Hi, I'm Charlie Roadman, Austin criminal defense attorney. And today I want to explain what happens after the judge signs your expunction order.

First, congratulations on getting an expunction. The first thing that happens is that the agencies that were listed in the expunction, they were notified in the expunction petition, are now sent the order that the judge signs. So the judge says, "Yes, it's okay. You must delete these records and destroy the records." And so all the agencies are given notice that the judge signed the order. They are then... They begin the process of doing that. Now some of them take longer than others, but they eventually will send a letter to the clerk saying, "Hey, we've done this. We've complied with the order." Now you should keep a copy of the expunction in your important document files in case you need to show it to someone in the future. And I'll explain about that in a minute.

Now one of the questions that we get is how long does it take? And it can take anywhere from one month to five, to six, to seven. There's no specific timeline that an agency must comply with to delete/destroy the records. So some agencies they're not too busy and they do it quick and others have a backlog and it takes them a while. We frequently get asked, can we speed it up? And the answer is no. No attorney can speed it up. Once the judges sign the order, that's the best that we can do. We just have to wait for each agency to delete and destroy the records. Now, another question we get is will online mugshot companies, will they take off your mugshot? And usually they do. And if they don't, you can often just send them a copy of the expunction and they'll comply with it.

Then the last question, do you have to acknowledge anymore the arrest on any applications? And the answer is no, unless you're applying to be in the FBI or a doctor or an airline pilot or some high level government organization, then I would advise you mention that you had something expunged and usually their application says, "Include anything that's been expunged." But anything below a top level government clearance, you do not. So like Dell, no. HEB, no. Apartment complex, no. That's the whole point of this is it's like it never happened and you don't have to talk or think about it again, unless you're applying to the FBI. All right. Congratulations.