How to Seal a Record in North Dakota

The Self-Help Problem

North Dakota allows you to petition the court to seal a criminal record under Chapter 12-60.1 of the Century Code. But here's what trips most people up: the state provides no standardized forms for conviction sealing petitions. The Legal Self Help Center explicitly states it can't assist with criminal matters. So you're drafting your own legal pleadings, held to the same standard as a licensed attorney, with no template to start from.

Getting it wrong isn't just frustrating — a denial lets a district court judge block you from filing again for up to one year.

Step 1: Get Your Certified Records

Before you draft anything, pull your official records from two sources:

BCI Criminal History Check: Submit Form SFN 50744 to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Bismarck with the $15 fee. This gives you every reportable arrest, charge, and disposition on your state record. If you ever used aliases, use the fingerprint-based search instead.

Clerk of Court Records: Get the certified judgment and register of actions for each case from the clerk of the court where your charges were originally filed. These documents confirm your sentence completion date, probation discharge date, and restitution payment status — all of which you'll need to prove eligibility.

Step 2: Confirm Your Eligibility

Run through the statutory checklist before spending the filing fee:

• Waiting period met? 3 years conviction-free for misdemeanors, 5 years for felonies (clock starts at release from probation, parole, or incarceration — not from the plea date)
• No pending charges? Active charges anywhere block the petition
• All restitution paid? Every dollar of court-ordered victim restitution must be satisfied — this is an absolute bar, not a factor the judge weighs
• Not an excluded offense? Sex offenses requiring registration and violent felonies during the firearm-ban window cannot be sealed
• Not a DUI/APC? Those go through a separate track under § 39-08-01.6

Step 3: Draft Your Petition

Your petition gets filed in the original criminal case and must contain:

• Case caption matching the county, judicial district, and case number of the original file
• Personal information: your full legal name, all prior aliases, and every residential address from the date of the offense to the filing date
• Complete criminal history: every arrest, charge, deferred sentence, and dismissal across North Dakota, other states, federal courts, and foreign jurisdictions
• Good cause statement: a narrative explaining why sealing benefits you (employment, housing, professional licensing) in a way that outweighs the constitutional presumption of open records

Prepare two additional documents: a proposed Order to Seal Criminal Records for the judge's signature, and a Confidential Information Form if your petition includes protected identifiers like Social Security numbers.

Step 4: Pay the Filing Fee and File

The standard civil filing fee in district court is $160 (effective July 2025 under SB 2057), but a conviction-sealing petition filed within the existing criminal case generally avoids that standard civil docket fee. If a fee is assessed and you can't afford it, file a fee waiver packet — Form 1 (Petition for Waiver) and Form 2 (Financial Declaration) — at the same time. Qualification generally requires household income at or below 125% of the Federal Poverty Level.

File everything with the Clerk of Court. Some counties accept electronic filing through the state's Odyssey/C-Track portal; rural municipal courts may require paper filings in person or by mail.

Step 5: Serve the Prosecutor

Under N.D.C.C. § 12-60.1-03, you must serve a copy of the petition and proposed order on the prosecuting office that handled your case — typically the County State's Attorney for district court cases or the City Attorney for municipal cases. Service must comply with Rule 49 of the North Dakota Rules of Criminal Procedure.

File a Proof of Service (Declaration of Service by Mail or Personal Delivery) with the clerk. If you skip this, the court can't act on your petition at all.

Step 6: The 45-Day Window and Hearing

The court is barred from holding a hearing until at least 45 days after filing. During that window, the prosecutor investigates — they're required to notify law enforcement agencies, witnesses, and victims to the extent practicable, and may file an objection.

If the prosecutor doesn't object (or stipulates to sealing), the judge can rule without a hearing. If there's an objection, you'll appear at a hearing where you must prove by clear and convincing evidence that you've completed all sentence terms, paid all restitution, and that sealing serves your interests enough to override public access to court records.

Step 7: After the Order Is Signed

A signed order seals your court records from public view. But the BCI database is a separate system — a court order doesn't automatically update it. You or your attorney need to serve a certified copy of the sealing order directly on the BCI to restrict dissemination on public-facing background checks.

If old records still show up on private screening reports, you have FCRA rights to dispute them with the reporting company and force an update within 30 days.

Our North Dakota Expungement & Record Sealing Guide provides the complete filing blueprint — petition structure, proposed order format, service requirements, and the post-sealing enforcement steps.

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