Tennessee expungement: the paperwork, filled in for your court

The statute was reorganised in 2025 and the state's own expungement page currently says updated information is coming soon. Everything published about Tennessee right now is either out of date or disagrees with the next source you read.

149 · one case, one court

Flat. No hourly billing, no consultation to book.

What the process actually is

Work out which route the case takes: a dismissal, nolle prosequi, no true bill or not-guilty verdict is one form and costs nothing; diversion is a different one, and it needs a certificate of eligibility before the petition; an eligible conviction is a third.
File with the criminal court clerk in the county that heard the case — separately for each county, and the clerks do not agree with each other on the packet.
Pin the fee to your county rather than to a website. Published figures for a conviction expungement run from 100 to 350, some counties charge less and some waive it, and an affidavit of indigency is the route if you cannot pay.

The forms this state publishes — you pick one

Dismissal, nolle prosequi, no true bill or acquittal — Petition for expunction of a non-conviction record. Tennessee publishes this route with no cost to the petitioner.
Diversion — Petition following successful completion of diversion. Needs the certificate of eligibility before it is filed.
Eligible conviction — Petition for expunction of an eligible conviction. The route the 2025 reorganisation rewrote; clerks word their own packets.

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.

What it costs whoever does it

Nothing for a dismissal, nolle prosequi, no true bill or not-guilty verdict.
Clerk's fee for diversion or an eligible conviction; confirm the amount with your county's criminal court clerk.
Waivable on an affidavit of indigency.

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

The free route, named

the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts — It publishes the steps and the blank forms, Help4TN links more, and legal aid runs free expungement clinics. None of them fills the petition in — Tennessee puts out static PDFs, and the guided tools in this state are commercial ones.

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