Michigan Expungement Eligibility: Can You Expunge a Felony or Misdemeanor

Felony Eligibility

Michigan allows up to three felony convictions to be set aside through the petition process. The automatic Clean Slate system handles a maximum of two eligible non-assaultive felonies.

Petition route (up to 3 felonies):

• Single felony: five-year waiting period from the latest of sentencing, probation or parole discharge, or release from incarceration
• Multiple felonies: seven-year waiting period from the latest applicable sentencing, probation or parole discharge, or release from incarceration
• The court cannot enter an order while criminal charges are pending or if the applicant was convicted of any criminal offense during the applicable waiting period

Automatic route (up to 2 felonies):

• Ten years from the later of sentence imposition or completion of any term of imprisonment with the Michigan Department of Corrections
• Must be non-assaultive offenses without a maximum penalty of life or 10+ years
• No criminal charges pending in the MSP database and no new criminal conviction recorded there during the applicable waiting period

The three-felony petition limit is a lifetime total, not a per-court limit. A person with four felony convictions may petition to set aside up to three eligible felonies, subject to the other statutory requirements.

Misdemeanor Eligibility

Misdemeanors are more flexible. The petition process has no count limit on misdemeanors.

Eligible non-serious, non-assaultive misdemeanors: Three-year waiting period.

Serious misdemeanors (as defined in Section 61 of the William Van Regenmorter Crime Victim's Rights Act, MCL 780.811(1)(a)): Five-year petition waiting period. MCL 780.621g excludes serious misdemeanors from the four-count automatic category for offenses punishable by 93 days or more; the 92-days-or-less category follows a separate rule.

Automatic sealing: Up to four eligible misdemeanors punishable by 93 days or more after seven years. A new conviction recorded in the MSP database during the wait blocks this category, which excludes serious misdemeanors and other offenses listed in MCL 780.621g(10); a pending criminal charge in that database also blocks set-aside while pending. Misdemeanors punishable by 92 days or less have no count limit and seal after seven years under a separate provision.

Marijuana possession misdemeanors (pre-2018 legalization offenses): No waiting period, no count limit. File using SCAO Form MC 227a.

Offenses That Cannot Be Expunged

MCL 780.621c excludes the following convictions from the ordinary petition and automatic set-aside pathways:

• Felonies punishable by life imprisonment, or attempts to commit them
• Criminal sexual conduct in the first, second, or third degree
• Child abuse in the first or second degree
• Felony domestic violence when the person has a prior misdemeanor domestic-violence conviction
• CSC fourth degree when the conviction occurred on or after January 12, 2015
• Traffic offenses causing injury or death
• Specified commercial motor vehicle traffic offenses: committed by a person with a commercial-vehicle endorsement while operating a commercial motor vehicle, or otherwise a commercial motor vehicle violation
• Specified human-trafficking and terrorism violations

Other exclusions apply to the automatic pathway, and Michigan has a separate application for certain offenses committed as a direct result of human trafficking. A Governor's pardon or post-conviction relief under Michigan Court Rule 6.500 is a separate process.

The Waiting Period Calculation

For petition-based set-asides, the waiting period is measured from the dates specified for that category in MCL 780.621d. The three-year wait for eligible misdemeanors uses sentence imposition, imprisonment completion, or probation completion. The five-year wait for a serious misdemeanor, first-offense OWI, or one felony also includes parole discharge. The seven-year wait for more than one felony uses the latest of sentence imposition, felony probation completion, parole discharge, or imprisonment completion for the convictions being petitioned. Automatic misdemeanor waits are measured from sentence imposition; the felony wait is measured from the later of sentence imposition or completion of a prison term with the Michigan Department of Corrections. A set-aside does not cancel restitution; a court may consider unpaid obligations, and an automatic set-aside can be reinstated if the court finds no good-faith effort to pay restitution.

How to Check Your Eligibility

Pull your official record through the Michigan State Police ICHAT portal ($10 name-based search) or request a fingerprint-based personal records check ($30) for a complete view including records that may have already been automatically sealed.

Count your total lifetime felony and misdemeanor convictions. Check whether any fall into the excluded categories. For a petition, calculate the wait using the dates specified for the applicable offense category in MCL 780.621d; for an automatic felony, use the later of sentence imposition or completion of a prison term with MDOC. If the petition criteria are met, the next step is filing.

The Michigan Expungement & Record Sealing Guide includes an eligibility worksheet that walks through every variable — offense type, conviction counts, waiting period triggers, and the intervening conviction rule.

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