FAQ
No. A Judge will ultimately have final discretion concerning whether to grant your petition to seal your criminal record. The Judge can schedule a hearing and even hear evidence on any matter relevant to its decision. This is why it is imperative to retain an experienced litigator to represent your interests. The lawyers from The Hayes Law Firm have extensive litigation experience and will fight to seal your criminal record. Yes. Sealing of your criminal record(s) immediately restores certain civil rights including the right to vote, right to hold public office and the right to serve on a jury. No. One of the primary benefits of sealing a criminal record concerns employment opportunities. Once sealed, “all proceedings recounted in the record” concerning your criminal event “are deemed never to have occurred.” This means you can properly and lawfully answer “no” on a job application asking you whether you have been criminally convicted or even arrested in the past. Not necessarily. Convictions from municipal courts must be sealed separately from convictions from justice courts but convictions from multiple justice courts can be sealed together. No. There are several conditions that must occur before you can seal any criminal record. For instance, there are statutory timeframes that must expire before you can even petition the court for record sealing. Even when these pre-conditions are satisfied, there are still some criminal records that can never be sealed. However, most criminal records can be sealed. Not really. Nevada courts only have jurisdiction to seal Nevada criminal records. If you want to seal a criminal record from California, you must apply to the courts of California to do so. However, we have a vast network of colleagues across the country that we can refer you to. From start to finish, the process can take between 6 and 12 months. Sealing criminal records in Nevada involves several steps. Before we can even petition the Court to seal your Nevada criminal record we have to obtain your criminal history reports from at least two different agencies. Given the numerous steps involved, the best we can is provide you with the above range of time. Everything. You can seal all records that pertain to your criminal event including, arrest records, police reports, court documents and, of course, judgments of conviction. Expunging a record deletes the record as if it never existed. Sealing a criminal record removes it from public access. Again, expunging records is not permitted in Nevada, only sealing. Not in Nevada. “Expunging” a record typically involves total deletion of the record. In Nevada, criminal records cannot be expunged, they can be sealed. The good news is that sealing records is nearly the same thing as expunging records. (10) Assuming I can satisfy all pre-conditions for sealing my criminal record, is an order sealing my record guaranteed?
(9) Will sealing my criminal record restore my civil rights?
(8) Once my records are sealed, am I still required to disclose the criminal record/event on job applications?
(7) I want to seal multiple criminal records; do I have to petition each jurisdiction separately?
(6) Is every offense sealable?
(5) Can I hire The Hayes Law Firm to seal my criminal record from another state?
(4) How long will it take to seal my Nevada criminal record?
(3) What exactly can I seal concerning my criminal event?
(2) What is the difference between expunging my criminal record and sealing it?
(1) Can I expunge my criminal record?