Can I get my record sealed in Ohio?

Answered by ProctorLaw

This is general legal information, not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created. Talk with a licensed attorney about your situation.

Short answer: very likely yes. Ohio rewrote its record-sealing law in 2023 (Senate Bill 288), and under the current statute a misdemeanor theft conviction becomes eligible for sealing one year after you finished the sentence, with no limit on how many misdemeanors you can clear (R.C. 2953.32). At eight years out and with a clean record since, you are well past the waiting period. Better still, you can now ask for expungement, not just sealing.

Sealing vs. expungement. Ohio now offers both. Sealing removes the case from public view: the court record, the clerk's online docket, and the public BCI record are closed, but the file still exists and can be seen by law enforcement and prosecutors, and used if you are ever charged again. Expungement orders the record destroyed so it is permanently irretrievable, except that BCI keeps a copy solely to screen applicants for law-enforcement jobs. For a misdemeanor, both are available one year after final discharge (R.C. 2953.32(B)(1)). If you qualify for expungement, ask for it; it is the stronger remedy. Note that "final discharge" means every part of the sentence is done, including any restitution; the Ohio Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2025 that unpaid restitution blocks the clock from starting.

Who is not eligible. The statute excludes traffic convictions (including OVI), first- and second-degree felonies, felony offenses of violence, sex offenses that carry registration, offenses against children under 13, theft in office, and first- or second-degree misdemeanor domestic violence (R.C. 2953.32(A)(1)). Ordinary theft under R.C. 2913.02 is not on that list.

How it works in Toledo. You file an application in the court that sentenced you, so for a Toledo Municipal Court case that is the clerk at 555 N. Erie St., (419) 936-3650. The fee is $50 for any number of convictions (the court may add a local fee of up to $50), waivable with a poverty affidavit. State in the application whether you want sealing or expungement; the court's older online form predates the 2023 law and does not ask. The court sets a hearing 45 to 90 days out, notifies the prosecutor, who has until 30 days before the hearing to object, and has the probation department pull your record and write a report. At the hearing the judge confirms you are eligible, that no charges are pending, and that you have been "rehabilitated to the satisfaction of the court," then weighs your interest in sealing against any legitimate need of the government to keep the record. If those boxes are checked, the statute says the court shall grant it. Bring proof of your work history and stability; the judge must still find you rehabilitated and the prosecutor can object, but eight years of no trouble is the kind of record courts commonly grant. The Toledo Bar Association has hosted free record-sealing clinics on the third Tuesday of the month at the ProMedica Ebeid Center, 1806 Madison Ave.; call ahead to confirm the schedule.

What it does for job applications. After sealing, an employer may ask only about convictions that are not sealed, and unless the question bears a direct and substantial relationship to the job, you may lawfully answer as if the conviction never happened (R.C. 2953.34(N)). After expungement, no one may ask about it at all. The exceptions are jobs that require a fingerprint BCI check under specific statutes, such as schools and child care, nursing homes and home health agencies, hospitals, law enforcement, banking and lending, casinos, and Medicaid providers (R.C. 109.572); sealed records can still appear on those checks. Two practical notes: commercial background-check companies sometimes keep stale data, so after the order is granted, send a copy to any company that reports the old conviction and ask them to correct it; and a prior conviction, even sealed, can be considered if you are ever sentenced on a new offense.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you have any other arrests or cases, even dismissed ones, list them all in one application; dismissed charges can be sealed at any time (R.C. 2953.33).

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