This page was designed to help our clients better understand our Minnesota Juvenile Conviction Expungement service. You will find answers to the questions we are most frequently asked. If your question is related to eligibility requirements please take the free eligibility test.
Simply click on a question to see its answer:
Juvenile records are automatically sealed in Minnesota regardless if adult convictions.
We will be glad to work with you to get a copy of your record and to review what can be done. We charge a researching fee and we apply that to the cost of any service that you hire us to perform.
Having multiple cases does not matter. Each juvenile record is sealed as a matter of law. As for expungements, having multiple offenses does not necessarily prevent one from expunging any one offense.
No, we go for you. If the court requests your presence and you are unable to attend, then we will request for your presence to be excused.
The process can take six to nine months, depending on your individual circumstances, the court’s workload at the time, and whether there are any objections from the government, the victim, or other interested parties.
We base our estimates of how long a case will take on how long the average is for that service in that state. However, some cases can take less or more time depending on the facts of the case, whether the DA is agreeing or objecting, the age of the case, etc. We work on your case as fast as we can and assist the court and DA in anything they need to get your case heard.
The courts work on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, the sooner you sign up, the sooner it is heard and decided. If it helps, we would be glad to write your employer or potential employer a letter letting them know we have reopened the case and are in the process of having it expunged.
We are unable to offer a money back guarantee because the process involves a substantial amount of preparation and sometimes several appearances in court by our attorneys. We cannot afford to offer this low of a price and a money back guarantee.
In Minnesota, the juvenile courts keep your records until you turn 28, or much longer if you were prosecuted as an adult. So, although juvenile records are not open to the public, there is still a chance someone may be able to find out about your record.
Juvenile offenses in Minnesota are sealed by default. Only select individuals & agencies have access to them—they are not open to the public. A prosecutor can request to obtain access sealed juvenile records in the future under limited circumstances. Also, any court that deals with the individual in the future (whether another juvenile court or an adult court) will be able to have access to the records for sentencing purposes.
This depends on who you are dealing with. Most law enforcement agencies/criminal justice agencies will be able to find out about the juvenile record. However, the general public (including private employers, landlords, etc.) will not find out about juvenile records, whether or not they have been “expunged.”
If a particular juvenile matter has been expunged, not just sealed, the individual can legally deny that they were ever charged with that offense. 609A.03(7)
Any future court (whether or adult or juvenile) can obtain your juvenile records, even if they have been “expunged.” 609A.03(7
Sealing operates automatically, meaning that juvenile cases in Minnesota are tightly sealed as a matter of law—only you and select individuals/agencies have access to your juvenile conviction record.
Expungement is just sealing taken one step further. Expungement does not technically “destroy” all of your records, but makes finding your records even harder. Furthermore, you can legally deny having committed the offense once your case has been “expunged.”
No. If you have committed an offense that requires sex offender registration, nothing that occurs with the juvenile case will have affect that. Furthermore, offenses that require sex offender registration are not eligible for expungement according to the adult law.
In Minnesota, your voting rights are automatically restored upon your completion of the sentence. 609.165(1)
No. There is a separate procedure to get your gun rights restored. Having the juvenile records sealed or expunged will not automatically restore your gun rights.
In Minnesota, you may serve on a jury if you: 1) are a United States citizen, 2) a resident of the county from which you receive a summons, 3) are at least eighteen years of age, 4) are able to communicate in the English language, 5) are physically and mentally capable of serving, 6) have had your civil rights restored to you after being convicted of a felony, 7) have not served as a state or federal juror in the past four years.
http://www.mncourts.gov/documents/0/Public/CourtInformationOffice/jury.pdf
http://www.mncourts.gov/?page=1341
In Minnesota, juvenile records (i.e. cases where the juvenile was not prosecuted as an adult) are already sealed. Only a few individuals/agencies would have access to juvenile records, but not the general public. However, there is an expungement statute for juvenile records that allows a juvenile court to expunge juvenile records, but that law does not state its effects. To date, there is no case law to clarify. However, adult expungement law allows you to state that you were not convicted and seals the records. 609A.02(2)
For juveniles who are prosecuted as adults, they are eligible to expunge under Minnesota law just like any adult.
Most state licensing agencies do not have access to juvenile records, whether or not they have been expunged. If an individual is applying for a “Human Services Licensing” (i.e. license for the care of troubled adults or children, such as a foster home), then the agency will have access to the juvenile records for licensing purposes. However, if your records are expunged, then you can state that you were not convicted or adjudicated delinquent. 609A.03(7)
If you want to join the US military, then your record becomes a matter of federal law, not Minnesota state law. All branches of the military will want to know about your juvenile offenses, even if they have been expunged. There is still a risk of being discharged from the military if you don’t tell them and they later find out about it. It's always advisable to disclose that you had a conviction, but it was taken before a judge and he deemed it in the interest of justice to expunge/seal the record from public view.
Any law enforcement agency (including police departments) can have access to juvenile records, even if they have been sealed or expunged. 609A.03(7)
Your probation officer and the courts are not allowed to reveal information about juvenile records to employers in the private sector (as well as most employers in the public sector), whether or not the records have been expunged. 609A.03(5)