Michigan’s New Expungement Law
Get a second chance by getting your criminal record expunged under the new Michigan law. Thousands of Michigan residents are convicted of felonies and are seeking to reprieve those records so they can have more opportunities to create a better life. At Cartwright Law Firm, PLLC, we can work together to expunge your criminal record so you can succeed. Michigan’s new expungement laws went into effect in April 2021. Michigan will automatically clear certain misdemeanors after seven years after an individual’s sentence and certain felonies after ten years. Contact us to learn more about Michigan’s new ‘clean slate’ law.
Expungement eligibility
- Up to three felonies and an unlimited number of misdemeanors, with certain conditions on the types of offenses that qualify:
- No more than two assaultive crimes may be expunged
- No more than one felony conviction for the same offense if the offense is punishable by more than 10 years imprisonment
- The waiting period to apply after a person's monitoring by the justice system ends (i.e. sentencing, probation, release from incarceration, parole, whichever occurred last) if they remain conviction-free. The waiting period will be:
- Three years for misdemeanors
- Five years for serious misdemeanors or one felony
- Seven years for multiple felonies
- Most traffic offenses will be eligible for expungement. This excludes convictions for:
- Driving while intoxicated
- Traffic offenses that cause injury or death
- Commercial Driver License violations
- Misdemeanor marijuana possession and use that would not have been considered crimes after recreational marijuana was legalized in Michigan. Judges must grant expungements if prosecutors don't object.
- Multiple felonies or misdemeanors arising from the same 24-hour period are treated as one conviction for the purposes of expungement.
- None of the offenses can be assaultive, involve the use or possession of a dangerous weapon
- None of the offenses can carry a maximum penalty of 10 or more years in prison
Convictions that cannot be expunged from a criminal record include:
- Felonies that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison
- Attempt to commit a felony for which the maximum punishment is life
- Felony domestic violence (if the person had a previous domestic violence misdemeanor)
- Child abuse
- Most criminal sexual conduct offenses
- DUI and traffic offenses causing injury or death
