Missouri Expungement Laws: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140 Guide (2025)

Missouri allows eligible residents to petition a circuit court to expunge arrests, pleas, and convictions under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140, a statute substantially amended in 2024 that expanded lifetime caps and took effect January 1, 2025. A separate, narrower automatic pathway under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.141, enacted by 2026 S.B. 1421, expunges certain drug possession and paraphernalia convictions without a petition.

Information last verified on May 29, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Missouri state expungement only. For a state-by-state comparison, see Expungement Laws by State.

What Missouri's § 610.140 Covers

Missouri's general expungement statute, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140, allows a person to petition a Missouri circuit, associate circuit, or municipal court to expunge records of arrests, pleas, trials, and convictions for offenses prosecuted under Missouri law. The 2024 amendment (2024 S.B. 754, effective January 1, 2025) expanded the lifetime caps and clarified several procedural points. A single petition may list multiple offenses if they arose from the same course of criminal conduct, and those related offenses count as one entry toward the lifetime caps. Once expunged, a record is treated as if it never occurred for most purposes, and the person may lawfully answer "no" to most inquiries about prior arrests or convictions, subject to the mandatory disclosure exceptions described below.

The statute does not itself set a dollar amount for the circuit court filing fee. Standard circuit court civil filing fees apply, and petitioners should contact the clerk of the court where the underlying offense was prosecuted to confirm the current amount. Fee waiver procedures available under Missouri's in forma pauperis rules may apply to eligible petitioners.

Waiting Periods and Eligibility Criteria

To file under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140, a petitioner must satisfy a waiting period measured from the date the petitioner completed the authorized disposition, meaning the sentence, probation, parole, or any other condition imposed by the court (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140). The required periods are:

• Felony convictions: At least 3 years from completion of disposition.
• Misdemeanor convictions, ordinance violations, and infractions: At least 1 year from completion of disposition.
• Arrests without a resulting conviction: A petition may be filed no earlier than 18 months from the date of arrest.

Beyond the waiting period, the court evaluates six factors before granting the petition: (1) the required time has elapsed; (2) the petitioner has not been found guilty of any other misdemeanor or felony during the waiting period, excluding traffic violations; (3) the petitioner has satisfied all obligations imposed at disposition, including fines and restitution; (4) no criminal charges are pending against the petitioner; (5) the petitioner's habits and conduct show no threat to public safety; and (6) the expungement is consistent with public welfare and the interests of justice (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140).

At any hearing, the court may accept evidence and hear testimony on these six criteria. Criteria (1) through (4) must be affirmatively established, but under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140.6, a petitioner's pleading that criteria (5) and (6) are met creates a rebuttable presumption that the expungement is warranted, and the burden shifts to the prosecuting or circuit attorney to rebut it.

Lifetime Caps: How Many Expungements Missouri Allows

Missouri limits the total number of expungements a person may obtain over a lifetime. Under the 2024 amended version of Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140 (effective January 1, 2025), those limits are:

• Felony offenses: No more than 2 felony expungements in a lifetime.
• Misdemeanor offenses and ordinance violations that have an authorized term of imprisonment: No more than 3 expungements in a lifetime.
• Infractions: No numerical limit.

When a single incident produces charges at multiple levels, the offenses count toward the cap for the highest offense level only. For example, a felony conviction and an accompanying misdemeanor from the same course of conduct count together as one felony toward the felony cap.

Before the 2024 amendment, the caps were lower: 1 felony and 2 misdemeanors. If you obtained an expungement under the prior limits, consult a licensed Missouri attorney about whether you remain eligible for additional expungements under the expanded caps.

Automatic Expungement Under § 610.141: The 2026 Clean Slate Law

Missouri enacted a separate automatic expungement pathway through 2026 S.B. 1421, signed by the Governor on July 9, 2026 and codified at Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 610.141, 610.143, and 610.144. Unlike the petition process under § 610.140, this law requires no filing, but it applies only to a narrow set of drug offenses: possession of a controlled substance under former § 195.202 or current § 579.015, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia under former § 195.233 or current § 579.074.

To qualify, the conviction must be the only conviction in its case, the person must have picked up no new misdemeanor or felony conviction and have no pending charges within the same 1-year (misdemeanor) or 3-year (felony) window used for petition-based waiting periods, and the offense cannot be a class A felony. The law applies retroactively to any arrest, charge, trial, or conviction with an electronic record, regardless of date.

The state's central repository must screen criminal history records for eligible offenses at least once a week and automatically expunge qualifying records, notifying the Office of State Courts Administrator. Automatic expungements under § 610.141 count toward the same combined lifetime limit as petition-based expungements: 3 misdemeanors and 2 felonies total. If an eligible record is not automatically expunged, the sole remedy is to file a petition under § 610.140. The law takes effect once the Office of State Courts Administrator and the central repository certify it is technically feasible, but no later than January 1, 2027; the Highway Patrol must begin reporting yearly expungement statistics to legislative committees starting January 1, 2028.

Offenses That Cannot Be Expunged Under § 610.140

Missouri law bars expungement of certain offenses entirely, regardless of how much time has passed or how well the petitioner otherwise qualifies. The following categories are ineligible under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140(3):

• Class A felonies (the most serious felony classification in Missouri).
• Dangerous felonies as defined by Missouri statute.
• Sex offenses requiring registration under Missouri's sex offender registry laws.
• Felonies involving death as an element of the offense.
• Felony assault, domestic assault, and kidnapping.
• Offenses listed in Chapter 566 (sexual offenses) and numerous other specific statutory provisions.
• Intoxication-related traffic or boating offenses as defined in Mo. Rev. Stat. § 577.001, including driving while intoxicated, driving with excessive blood alcohol content, boating while intoxicated, and offenses where the defendant operated a vehicle or vessel while intoxicated and another person was injured or killed.
• Commercial driver's license (CDL) violations involving operation of a commercial vehicle.
• Certain firearms offenses.

If your offense falls into any of these categories, § 610.140 does not provide a path to expungement. See the DWI section below for the limited exception under § 610.130.

DWI and Alcohol-Related Offenses: The § 610.130 Exception

Intoxication-related traffic offenses are excluded from § 610.140 with no exception for first-time offenders or older convictions. However, Missouri provides a separate, narrower path under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.130 for a very specific subset of DWI cases.

Section 610.130 permits expungement of a first-offense intoxication-related traffic or boating offense if all of the following conditions are met:

• The offense was a misdemeanor (not a felony) or an ordinance violation.
• At least 10 years have passed since the conviction or guilty plea.
• The person has had no additional intoxication-related traffic or boating convictions since the original offense.
• The person has no other alcohol-related enforcement contacts under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 302.525 since the original offense.
• No intoxication-related charges are pending at the time of the hearing.
• The person did not hold or was not required to hold a commercial driver's license at the time of the offense.

A person is entitled to only one expungement under § 610.130 in a lifetime. Upon expungement, the record becomes confidential and available only to the parties or by court order for good cause. The person is restored to pre-arrest status and may legally deny that the offense occurred in response to most inquiries (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.130).

Arrest Records Without a Conviction: § 610.122

Arrests that did not result in a conviction may qualify for expungement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.122, which operates separately from § 610.140. Two scenarios qualify:

Scenario 1 (False information): The court finds the arrest was based on false information, no probable cause for arrest exists at the time of the expungement petition, no charges relating to the arrest will be pursued, and the person never received a suspended imposition of sentence for that offense.

Scenario 2 (Dismissed charge): The person was arrested for a misdemeanor under Chapter 303 or a moving traffic violation (excluding intoxication-related traffic offenses), the charge was nolle prossed, dismissed, or the person was found not guilty, and the person was not a commercial driver's license holder operating a commercial vehicle at the time.

Section 610.122 contains no explicit waiting period. However, a record of arrest is only eligible under this section if no civil action is pending that relates to the arrest (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.122).

How to File for Expungement in Missouri

The petition for expungement under § 610.140 is filed in the court where the arrest, charge, or conviction was entered. The petition must identify each offense to be expunged and include relevant case information. Missouri Courts publishes self-help forms at courts.mo.gov. The prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney receives notice and has 30 days to file an objection. The court must hold a hearing and render a decision within 6 months of the petition's filing (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140).

At the hearing, the court weighs the evidence. Criteria (1) through (4) must be affirmatively satisfied, while pleading criteria (5) and (6) creates a rebuttable presumption in the petitioner's favor that the prosecuting or circuit attorney must rebut (RSMo 610.140.6).

Upon a court order granting expungement, all parties (courts, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and the central repository) must close the records, segregate them, and mark them as expunged within 30 days. Expunged records remain available to law enforcement for certain purposes, but the person regains civil rights including the right to vote, hold public office, and serve on a jury.

Mandatory disclosure exceptions: Even after expungement, a person must disclose the record when applying for certain professional licenses, employment at financial institutions, positions requiring criminal history disclosure under federal or state law, and when seeking permits related to firearms or alcohol (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.140).

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Missouri expungement law as of May 29, 2026, based on Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 610.140, 610.130, and 610.122. It is not legal advice. Missouri expungement law is complex, and individual eligibility depends on the specific facts of your case. Consult a licensed Missouri attorney before filing a petition.

Related Articles

• Expungement Laws by State
• DUI Expungement by State: Which States Allow It
• How to Check If Your Record Has Been Expunged

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This page covers Missouri expungement law as of May 29, 2026. Laws change; verify current statutes at revisor.mo.gov before relying on this information.

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