How to find out if your record was already sealed automatically

Clean Slate laws seal eligible records without you applying. They also do not notify you, and they do not notify the background-check companies. So a meaningful number of people are already sealed, do not know it, and are still being reported on — which is a dispute waiting to be filed.

Difficulty

◷Moderate

Time

2–6 weeks

Cost

Usually a small state fee for your criminal history

Steps

5

1. 01Check whether your state has Clean SlateThirteen states do: Pennsylvania, Utah, Michigan, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Colorado, Virginia, Oregon, New York, Minnesota, and California in part. Washington DC began automatic expungement in January 2026.
2. 02Order your official state criminal historyFrom your state police or bureau of investigation. This is the authoritative record of what your state now shows, and it is the document that reveals whether sealing has occurred.
3. 03Check the waiting period against your caseEligibility turns on offence class and time since discharge, and the thresholds vary a lot. Michigan sets seven years for most misdemeanours; Minnesota two years for petty and most misdemeanours and five for some felonies; Pennsylvania ten years for qualifying misdemeanours.
4. 04Separately request your file from the screening companiesNow compare. If your state history shows the record sealed and a screening company is still reporting it, you have found exactly the gap this whole area of law fails to close.
5. 05Dispute the differenceWritten FCRA dispute, certified state record attached, 30-day clock. A sealed record cannot lawfully be reported.