Sealing — Application to seal a record of conviction (Ohio)

Ohio has no statewide form; the sentencing court hands out its own sealing application.

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

The wait runs from the degree printed on the judgment, not from felony or misdemeanour: three years for an F3, one for an F4 or F5, one for most misdemeanours, six months for a minor misdemeanour.
First and second degree felonies and OVI convictions cannot be sealed at all, and SB 288 did not change that.
Court costs are not part of 'final discharge' in Ohio, unlike fines and restitution — unpaid costs alone should not hold the application up.
SB 288 also created automatic sealing. Check whether yours has already been done before paying anyone, including me.

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 Ohio publishes

Expungement — The second application, filed after a record has been sealed.
Non-conviction — The court's own form for records that never became convictions.

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

Clerk's filing fee, set by the court; waivable on an affidavit of indigency.

Where that comes from

Ohio Revised Code 2953.32, read 2026-09-20
Franklin County Law Library, ORC sealing waiting periods, read 2026-09-20

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.

Put your answers next to the rules

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

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