Expungement Forms
Information for Sealing Criminal Record in Ohio
When our law firm began representing people in expungement cases over 20 years ago, only law firms and attorneys offered services to help people seal criminal records. Today, there are many businesses attempting to make a business out of expungement. You don’t have to search long on the internet to find a variety of businesses trying to sell forms for expungement, expungement kits, or record removal services. These businesses sell expungement forms or packets from as little as $10 to several hundred dollars.
However, many of these self proclaimed expungement businesses are nothing but scam sites posing as attorneys. It is no surprise that some of these large record removal or record clearing businesses have some of the lowest ratings with the Better Business Bureau, receiving D’s and F’s on their BBB Report Cards. No one should trust their personal and confidential information to these businesses. They provide you with no attorney-client confidentiality and there is no guarantee that your personal information will not fall into the hands of identity thieves. Before you invest your time and money with one of these scams, you should speak with one of our expungement lawyers who are licensed in Ohio.
An expungement form, or a record removal service, can not replace the need for an experienced expungement attorney with knowledge of Ohio expungement law. Different courts have different requirements and procedures for expungements. Even if you are successful in completing the initial application process for expungement, how will you handle the pre-hearing investigation, prosecutor’s objections, or will you be able to handle the mandatory court hearing required for every expungement case in Ohio. And when you are before the court in the expungement hearing, will you be prepared to argue why you qualify for an expungement under the Ohio expungement statute and related Ohio expungement case law. If an Entry Expunging and Sealing the Record is granted, and you are ordered to notify all reporting agencies, will you know who to notify? If the Court orders the Clerk to notify the necessary agencies, will know how to verify all the proper institutions are, in fact, notified as stated in the Expungement Entry?
The best way to have your criminal record cleared in Ohio is to have an expungement attorney who will go to court with you. The Ohio Expungement Statute, O.R.C. 2953.32 and 2953.52 requires a hearing, and each application for expungement is required to be set for hearing before the court. At the hearing for expungement, the court has discretion to determine whether it will grant, or deny, the application for expungement based upon the evidence and arguments presented to it at the hearing.
In Ohio, businesses that claim to clear your criminal record through expungement forms, record clearing services, guides for expungement, expungement kits, record removal services, expungement assistance services, etc….are simply “to good to be true.”
Our law firm has been in business since 1988 and our expungement attorneys are licensed to practice law throughout the State of Ohio. As expungement lawyers, we will guide you through the process for expungement. We will be there to handle any objections from the prosecutor or issues raised by the court. We will go with you, or on your behalf, to all hearings and present skillful arguments. We’ll draft the final Entry Sealing Criminal Records and assure its service upon reporting agencies in order to remove your criminal record from public view. You will have confidence knowing that you will have an experienced attorney by your side who knows Ohio expungement law.
Contact our office today to hear how we can help you prepare for an expungement and sealing of a criminal record. We provide a free initial consultation to determine if you are eligible for an expungement.
