A criminal record gets in the way of work, housing, and licensing long after the case itself is over. So when people hear that Texas "changed its expunction laws in 2025," the natural question is whether more of them now qualify to clear a record. The honest answer is more nuanced — and worth understanding before you spend money on a petition.
The Headline Change: Chapter 55 Became Chapter 55A
Effective January 1, 2025, Texas repealed the old expunction statute — Chapter 55 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — and replaced it with a newly organized Chapter 55A. This came out of House Bill 4504, a measure aimed at modernizing and streamlining the criminal procedure code.
What that means in plain terms: the law was reorganized and renumbered for clarity. The articles you may have seen cited for years (the old Article 55.01 and its neighbors) now live under new 55A numbers. If you find older guides online still pointing to "Chapter 55," they're referring to the prior version of the same framework.
What Did NOT Change — and Why That Matters
This is where careful counsel and marketing copy part ways. The 2025 recodification was largely a reorganization, not a wholesale expansion of who qualifies. The core categories that have long made someone eligible to destroy a record through expunction carried forward into Chapter 55A, including:
- An arrest that never led to a charge (after the applicable waiting period).
- A case that was dismissed.
- An acquittal at trial, or a conviction later pardoned or overturned.
- Certain Class C misdemeanor matters resolved through deferred disposition.
Be skeptical of any source promising that Texas suddenly made felony convictions "automatically" expungeable, or that fees and waiting periods were broadly erased. That is not what the recodification did. Eligibility still turns on how your specific case ended — which is exactly why an individual review matters more than any headline.
Expunction vs. Nondisclosure: Still Two Different Tools
The two remedies remain distinct, and the 2025 changes did not merge them:
Expunction (Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 55A)
The stronger remedy. It destroys the record — agencies must delete or return their files, and in most situations you may legally deny the arrest ever happened. It is reserved for outcomes like dismissals, acquittals, and arrests that never produced a charge.
Order of Nondisclosure (Government Code, Chapter 411)
The sealing remedy. It hides the record from public view — private employers and landlords can't see it — but a defined list of government agencies and licensing boards still can. It's the route most often used after successfully completing deferred adjudication.
How to Apply to Clear a Record in Texas
- Confirm the disposition of every charge. The way each case ended — dismissed, deferred, convicted, acquitted — determines which remedy, if any, applies.
- Gather your records. Arrest data, cause numbers, the county and court, and proof of how the case resolved.
- File the right petition in the right court. An expunction petition under Chapter 55A, or a nondisclosure petition under Government Code Chapter 411, filed where the case was handled.
- Serve the agencies that hold the record. DPS, the Office of Court Administration, the arresting agency, and the relevant clerks.
- Attend the hearing if one is set, then confirm the agencies actually comply with the signed order.
Don't Forget the Private Databases
A court order binds government agencies — it does not automatically reach the private background-check companies that bought or scraped old court data and keep reselling it. Clearing those requires a separate federal process under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We built FCRA Coordinated Clearance to handle both halves, so a record you cleared in court actually disappears from the reports employers and landlords pull.
The Practical Takeaway
The 2025 move to Chapter 55A makes the statute cleaner to navigate, but it didn't rewrite who gets relief. The fastest path is still the same: match your exact case outcome to the right remedy and file correctly the first time. If you're not sure where your case falls, tell us the charge, the county, and how it ended, and we'll tell you what's possible under current law.