How Long Does Louisiana Expungement Take? Timeline Breakdown

The Short Answer: Three to Six Months

An uncontested Louisiana expungement — where no agency objects — typically takes three to six months from start to finish. If an agency objects and the court schedules a contradictory hearing, the process can stretch to a year or longer.

Here is where the time goes.

Weeks 1-4: Gathering Records

Right to Review background check (1-3 weeks). If you go to LSP headquarters in Baton Rouge in person, turnaround is faster. Mail-in fingerprint cards take longer. Either way, this document must be dated within 60 days of your filing date, so plan backward from when you expect to file.

Certified court minutes (1-2 weeks). Visit the Clerk of Court in the parish of arrest. Processing time depends on the parish — Orleans Criminal District Court may take longer than a smaller rural parish due to volume. You need certified copies of the bill of information, court minutes showing the disposition, and proof of sentence completion if applicable.

Set-aside motion, if needed (2-4 weeks additional). If your case requires a prior set-aside under Article 893 or 894, this adds a separate filing step. The judge must sign the dismissal order before you can file the expungement motion. Court scheduling varies by parish.

Week 4-6: Preparation and Filing

Preparing the uniform expungement forms, purchasing money orders, and assembling the packet takes a few days of focused work. Filing at the Clerk of Court is same-day — you submit the packet, pay the fees, and the Clerk initiates service to the three agencies (DA, arresting agency, and LSP).

Weeks 6-14: The 60-Day Objection Window

This is the mandatory wait that cannot be shortened. After the Clerk serves your motion, the District Attorney, the arresting agency, and Louisiana State Police have a full 60 calendar days to review your petition and file a formal objection.

Most non-contested cases pass through this window without any action from the agencies. For dismissed charges, DA refusals, and straightforward misdemeanor cases with clean five-year records, objections are uncommon.

If no objection is filed within 60 days, the judge can sign the Order of Expungement ex parte — no hearing required.

If an Objection Is Filed

A formal objection triggers a contradictory hearing under Article 980. The court must schedule a hearing date, which may be weeks or months out depending on the court's calendar. At the hearing, the objecting agency presents its reasons, and you (or your attorney) argue the legal merits of your petition.

Common objection reasons include pending charges the agencies discovered, eligibility errors in the petition, or the offense falling into an excluded category. The DA may also object to felony expungements where the rehabilitation evidence is thin.

Contradictory hearings add three to six months to the process and functionally require attorney representation.

Weeks 14-22: Post-Order Processing

LSP processing (30-60 days). After the judge signs the Order of Expungement, the Clerk serves it to all agencies. Louisiana State Police modifies the central state repository and issues a Certificate of Compliance. This step alone takes 30 to 60 days with no way to expedite.

During this window, your record may still appear on background checks run through the state system. The court has ordered it sealed, but LSP has not yet executed the sealing.

Private database cleanup (ongoing). Commercial background check companies maintain their own databases separate from the state system. Even after LSP processes your order, private screeners may continue reporting the old record for months. Under Article 974, you mail certified copies of the court order to each company — this triggers their legal obligation to remove the record from their reports.

Realistic Total Timeline

If you have a time-sensitive need — a job offer conditional on a clean background check, a housing application deadline, or a professional license application — start the process as early as possible. There is no way to compress the 60-day objection window or the LSP processing period.

The Louisiana Expungement & Record Sealing Guide includes a timeline planning worksheet and a post-order enforcement checklist to minimize delays at every stage.

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