Are there any payment plans for felony expungement? 50 Answers as of January 23, 2012

As a general rule, most courts require the entire fee for an expungement to be paid up front. You should know that the costs of an expungement range from county to county, but are relatively inexpensive. For example, in Summit County, the fee is $100.

You have to pay the filing fee and costs up front and you would have to arrange with the lawyer representing you for a payment plan. You must be qualified - the case dismissed without indictment (or if indicted under certain restrictions) or not guilty after trial.

If you have only 1 conviction, and if it is more than 5 years old, that you are eligible to request expungment. There is no rule that requires payment in advance. You just have to find a lawyer who is willing to accept a payment plan. I recently did one in return for 4 payments of $250 each over 90 days.

My first advice would be to obtain an attorney to assist you with this matter. You may be eligible to expunge that prior conviction. Expunging a crime in Michigan is complicated. This response does not contain specific legal advice. If you need specific legal advice for your own circumstances, I recommend consulting with an attorney experienced with these types of matters. Most attorneys provide free initial consultations. Speaking in general terms, there are several significant obstacles to getting offenses expunged in Michigan. Expunging a criminal charge is great way of clearing up past mistakes. However, there are a series of obstacles. First, a person may expunge only one prior conviction and they can only have "no more than 2 minor offenses in addition to the offense for which the person files an application." MCL 780.621(1). Second, certain offenses cannot be expunged. Traffic offenses for example, even something as simple as driving on a suspended license, a lot of high level or capital felonies, and other offenses as listed in the applicable statutes, cannot be expunged. It depends on which offense is currently on the person's record. Additionally, even if a person only had one offense, if they had issues with probation, i.e., probation violations or other infractions while serving their sentence, that may be obstacle as well. There is also a time limitation. Any effort to expunge an offense cannot commence until five years after the date of conviction. Lastly, expunging an offense from a criminal record takes time, requires a lot of paperwork, carries some notable costs, and eventually, applicants need to appear before a judge and convince the judge that they are worthy of having the offense expunged in order to complete the process. Please consult with and retain a criminal defense attorney, preferably an experienced one who has handled these matters, to assist you with the process. Most attorneys offer a free initial consultation.

At present, there is no expungement law in the State of Alabama. There has been an expungement bill pending but it yet to pass. In the event an expungement bill does pass it will likely be predicated on the person seeking expungement having been pardoned (reinstatement of civil rights). I suggest you do this if you have not done so at this time. You start this process at the State Office of Pardons and Paroles.

Some lawyers might allow you to set up a payment plan. Others won't. My firm has allowed it in certain situations.

I am not aware of any process by which you can have felony expunged unless you can establish that you were not the person convicted of the felony.

It will depend on what law firm you are looking to hire. Some firms offer payment plans while others will require payment in full before any services are started. You need to call around.

Some lawyers take payments some don't. I do but I don't do any work on the case until I've been paid my retainer.

Payment plans are dependent upon the policies of the attorney or his firm. Each may have different policies.