Expungement

Expungement means sealing the public record of a court action. If your eviction is expunged, then someone searching court files cannot find a record of your eviction case.

The process by which a record is destroyed or sealed.

When a person is arrested for charges in Delaware, those charges remain on the person's criminal record even if the person is found not guilty, or the charges are dropped by the Attorney General's Office, or the charges are dismissed. There is a procedure under Delaware Law a person can follow to attempt to remove those charges from their record. A person can file a Petition for Destruction of Indicia of Arrest or Expungement of Records in Superior Court. The expungement process is a civil procedure since the person filing the petition is the plaintiff, and the State of Delaware is the Defendant. A form and instruction sheet is available in the Prothonotary's Office. The Attorney General's Office does have the opportunity to respond to the Petition, and a hearing may be required under the procedure.