Louisiana Expungement Forms: Which Ones You Need and How to Fill Them Out

The Standardized Forms You Must Use

Louisiana requires standardized uniform expungement forms promulgated by the Louisiana Supreme Court and the Access to Justice Commission. Using any other format — an older version, a form from a different state, or something you drafted yourself — will get your packet rejected at the clerk's window.

Since August 2024, Senate Bill 116 (Act 580) amended Article 992 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, making all prior versions of the expungement forms obsolete. If you downloaded forms before that date or found a template online that predates August 2024, it will not be accepted.

The core packet contains four documents:

• EXP 5 — Motion for Expungement. This is the formal petition asking the court to expunge your record. It identifies the arrest, the charges, the disposition, and the statutory basis for your request.
• EXP 7 — Affidavit of Response. You leave this blank. It is the form the District Attorney, the arresting agency, and Louisiana State Police use to respond to your motion during the 60-day objection window.
• EXP 8 — Order of Expungement. This is the judge's order. You fill it out and submit it pre-drafted; the judge reviews and signs it if the petition is granted.
• Supplemental Sheets. If your arrest involved more than three charges, you need supplemental sheets to list the additional charges.

Required Attachments

The forms alone are not sufficient. Your packet must include:

Certified background check. A fingerprint-based "Right to Review" rap sheet processed through the Louisiana Applicant Processing System (LAPS). This must be dated within 60 days of your filing date. Get it at LSP headquarters in Baton Rouge ($26 processing fee + $10 fingerprinting fee) or by mailing in fingerprint cards.

Certified court minutes. Obtain these from the Clerk of Court in the parish where you were arrested. They show the final disposition of your case — dismissal, acquittal, conviction, sentence, probation completion, or set-aside.

Bill of information or indictment. The formal charging document from the prosecution.

DA Certification (for conviction expungements). For misdemeanor and felony conviction expungements, the District Attorney must certify that you have met the statutory waiting period requirements and have no disqualifying subsequent convictions or pending charges.

The Mistake That Gets Most Packets Rejected

The single most common rejection comes from a booking date mismatch. The arrest date you write on your Motion for Expungement must match the exact booking date recorded on your LSP "Right to Review" background check. Not the date of the offense, not the court date, not the date you were released — the booking date from the state database.

Louisiana State Police cross-reference every motion against their central repository. A single-day discrepancy between your petition and their records triggers an automatic rejection. No exceptions.

Before filling out the motion, place your Right to Review printout next to the form. Copy the booking date character by character.

Another Common Error: Listing the Wrong Charge

If the District Attorney reduced or amended your original charge to a lesser offense after booking, you must still write the original booking charge on the motion — not the amended charge. The LSP database records the charge at the time of booking, and that is what they verify against. Listing the reduced charge creates a mismatch that results in rejection.

When You Need the Set-Aside Motion First

If you were sentenced under the deferred provisions of Article 893 (felonies) or Article 894 (misdemeanors), you cannot jump straight to the expungement forms. You must first file a separate Motion to Set Aside Conviction and Dismiss Prosecution under the original docket number. The judge must sign the dismissal order before you are legally permitted to file the Motion for Expungement.

This is a two-step process — set-aside first, expungement second — and each step requires its own filing. The set-aside converts your conviction into a non-conviction (legally an acquittal), which then removes the standard waiting period and lets you file for expungement immediately.

Where to Get the Current Forms

The safest sources for current, post-August 2024 forms:

• The Louisiana Supreme Court and Access to Justice Commission
• Your local Parish Clerk of Court's website (many post downloadable packets)
• The Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana (JAC), which also offers a $20 application builder that generates pre-filled forms

Do not use forms from law firm websites, legal document template services, or general-purpose legal form databases. These frequently carry outdated versions that will get your filing rejected — and the $550 filing fee is non-refundable.

The Louisiana Expungement & Record Sealing Guide includes line-by-line form preparation instructions keyed to the current uniform packet, including the set-aside motion, the EXP 5, the EXP 8, and the IFP affidavit.

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