After a Court Order to Expunge or Seal Part 1

Congratulations! The judge has signed the court order to seal or expunge your record, but now what? 

This post reviews the process after a court order is signed.  Here, we walk through what happens with the court and law enforcement records after an order is signed.  We also review some of the legal protections for you after a record is expunged or sealed in our subsequent post: After a Court Order to Expunge or Seal Part 2.

After a Court Order is Signed – Court Clerks: 

1. The court clerks in each location you had a court order signed by a judge will remove the cases listed on your order from the publicly accessible court records, which can be searched online or in person at the courthouse. When someone is doing a name-based background check, searching your name in the court records, it will be deleted, as if it did not exist.  
2. The court clerks will take the corresponding paper files and impound them.  That means, no one can look at the physical court file without a court order.  
3. The court clerks will mail a copy of the signed order to you, the law enforcement agency that arrested you for each case, and to the Illinois State Police (ISP). 

After a Court Order is Signed – Illinois State Police:

4. After the local arresting law enforcement agency and ISP receive the signed court order from the court clerks, they must comply with that order within 60 days of receipt. Remember that these processes are not automated, which means it can take weeks for the order to be mailed from the court clerks to the law enforcement agencies. 
5. After the ISP receives the court order, they will comply with the order by making sealed cases no longer available to any entities that are not specifically permitted by state or federal law to access a sealed record. ISP will destroy their records of an expunged case, with a few exceptions: if you have a non-conviction sentence like first-time drug offender or TASC probation ordered expunged, ISP will impound the record, maintaining it in their official records, but not releasing it. Similarly, if you have a case expunged after being granted executive clemency, ISP will impound and maintain the record, but not release it. 
6. After ISP completes the process of sealing or expunging your record, they will mail a letter notifying you that they have complied with the court order and listing the specific action taken on each matter. 
7. ISP will also forward this order onto the FBI who will also comply with the court order. The FBI will not send any confirmation to you directly, but comply with the order sent by ISP in near real-time.  

After a Court Order is Signed – Local Law Enforcement Agencies:

8. Local law enforcement agencies will also comply with the court order by either expunging (destroying the related files) or sealing the records so it cannot be released to most entities. 
9. While not all, many local law enforcement agencies will also mail a compliance letter after completing the sealing or expungement process. 

Final Steps:

10. Upon receiving the ISP compliance letter, the sealing and expungement process is effectively complete. However, there are other rights afforded to you and limitations to the sealing and expungement that may also be helpful to review. Additional information is available in our post [add title & link]. 

Additional things to note: 

11. In most locations, after the judge signs the court order sealing or expunging your case, you do not have to take additional steps. However, in some locations you may be required to pay an additional mailing fee or $60 compliance fee for the Illinois State Police. If you are working with an attorney they will be able to let you know if there are fees that must be paid to the court after your order is signed. If you are representing yourself, it can be helpful to check with the clerks to make sure if you owe any additional fees for the process to be completed. 
12. It is important to keep copies of your signed order. It is possible to get new copies of these orders, but it often requires filing motions in court, which can be time consuming and may cost additional fees. 
13. If you are not currently a U.S. citizen, it can actually be detrimental to future naturalization proceedings to have your records expunged. Because local law enforcement will destroy arrest reports and other documents related to your arrest, you will likely be unable to produce necessary law enforcement documents that are often needed for immigration and naturalization proceedings. We strongly advise against having records expunged without first discussing your specific circumstance in detail with an immigration attorney.