Kentucky expungement: the paperwork, filled in for your court

Kentucky runs on a clock that is easy to lose. The certificate you must file with your motion takes up to sixty days to come back and then expires thirty days after you receive it — miss that window and you buy it again.

149 · one case, one court

Flat. No hourly billing, no consultation to book.

What the process actually is

Order the expungement certification from the Administrative Office of the Courts and plan around the wait. Dismissals without prejudice do not need one; convictions do.
Pick the right application, because the form and the money differ by case type — a Class D felony, a misdemeanour and a dismissal are three separate AOC forms.
File inside the thirty days, in the court that handled the case, with the certificate attached.
For a felony, know before you file that the larger fee falls due only if the motion is granted, and that it can be asked for in instalments on the form itself. Unpaid, the charge is vacated but not expunged — which is not the result people think they bought.

The forms this state publishes — you pick one

AOC-497.2 — Motion and order to expunge a dismissed charge. Kentucky lists this one for charges dismissed with prejudice, acquittals and cases not indicted. No filing fee.
AOC-496.2 — Application to expunge a misdemeanour conviction. Listed for misdemeanour and violation convictions.
AOC-496.3 — Application to vacate and expunge a Class D felony conviction. Listed for the Class D felonies the statute permits.

Listed as the state lists them. Matching your case to one of these is a legal judgement, so it is yours to make: the clerk of the court and your local legal aid clinic will both tell you which applies, at no charge. I fill in the one you name.

What you get for the fee

The form you selected, filled in with your case number, charge, disposition and dates.
The dates worked out from the dates you give me, and the published rule they come from, with the page and the date I read it.
A filing checklist: which office, what it costs there, how many copies, who has to be served, what any hearing is for.

What this is not

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. You choose the form, you decide to file, you sign, you appear.
I do not select the form for you and I do not tell you whether you qualify. Both of those are legal judgement, and in Ohio the board that polices this says so in as many words. Your clerk and your local legal aid clinic answer them for free.
No promised outcome. A judge can deny a correctly filed application, and anyone quoting you a success rate is selling a number they cannot produce.
Where your answers and the published rule do not line up I will not take the work, and you pay nothing.

It may already be free

Acquittals and dismissals with prejudice have been expunged automatically since July 2020, within thirty days and at no cost, traffic cases aside. If that is your record, there is nothing to buy here.

What it costs whoever does it

Certification request 40, by cheque or money order.
Filing fee at the time of filing, set by case type.
Felony expungement fee 250 if granted, payable in instalments.
Waiver motion exists if the fees would take your necessities.

Those are the state's costs, not mine, and you pay them either way.

The free route, named

the Kentucky Court of Justice's own expungement pages — The certification process, the request form and every AOC application are published free, the Department of Public Advocacy runs free information sessions, and charities in some cities cover the certificate fee. What Kentucky does not publish is anything that fills the application in for you.

Check this case free

The next page asks what court and what charge, and asks you to pick the form off the list above. Nothing is charged there.

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