North Carolina Expungement, Sealing & Court Record Removal

North Carolina's Expungement Law - What the 2017 and 2020 Reforms Changed

North Carolina's expungement statutes at N.C.G.S. § 15A-145 through § 15A-151 were significantly expanded by two landmark pieces of legislation. The 2017 Second Chance Act broadened eligibility for non-violent misdemeanors and certain felonies. The 2020 Clean Slate Act created automatic expungement for dismissals and not-guilty verdicts occurring on or after December 1, 2020, and further expanded petition-based eligibility.

Key outcomes of the expanded law:

• Dismissals and not-guilty verdicts on/after December 1, 2020 are automatically expunged without a petition
• Non-violent felonies are eligible for expungement after a 10-year waiting period from discharge
• Non-violent misdemeanors are eligible without the old prior-expungement bar in most cases
• The Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) implements expungements and updates the public access portal at nccourts.gov

Eligibility for North Carolina Expungement

North Carolina's expungement framework has multiple tracks depending on the nature of the record. Learn more about Spokeo removal on our blog.

Dismissals and Not-Guilty Verdicts

Under § 15A-146, cases disposed after December 1, 2020 that resulted in dismissal or not-guilty verdict are automatically expunged - no action by the defendant is required. For pre-December 2020 dismissals, a petition to the court is necessary. Dismissals are the most straightforward category and the most broadly available.

Non-Violent Misdemeanor Expungement

Under § 15A-145, non-violent misdemeanor convictions may be expunged after satisfying the applicable waiting period. General requirements include:

• Completion of all conditions of sentence including probation, fines, and restitution
• No subsequent convictions during the waiting period
• The offense must not be a Class A1 assault misdemeanor, DWI, or otherwise excluded

Non-Violent Felony Expungement

Under § 15A-145.5, non-violent felonies become eligible for expungement 10 years after discharge. Key requirements:

• Generally only one conviction expungement is permitted per lifetime (with some exceptions)
• No subsequent felony convictions during the 10-year period
• The offense must not be a Class A through G felony or otherwise excluded

Why North Carolina Records Persist Online After Expungement

Even when an expungement is granted and the AOC portal is updated, the online footprint from when the record was publicly accessible can still show up online, and each source can be addressed separately.

nccourts.gov - AOC Public Access Portal

The North Carolina AOC maintains the public court access portal at nccourts.gov. After an expungement order, the AOC is directed to restrict public access. However, there is often a processing delay of several weeks - and for automatic expungements under the 2020 law, the AOC processes these in batches, which can extend the delay further. Data broker sites that indexed the case before expungement retain their cached data independently.

SBI Criminal History Repository

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) maintains the state criminal history database. The expungement order should trigger an SBI update. Once updated, state criminal history background checks through the SBI should no longer return the expunged record. The FBI's NCIC database is a separate federal system not automatically updated by a state expungement order.

CourtListener and Legal Research Platforms

CourtListener indexes North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court opinions. Published appellate opinions referencing your case are generally not removed based on a trial court expungement order absent a separate appellate-level directive to the publisher.

Data Broker Sites

Major data broker aggregators scraped the nccourts.gov portal before expungement was entered. After expungement, the portal restricts new access - but each broker retains its own cached data. Opt-out requests with documentation of the expungement order are required for each platform individually.

How to Remove North Carolina Court Records from Google and Data Broker Sites

After obtaining a North Carolina expungement, the following steps address the online dimension of your record. We evaluate each source and pursue removal where it is realistically achievable.

1. 1
   Obtain your expungement order and confirm AOC and SBI processing
   File your petition (or confirm automatic expungement was processed for post-Dec 2020 dismissals). After the expungement order is entered, obtain a certified copy and confirm the AOC has updated the public access portal and the SBI has updated the state criminal history database. Notification of both agencies is required.
2. 2
   Verify the nccourts.gov AOC portal is updated
   Search the nccourts.gov public access portal for your name and case number to confirm the case is restricted. If the case still appears, contact the AOC directly with your expungement order to expedite the update.
3. 3
   Audit all Google results showing your record
   Search Google with your name, county, charge type, and year. Document every URL - nccourts.gov, CourtListener, Justia, data broker sites, and local news archives. This URL inventory is your removal work queue.
4. 4
   Submit data broker opt-out requests with expungement documentation
   Submit opt-out requests to all major data brokers with your expungement order. Many platforms offer expedited processing for expungement-documented requests. Re-check each site in 90 days as profiles can be repopulated from residual data sources.
5. 5
   Contact legal databases if appellate opinions appear
   If published opinions referencing your case appear on CourtListener or Justia, contact these platforms with documentation. CourtListener typically de-indexes records from expunged trial court proceedings; appellate opinions are handled differently and may require a case-by-case approach.
6. 6
   Use Google's removal tools
   After source pages are restricted or removed, submit requests through Google's Personal Information Removal Tool for URLs referencing the expunged record. Use Google's outdated content removal tool at removals.google.com to de-cache pages restricted at the source.