A DWI charge can flip your life upside down. It can cost you a lot of money in fines and legal fees as well as make your life a lot more convenient.
Every year, there are about 1.5 million Americans that get arrested for driving under the influence.
If you are one of those Americans, you may have realized what having this on your Texas record means. It can make it harder for you to get a job, rent an apartment, and more.
Luckily, there is a way to seal a DWI conviction record.
Do you want to know more? Read this guide to find out all of the information you need.
Know Your Eligibility
The first thing you need to determine is if you are eligible for your record to get sealed. When it comes to your first DWI offense, this is almost always going to be possible.
Where it gets more complicated is if you have multiple DWIs on your record. If this is your situation, you may be out of luck.
You are going to have to wait a certain amount of time before you can seal your record. How long this period is depends on the severity of the crime.
In Texas, a DWI is generally considered a Class B or Class A misdemeanor. As long as there was no felony charge attached to this arrest, you can get this sealed one year after your arrest.
Any Texans that had a DWI arrest more than a year ago should be taking notes here.
File a Petition
Once you are eligible for a record seal, you need to file a petition to start the process. You are going to have to do this in the same courtroom that handled your DWI case in the first place.
Make sure that you have all of the paperwork you need such as your criminal record history. When you have all of that in order, you will also need to let the district attorney know that you filed this petition.
Attend the Hearing
After you file a petition for a record seal, you are likely going to have to attend a hearing. You are going to have any evidence related to this case reviewed and it is highly recommended that you have a record sealing lawyer by your side for this stage.
If you win your case, you will receive your court order and you can let relevant parties know such as the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Get Your Texas Record Sealed
These are the basic things that you need to know if you want to get your Texas record sealed.
The most important thing is to make sure that you are eligible to do this. If you wait more than a year and this is your first offense, you should be good to go here.
Then, just file the necessary petition and attend a hearing for it. For this, you should hire a good DWI lawyer to represent you.
Do you want to know more? Message us today with your questions.
