Sealing motion — Motion to seal the court file (Georgia)

A separate step; restriction alone does not close the court record.

This state does not post this one centrally — the court that heard your case hands it out, and the wording differs by county. Ask the clerk of that court for its current version.

What a court checks before this one is granted

Restriction stops at the criminal history report. The court file stays public until a judge is asked separately to seal it.
This is a separate motion to the court, not part of the restriction request — people find that out after they have paid someone.

These are the conditions the statute and the state's own guidance set for this form. Whether your record meets them is a legal judgement, and not one I make.

What I do with it

If this is the form you have chosen, $149 gets your answers typed onto it for one case in one court: the caption, the case number, the charge and disposition as you give them, the dates worked out from your dates, and the agency and service list the form asks for.

I do not choose the form, I do not tell you whether you qualify, and I am not a lawyer. Those are the parts that are free elsewhere, and the page above links where.

The other forms Georgia publishes

Record restriction — Georgia routes this through the prosecutor rather than a petition, and the agency supplies its own request form.

Which of these your case takes is a legal judgement. It is yours to make, and your clerk or a legal aid clinic will help you make it for nothing.

What the state charges

Arresting agency processing fee, capped at $50.
GCIC fee $25, by money order or certified check.
Court filing fee if it is a Second Chance Act petition.

Where that comes from

O.C.G.A. 35-3-37, read 2026-09-20
Georgia Courts, record restriction self-help, read 2026-09-20

The free route, named

Georgia Courts' own self-help pages — Written by Georgia Legal Aid, and there are expungement desks and Georgia Justice Project clinics around the state. What none of them is, as far as I can find, is a tool that fills the form in: Georgia publishes static PDFs and a queue.

Put your answers next to the rules

Free, no account. Or read the whole Georgia process first.

Not a law firm and not legal advice. Document preparation only. Swanum · Terms