4 Things You Must Know About The Expungement Process

We all make mistakes and not a single person in the entire world is perfect. Unfortunately, some of our mistakes have very real legal consequences. Even if you or your loved ones were accused of a crime, it does not necessarily mean that your sentence will have to ruin your life. Indeed, a criminal record puts a sort of a stamp on your case file. Most employers, who will learn about this issue, will not be all too eager to hire you and even some landlords will refuse to rent you their property. The matter is actually quite complicated. However, if you wish to minimize the damage, you could always resort to the expungement process to help you avoid facing all the unpleasant consequences.

So, what does the expungement stand for and how can it help you? Well, the expungement basically refers to sealing off any criminal records. The law regulation differs from state to state, but the principle in general implies that all your conviction and arrest files will be expunged from the system. This means that during a job interview or perhaps in a conversation with a potential landlord, when asked if you were ever convicted for a criminal offense, you will be able to say that you were not with all honesty.

Seeing how the expungement process offers a new beginning and opens a lot of doors, it is only natural that most convicted individuals are genuinely interested in learning, if they are eligible for it. If that is the case, you will need to start by researching some local Los Angeles laws. You can even ask for advice from the law enforcement unit that actually performed the arrest in the first place. Depending on your criminal case, you will have to ask the following questions:

– Is your criminal offense eligible for the expungement process? To illustrate, some state laws may allow the expungement to be applied in a misdemeanor case, forbidding the use of expungement in felony cases.
– When will you be eligible for the expungement process? In some cases, only people, who already served their sentences as well as probation, are eligible for the expungement. With that said, in different cases, depending on the circumstances, the judge may allow you to go through the expungement process earlier.
– What kind of legal advice are you going to need for the expungement process? In most cases, you will need to hire a qualified attorney to help you out, especially if you need the expungement process to take place as soon as it possibly can.
– What are the main consequences of the expungement process? In some cases, your criminal records may be provided to certain organizations and companies, who wish to hire you or lend you some money.

One way or another, it is quite obvious that in order to go through the expungement process successfully, you will need to use the services of a professional Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer. A qualified criminal attorney will know exactly how to approach your case and how to convince the judge to resort to the expungement process to help you clean your records. Only a trained expert will be able to speed things up and will help you begin a new life. It is best to rely on a lawyer than to try and sort things out on your own. After all, the expungement process may well affect your future life, so it is best to hire an attorney to make sure that everything is in perfect order.

Los Angeles Criminal Specialists, www.losangeles-criminaldefense.org