitions, the federal file, and the sequencing that keeps one from undercutting the other.
What a clemency lawyer actually does, and when to hire one →
Frequently Asked Questions About Record Expungement
How do you know if your record is state or federal?
Review your original judgment or docket sheet. Cases prosecuted by a county prosecutor or the state attorney general in a circuit or district court are state cases. Cases prosecuted by a United States Attorney in a United States District Court are federal. The investigating agency and the facility where a sentence was served are also reliable indicators.
Can a state expungement clear a federal conviction?
No. A state court expungement cannot clear, seal, or modify a federal conviction. State courts have no legal jurisdiction over federal judgments, which means a set-aside under a law like Michigan Clean Slate has zero legal effect on federal court records or on federal firearm bars under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).
How does Michigan Clean Slate expungement work?
Michigan Clean Slate (MCL 780.621) allows eligible state convictions to be set aside either by petition to the convicting circuit court or through automatic sealing. The petition track requires an application, fingerprints, and a hearing. The automatic track seals qualifying convictions once the statutory waiting period has run, with no court appearance. Certain offenses are excluded from both.
What is dual-track record restoration?
Dual-track restoration is a coordinated strategy for people who hold both state and federal records. State convictions move through state court set-aside procedures while the federal disability is addressed through a federal mechanism, such as a presidential pardon or restoration under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) and 28 C.F.R. Part 107. The two tracks run in parallel, not in sequence.
Why can't state judges clear federal records?
Because the Supremacy Clause limits state court authority to state law matters. A federal judgment exists under federal statutory authority, so it can only be modified or relieved through federal judicial, executive, or administrative pathways. Federal records sit outside a state judge’s power.
What works instead of expungement for a federal conviction?
A presidential pardon, or administrative firearm rights restoration under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) and 28 C.F.R. Part 107. Neither erases the docket. Both are official mechanisms for restoring rights that a conviction took away. Program status is current as of August 21, 2026, and the § 925(c) application portal is staged and not yet open to the general public.
Why Trust Armed Again and The Law Offices of Barton Morris?
A jurisdiction question is only simple once someone has worked both sides of it.
More than 25 years of dual-jurisdiction practice
In Michigan state circuit courts and in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan.
Certified ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist
Named by the American Chemical Society, which brings scientific discipline to record audits and evidence review.
Graduate of national trial programs
Including Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming and the National Criminal Defense Trial College in Macon, Georgia.
Active in the legal community
As President of the Michigan Association of OWI Attorneys, DUI Defense Lawyers Association faculty, and named by Super Lawyers and DBusiness Magazine.
Current on the federal rulemaking
So client files are built while the § 925(c) process is still staging rather than after the window opens.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Jurisdiction is the whole answer. Everything else follows from it.
Find the courthouse before you find the remedy.
The caption, the prosecutor, and the agency will tell you.
State convictions can often be set aside under state statutes like Michigan Clean Slate.
By petition or automatically.
Federal convictions cannot be expunged.
Because Congress never passed a general expungement statute.
A state set-aside has zero legal effect on a federal record or a federal firearm bar.
If you hold records on both sides, run both tracks in parallel and audit everything first.
Two minutes will tell you which side of the line you are on.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Not legal advice.