North Dakota Record Sealing Eligibility

The Eligibility Checkpoints You Need to Pass

Before you spend weeks drafting a petition or paying any filing fee the clerk assesses, you need to know whether you actually qualify to seal your record under North Dakota Century Code Chapter 12-60.1. The statute lays out specific conditions — miss any one of them and your petition may be denied, potentially with a one-year bar on refiling by a district-court judge.

Here's how eligibility works, step by step.

Conviction Type Determines Your Track

North Dakota separates record relief into distinct tracks based on what happened with your case:

Standard convictions (guilty plea or verdict) go through the standard Chapter 12-60.1 sealing process. Most misdemeanors and felonies are eligible, subject to the waiting periods and exclusions below.

Nonconvictions (dismissals and acquittals) use the separate closure process under § 12-60.1-05. For orders entered on or after August 1, 2025, court records close automatically after 61 days. Older nonconvictions require a petition, but there's no filing fee and the court must act within 10 days.

DUI and APC convictions are excluded from Chapter 12-60.1 entirely. They have their own track under § 39-08-01.6 with a 7-year waiting period and a CDL exclusion.

Deferred impositions for infractions and misdemeanors follow Rule 32.1 — if you completed probation successfully, your plea is automatically withdrawn and the case is dismissed and sealed 61 days after discharge. No petition needed.

Waiting Periods

The waiting period clock starts when you're fully released from incarceration, probation, or parole — not from the date of conviction or sentencing. You must remain completely conviction-free during the entire waiting period.

If your probation was revoked or extended, the clock resets to the new discharge date. Any new conviction during the waiting period — in any jurisdiction — restarts everything.

Absolute Exclusions

Two categories of convictions have special statutory restrictions under Chapter 12-60.1:

1. Sex offenses requiring registration under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-15 — if you're currently ordered to register as a sex offender or offender against children, sealing is permanently barred
2. Violent felonies during the firearm-ban window — under N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-01(1)(a), a felony involving violence or intimidation triggers a 10-year ban on possessing firearms, measured from the date of conviction or release (whichever is later). While that ban is active, the conviction can't be sealed

These restrictions are statutory — rehabilitation evidence does not override them while they apply.

Financial Requirements

You must have completed every aspect of your sentence before filing:

• All victim restitution paid in full: This is an absolute bar. Not a factor the judge weighs — if any restitution remains unpaid, the petition fails automatically
• No pending charges: Active criminal charges anywhere block your petition
• Sentence fully served: All terms of imprisonment and probation/parole must be complete

The research specifically identifies unpaid victim restitution as the absolute bar. Check with the clerk or counsel about any outstanding court fines or administrative fees before filing.

The Nonconviction Closure Exclusions

Even the nonconviction closure track has four situations where records can't be closed:

• The dismissal resulted from a plea deal where you were convicted on another charge in the same or companion case
• The case was dismissed because you were found unfit to proceed
• The verdict was not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility
• The case or order is currently on appeal

Next Steps If You're Eligible

If you clear all these checkpoints, the next step is pulling your official records — a BCI criminal history check using Form SFN 50744 and certified court documents from the clerk where your case was filed. Building your petition on accurate records is how you avoid the denials that come from incorrect case numbers or undisclosed prior charges.

The North Dakota Expungement & Record Sealing Guide covers the full eligibility analysis and walks you through the petition process for every track — conviction sealing, nonconviction closure, DUI sealing, and deferred imposition.

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