Ohio sealing and expungement: the paperwork, filled in for your court
Ohio has no single form. You file in the court that heard the case, and that court has its own packet, its own fee and its own local wording.
149 · one case, one court
Flat. No hourly billing, no consultation to book.
What the process actually is
- Work out whether the conviction is one the statute allows to be sealed, and whether the waiting period has run.
- Get the application used by your court — municipal and common pleas convictions need separate applications.
- File, pay the clerk's fee or ask for a waiver, and attend the hearing the court sets.
What you get for the fee
- An eligibility read for your offence and your dates, against the current rules — including when the clock starts.
- The application and order for your court, filled in with your case number, charge, disposition and dates.
- 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 decide to file, you sign, you appear.
- 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.
- If your record is not eligible I will say so and you pay nothing. There is no point selling paperwork a court will reject.
What it costs whoever does it
- Clerk's filing fee, set by the court; waivable on an affidavit of indigency.
Those are the state's costs, not mine, and you pay them either way.
The free route, named
Ohio Legal Help — It runs a free eligibility interview and explains the rules well. It then sends you to the clerk for the blank paperwork — that gap is what this page is for.
See if my case qualifies
The next page asks what court and what charge. Nothing is charged before you have the eligibility answer.
Not a law firm and not legal advice. Document preparation only. Swanum · Terms