Massachusetts Expungement: Who Qualifies and How to Petition

Expungement is the narrowest form of criminal record relief Massachusetts offers, and it is also the most complete: the record is destroyed rather than hidden. The statute that created it, G.L. c. 276, §§ 100E–100U, took effect in 2018 and sets out two distinct petitions with different filing offices, different eligibility tests, and different decision-makers. Record procedures sit alongside the other identity and certificate processes covered in Massachusetts vital records, certificates, and IDs.

Expungement compared with sealing

Sealing and expungement solve different problems. A sealed record still exists; it is withheld from most background checks but remains with the court and the Probation Service. An expunged record is destroyed, so that it is no longer accessible to the court or to any state, municipal, or county agency, as the Massachusetts Probation Service explains.

The waiting periods look similar and the eligibility rules do not. Conviction sealing under G.L. c. 276, § 100A opens 3 years after a misdemeanor finding or the end of any jail time, and 7 years after a felony, with far fewer categorical exclusions, according to the Probation Service’s sealing eligibility page. Many people who cannot expunge a record can still seal it.

Who qualifies for a time-based expungement

The Commissioner of Probation certifies eligibility against a six-part test in G.L. c. 276, § 100I. Every element has to be satisfied; the Commissioner has no discretion to waive one.

• No more than 2 records, counting multiple offenses from a single incident as one offense.
• Every offense occurred before the petitioner’s 21st birthday.
• At least 7 years have passed since the offense and any incarceration, custody, or probation ended if the record includes a felony; at least 3 years if the record includes only misdemeanors, per § 100I.
• No other court appearances or dispositions on file with the Commissioner, apart from motor vehicle offenses carrying a penalty of $50 or less.
• No court appearances or dispositions in another state, a U.S. possession, or a federal court, subject to the same $50 motor vehicle exception.
• A certification from the petitioner that, to their knowledge, no active criminal investigation concerns them.

A violation of G.L. c. 209A, § 7 or G.L. c. 258E, § 9 counts as a felony for this test, which pushes the waiting period to 7 years.

Offenses the statute excludes

G.L. c. 276, § 100J lists 20 categories of offense that no time-based petition can reach, whatever the petitioner’s age or waiting period. The list is wide and includes any offense resulting in death or serious bodily injury, any offense committed with intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, and any offense committed while armed with a dangerous weapon.

It also covers offenses against elderly or disabled people, sex offenses and sexually violent offenses as defined in G.L. c. 6, § 178C, operating under the influence under G.L. c. 90, § 24, firearms violations under G.L. c. 140, §§ 121 to 131Q, violations of restraining and harassment prevention orders, assault and battery on a household member under G.L. c. 265, § 13M, and any felony under chapter 265. The full enumeration is in § 100J, and the Probation Service publishes a plain-language version of the same list.

Filing the time-based petition

The time-based petition goes to the Commissioner of Probation by mail, not to a courthouse. The Probation Service accepts the Petition to Expunge Form and states that the process is free.

1. Collect the record first

   Expungement destroys the file. The court supplies a copy of the expungement order, but copies of the underlying record, the petition, and anything filed with it have to be made before the order enters, as the Probation Service warns. Once destruction happens, the court cannot produce a copy.

2. Complete the Petition to Expunge Form

   The form is furnished by the Commissioner and signed under the penalties of perjury, a requirement written into G.L. c. 276, § 100G. An alternative version of the form can be saved partway through and finished later in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

3. Add supporting material

   Supporting information is optional on the time-based route. Documents that establish when a sentence, probation term, or period of custody ended are the ones that speak to the 3-year and 7-year thresholds in § 100I.

4. Mail the petition

   The petition goes to the Office of the Commissioner of Probation, One Ashburton Place, Room 405, Boston, MA 02108. The office lists a phone number of (617) 727-5300 and hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, on its expungement request page.

The non-time-based route

A record created by a mistake or a decriminalized offense does not have to wait out any period, and it does not go to the Commissioner. Under G.L. c. 276, § 100K, a judge may order expungement on clear and convincing evidence that the record resulted from false identification or identity theft, from an offense that is no longer a crime at the time of expungement, from demonstrable errors by law enforcement, civilian or expert witnesses, or court employees, or from fraud perpetrated upon the court.

This petition is filed in the clerk’s office of the court that heard the case, and a copy goes to the District Attorney’s Office that prosecuted it on or before the filing day. Separate cases take separate petitions, and the form carries a box to request a hearing, per the court system’s filing instructions. The judge decides both whether one of the six listed causes applies and whether expungement serves the interests of justice.

The decriminalization ground has a limit written into § 100K: it does not apply where the elements of the original offense remain a crime under a different designation.

How the decision gets made

On the time-based route, the Commissioner certifies eligibility and then the clock in G.L. c. 276, § 100F and § 100G starts running. An ineligible petitioner receives a written denial within 60 days. An eligible petitioner’s case is referred to the District Attorney within the same 60 days, and the District Attorney then has 60 days to file written objections.

Without an objection, the court may approve the petition without a hearing, though it retains discretion to hold one. Either way the judge decides on what is in the best interests of justice and enters written findings, and the court must deny any petition that fails the § 100I or § 100J tests. The order then goes to the clerk of the originating court, the Commissioner, and the commissioner of criminal justice information services.

What an expungement order does not reach

A Massachusetts order binds Massachusetts record-holders. Federal criminal history is a separate system: the FBI maintains Identity History Summaries built from fingerprint submissions, and as of 2026 a person can obtain their own copy for $18 and use it to review, correct, or update the record, according to the FBI’s Identity History Summary page. Corrections there run through the FBI’s own challenge process rather than through the Massachusetts court.

Within Massachusetts, the effect is broad. After expungement, a person cannot be found guilty of perjury or of giving a false statement for answering that they have no record, a protection the Probation Service states directly.