Ask Deandra: Can I Get My DWI Expunged or Sealed in Texas?

Here is the longer answer, including who qualifies, how long you have to wait, and what a nondisclosure order does and does not do.

Expunction: Erasing a Case That Did Not Result in a Conviction

Expunction is governed by Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which took effect on January 1, 2025 and replaced the former Chapter 55. It is the stronger remedy. If granted, it requires the destruction of records held by courts, law enforcement, and most state agencies, and it allows you to legally deny the arrest ever happened in almost every context. The catch is eligibility. Expunction is generally available for a DWI arrest only when the case was dismissed or you were acquitted at trial. First, a dismissal that comes at the end of a completed deferred adjudication does not qualify, because Article 55A.051 excludes any case in which the court ordered community supervision for anything above a Class C misdemeanor. Second, on a dismissal you need to wait for the expiration of the limitations period, which for misdemeanor DWI is two years. And if the case ended in a conviction, expunction is not available for that charge, no matter how much time has passed.

Order of Nondisclosure: Sealing a First DWI Conviction

There is not one DWI nondisclosure statute. There are three, and which one applies to you depends entirely on how your case was resolved. A sealed record is not destroyed. It remains accessible to certain government agencies, licensing boards, and law enforcement, but it is removed from the public record that shows up on most background checks run by employers, landlords, and the general public.

Section 411.0726 covers a first DWI or BWI resolved by deferred adjudication. The petition can be filed on or after the second anniversary of the date the case was discharged and dismissed.

Section 411.0731 covers a first DWI conviction where the court placed you on community supervision. The petition can be filed two years after you complete supervision if you were ordered to use an ignition interlock device for at least six months, and five years after completion if you were not.

Section 411.0736 covers a first DWI conviction where you were not placed on community supervision. The petition can be filed three years after you complete the sentence if you complied with an interlock condition for at least six months, and five years after completion if there was no interlock condition.

Who Qualifies for DWI Nondisclosure

• First DWI only. These provisions apply to a first-time DWI. A second or subsequent DWI does not qualify. The requirement is broader than the label suggests: you must never have been convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for any offense other than a traffic offense punishable by fine only.
• No accident involved. The court may not grant nondisclosure if the prosecutor presents evidence that the offense resulted in a motor vehicle collision involving another person. The burden is on the State to raise it, but assume it will be raised.
• Blood alcohol concentration threshold. All three provisions exclude an offense punishable under Penal Code Section 49.04(d), which is a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more at the time the analysis was performed. That is the Class A misdemeanor version of DWI, and it is not eligible.
• Completed sentence and waiting period. You must have fully completed your sentence, including any probation, fines, and required classes, and then wait out an additional period that runs from the date you completed it. That period is two, three, or five years depending on which statute applies and whether an ignition interlock was ordered for at least six months.
• No other disqualifying record. This is not a question of a pattern. A single conviction or deferred adjudication for any offense other than a fine-only traffic offense defeats eligibility, whether it came before the DWI or during the waiting period afterward. Section 411.074 imposes the same clean-record requirement across the waiting period itself.

What Nondisclosure Does Not Do

A nondisclosure order does not make the conviction disappear the way an expunction does. Certain entities, including licensing agencies, law enforcement, and some employers required by law to consider criminal history such as those in the financial industry or positions requiring occupational licenses, can still see the sealed conviction. Government Code Section 411.0765 sets out the list. It also does not reach the federal commercial driving rules. Federal regulation at 49 C.F.R. Section 383.51 treats a DWI conviction as a disqualifying event for commercial driving privileges, regardless of whether the state record is later sealed. For CDL holders the exposure is broader still, because Texas Transportation Code Section 522.081(b) imposes a one-year commercial disqualification on an ALR refusal or a 0.08 or higher result even in a personal vehicle, with no conviction required at all. A CDL holder can beat the criminal case, expunge it, and still be carrying a commercial disqualification that came from the license side of the file.

Deferred Adjudication and How It Changes the Picture

Some first-time DWI cases resolve through deferred adjudication rather than a straight conviction. Deferred adjudication has been available for a first DWI only since House Bill 3582 took effect on September 1, 2019, and only when the blood alcohol concentration was under 0.15 and there is no prior conviction. CDL and commercial learner permit holders are categorically ineligible for deferred adjudication on a DWI or BWI charge, and that exclusion turns on holding the license at the time of the offense, not on what vehicle was being driven. If you are eligible and you complete it, the case is discharged and dismissed and you can petition for nondisclosure under Section 411.0726 two years later. What you cannot do is expunge it. A deferred adjudication dismissal is still court-ordered community supervision, which closes the door on expunction permanently. Whether your case is eligible, and on what timeline, depends heavily on how the case was actually resolved, which is one of many reasons the decision about how to resolve a DWI case should account for its long-term record consequences, not just the immediate outcome.

Why the 15-Day ALR Deadline Still Matters Here

The ALR license suspension and the criminal case are handled separately, but the ALR process often shapes the leverage available when negotiating how the criminal case resolves, and how the criminal case resolves is what determines whether expunction, nondisclosure, or neither is ever on the table. Missing the 15-day window to request an ALR hearing from the date you are served with your Notice of Suspension forecloses one entire avenue of negotiating leverage before the criminal case has even really begun.

DWI Defense at Deandra Grant Law

Deandra Grant Law represents clients across Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Allen, Lewisville, Denton, Rockwall, and Waco. Deandra M. Grant, J.D., M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science, holds the ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist designation and is the author of The Texas DWI Manual. If you want to know whether your DWI case could ever be expunged or sealed, call (214) 225-7117 or visit texasdwisite.com. Remember: you have only 15 days from the date you are served with your Notice of Suspension to request an ALR hearing, and the choices made in the first weeks of a DWI case can determine whether nondisclosure is ever available to you years later.

Have a DWI question you want answered in this series? Submit it at texasdwisite.com and it may be featured in a future Ask Deandra post.