Effect of Expungement in New Jersey

The New Jersey expungement lawyers at the Law Office of Katherine O’Brien are often asked by clients what the effect of expungement in New Jersey is. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:52-27, entitled “Effect of Expungement,” after a record has been expunged, the arrest and/or conviction “shall be deemed not have occurred.” What is this means that is if you are ever asked on an employment application or any other application any questions regarding the offense, you are not required to reveal the expunged information, you will be lawfully entitled to answer “no” to any questions regarding the incident, and they will not be able to see your expunged records.

There are some limited exceptions to this general rule, however. Those exceptions are as follows:

If you apply again for another expungement in the future, you will be required to disclose whether you have had any previous charges or convictions expunged, whether in New Jersey or elsewhere and the courts will be able to see and have access to that information.
If you had entered into a program of supervisory treatment or another type of diversion program, such as Conditional Discharge or Pre-Trial Intervention (“PTI”) and you had those charges expunged, you would be required to disclose the expunged offense to the court if you are applying for acceptance into another such program and the court will be able to see and have access to the expunged information.
If you are involved in subsequent legal proceedings, your expunged record will be available for the purposes of bail hearings, presentence reports, sentencing, by the parole board, by the department of corrects, and for reporting to the Violent Crimes Compensation Board.
If you are seeking employment within the judicial branch (the court system), with a law enforcement agency, or with a corrections agency, you will be required to reveal your expunged records and those agencies will be able to see and have access to that information.

Thus, even though your record has been expunged, the courts and law enforcement agencies will be able to see and have access to the expunged records in the limited situations described above. What is this means that, when you apply to have your record expunged, your expunged records are not destroyed in the literal sense. They are, however, extracted and then isolated so that they are not available for public view. Thus, although the record is not entirely erased, after an expungement it becomes not available from government sources from people conducting background searched through the courts, police, and the FBI.

With respect to employment, so long as you are not applying for a position in law enforcement, corrections, or the judiciary, you will not need to disclose your expunged records and those records will not come up on a criminal background check. Thus, whether you are applying to be a teacher, a nurse, a medical physician, an accountant, or any other type of job, you will not be required to disclose your expunged records. Even if you are applying to obtain a professional license other than to practice law, you will not be required to disclose expunged records.

Our Guaranteed Expungement Service* includes all of the following:

When we handle your expungement, our service includes not only obtaining the actual court order expunging/sealing your records but we will also:

Guaranteed Expungement* or Your Money Back! We are so confident in our services that we will guarantee expungement or we will refund our legal fee in full.
Obtain non-certified dispositions for your records. Before expunging/sealing your record, you should obtain your case dispositions for your files since, once the records are ordered expunged/sealed, you will likely not be able to obtain them. Should you ever be required to disclose or need access to your expunged/sealed records for any reason, it will be tough, if not impossible, to obtain them once your cases have been expunged/sealed. As part of our representation, we will obtain non-certified case dispositions on your behalf. Moreover, should you require certified case dispositions (usually required for immigration proceedings), we can also obtain those on your behalf for an additional fee.
Ensure that your expunged/sealed records are removed from private databases. As part of our representation of you, we will not only obtain an order expunging/sealing your records and ensure that your records are removed from the applicable state agencies’ databases, but we will go the extra mile by providing – at no additional cost – the invaluable service of making sure that the various online, private background check databases (such as Checkr, Truthfinder, Sterling, etc.) have removed your expunged records from their databases. Other law firms either do not offer this service at all or charge upwards of $200 to $400 additional for this service. At Katherine O’Brien Law, when we say that we will handle your expungement/sealing from start to finish for a flat fee price, we mean it, and we go above and beyond for our clients to ensure their expunged records are removed for good from all possible sources.
Ensure that your expunged records are removed from government databases. After the court orders your expungement and the expungement order is served on the applicable government agencies, such as the police department that arrested you, the applicable court, the probation office, the county prosecutor, etc., the expungement lawyers at Katherine O’Brien Law will go above and beyond by confirming that your records were actually removed from the applicable databases. You would not believe how frequently we have found the state agencies to have failed to properly update their databases – despite proper service of the expungement order by our office. Shockingly, we have found that approximately one-third of the time, government agencies have failed to remove expunged records from these databases properly. We cannot stress how important it is to verify, post-expungement, that the state agencies, such as the municipal courts, have removed your records per the expungement order.
Offer free lifetime record removal services. Finally, despite our diligent and proper handling of your case and our dedication to ensuring that your records have been appropriately removed from the state and private databases, with the advent of the internet and information sharing, it is possible that an Internet background check company might improperly reveal your expunged record. Should this happen to you, we offer a free lifetime record removal service to our expungement/sealing clients. We will immediately reach out to the relevant background check company on your behalf and demand that they remove your expunged records from their system and correct any reports issued on your behalf. Other law firms provide you with a form letter and instructions on how to do this yourself.

*The use of the word “guaranteed” in attorney advertisements specifically refers to a refund policy and does not imply a guarantee of any particular outcome in your legal case. Legal cases are inherently unpredictable, and the result of any legal matter cannot be assured. Katherine O’Brien Law guarantees that you will receive a full refund of our legal fee if you do not obtain the desired outcome. This guarantee applies solely to the refund and not to the success or outcome of your case. Please also be advised that if expungement was denied for your failure to disclose your entire criminal record, the guarantee does not apply. For more information and to discuss your specific legal situation, please consult with one of our experienced attorneys.

As you can see, the effect of expungement in New Jersey is great. Katherine O’Brien Law offers affordable expungements to our clients. We handle both simple and complex expungements in New Jersey. We also give each case our utmost priority for faster processing time. Schedule a free consultation today!