Vermont Expungement vs Sealing

What Changed Under Act 60

Before July 1, 2025, Vermont offered both expungement and sealing for most qualifying criminal offenses. You could petition to have your records physically destroyed or sealed from public view, depending on the circumstances.

Act 60 (Senate Bill 12) rewrote the rules entirely. The law shifted Vermont to a universal sealing framework, reserving true expungement — the permanent destruction of court, police, and prosecutorial records — for a narrow category of cases. If you have a conviction for conduct that Vermont has since decriminalized (most commonly, possession of small amounts of cannabis), you can still petition for expungement. For other eligible convictions, sealing is now the available remedy.

This matters because most people searching for "Vermont expungement" actually need sealing. The term "expungement" has been removed from most sections of Chapter 230 in Title 13, but the public hasn't caught up to the change.

The Practical Difference Between Expungement and Sealing

Expungement destroys the record. Once a court grants an expungement order, the Vermont Crime Information Center (VCIC), the arresting agency, and the court itself must physically or electronically destroy all files related to the case. No state entity retains a copy. You can legally state that the arrest and conviction never happened.

Sealing hides the record from public access but preserves it in a confidential file. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts can still access a sealed record for future criminal justice purposes, including sentencing enhancements if you are convicted of a subsequent offense. From the public's perspective, though, the record doesn't exist — it won't appear on standard background checks, and you can legally answer "no" when asked about criminal history on job or housing applications.

Both remedies remove the record from public court databases. Both let you deny the conviction on standard applications. The key difference is permanence: expungement is irreversible destruction, while sealing is reversible concealment. A sealed record can theoretically be unsealed if a court finds cause, though this happens rarely and only in the context of new criminal proceedings.

Who Qualifies for Expungement

After Act 60, expungement under 13 V.S.A. § 7602(b) is limited to convictions for conduct that is no longer prohibited by Vermont law. The most common example is possession of under two ounces of cannabis, which Vermont decriminalized. Historical convictions for this offense qualify for complete record destruction.

Automatic expungement also applies to certain municipal violations (two years after judgment satisfaction) and specific motor vehicle violations (for offenses on or after July 1, 2021).

For decriminalized-conduct expungement, you file using Form 200-00129 (Petition to Expunge Criminal History). There is no filing fee, and no multi-year waiting period is required — but you must have completed your sentence and paid all restitution and surcharges.

Who Qualifies for Sealing

Sealing covers a much broader range of offenses, but each category has its own waiting period:

• Misdemeanors: 3 years after completing your sentence, including probation or parole. Most misdemeanors qualify, but domestic assault, stalking, prostitution, prohibited conduct, abuse of a vulnerable adult, violations of abuse prevention orders, and sexual exploitation of children are excluded.
• Non-violent felonies: 7 years after sentence completion. The eligible list includes grand larceny, criminal mischief, forgery, unlawful mischief, and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. Violent felonies, sexual offenses, hate crimes, and crimes against children are permanently ineligible.
• DUI (first offense): 10 years after sentence completion, with additional requirements — no subsequent criminal convictions and no commercial driver's license.
• Youth offenses (ages 18-21): 30 days after completing all sentence conditions and paying restitution and surcharges.

Non-conviction records (acquittals, dismissals, no-probable-cause findings) are automatically sealed within 60 days of final disposition unless a party objects in the interest of justice. You don't need to file anything for these unless the case predates the automatic-sealing provisions.

Common Misconceptions

"Vermont has Clean Slate — my record will clear itself." Vermont's automatic clearing is narrow. It covers non-convictions (within 60 days), some municipal violations, and certain traffic offenses. Standard misdemeanor and felony convictions still require you to file a petition, prove eligibility, and wait for the court's decision.

"Sealing means my record is gone." Sealing blocks public access, but the record still exists. Law enforcement can see it. Federal agencies, including USCIS for immigration purposes, maintain separate databases that aren't affected by state-level sealing. And some professional licensing boards retain statutory authority to access sealed records during credentialing.

"I should wait for expungement instead of filing for sealing." Unless your conviction involves conduct Vermont has decriminalized, expungement isn't available to you under current law. Waiting for a law change that may never come means leaving your record publicly visible indefinitely.

What to Do Next

Start by pulling your official criminal history from VCIC ($30 processing fee) to see exactly what's on your record. Match each charge against the eligibility categories above. For most people, sealing is the path forward — and for practical purposes, it accomplishes the same goal: removing the record from public view so it stops blocking your employment, housing, and licensing applications.

The petition process involves completing Form 200-00130, filing it in the Superior Court Criminal Division where the conviction occurred, and waiting for the prosecutor's response. If the prosecutor agrees (stipulates), the court can grant the order without a hearing. If they object, a hearing will be scheduled. The Vermont Expungement & Record Sealing Guide walks through each step, including how to handle contested hearings and what to do after the court signs your order.

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