90 to 120 Days
Video Transcribed: How long does it take to get an expungement in Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa expungement attorney, James Wirth, and that’s the topic is how long does an expungement process take?
And, generally, I tell clients for a Section 18 expungement, the complete expungement that expunges both the court case and the arrest record, it takes about 90 to 120 days. Sometimes it can be faster. Sometimes we try to expedite that, but that’s the general information that I give.
Where does that time requirement break down? If you hire my office, we’ve got to pull your court files. We put in an OSBI background check, which usually just takes a few days. We have that information. We draft up the petition, which can take a few days. File that with the court, and then we get an order setting a hearing to the judge.
Now, here’s where it takes up a little bit of time. The statute in Oklahoma requires that we give 30 days advanced notice of this expungement hearing to interested parties, that includes the DA, the arresting agency, the court clerk.
And we’ve got to give them 30 days advanced notice, so that means that we have to have the date far enough out that we can give notice to those parties and still have them 30 days prior to the hearing. And then, of course, we are subject to the judge’s calendar and how quickly things can get set there.
Then, once we have that court date, most of the time these matters only take one court date. Most of the time we can get it done by agreement on that date, by either having a circulated order signed off by everybody or by the parties that are appearing signing off.
Those that don’t being defaulted, so we can get it entered on that day. Then, we make copies of that file to certified copy with the court, and then we need to send off a certified copy to OSBI. They then charge a $150 fee to update those records.
That whole process, as I said, generally, 90 to 120 days. Sometimes it can be faster. Sometimes it can take longer depending on the judge’s schedule and other factors that may come up. If you’ve got questions about your specific circumstances, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney about that privately. To get a consultation scheduled for that, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
