Overview Description

A record relating to a delinquency adjudication can be expunged upon motion, if the court finds that the person has made such an adjustment of circumstances that the court, in its discretion, believes that expungement serves the best interest of the child and the community. Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-153(f)(1)(C). (Cannot link directly to statutes.)

There is no statutory language regarding ineligible offenses.

A motion must be filed with the juvenile court to request the expungement of all court files and records. Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-153(f).

There is no statutory language regarding fees.

The order of expungement, the original delinquent petition, and the order of adjudication and disposition will be sealed and maintained by the clerk of the court in a locked file cabinet and kept separate from all other records. In courts that maintain a case management system capable of expunging a record and only allowing access to the system administrator, paper copies need not be maintained. Any person whose records are expunged will be restored to the status that the person occupied before arrest, citation, the filing of a juvenile petition, or referral. For more information on the effect, see Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-153(f).

The motion can be filed at any time.