Miami, Florida, USA - September 1, 2026 - Years after a case ends, the arrest keeps showing up. Background checks pull it. Landlords see it. Licensing boards ask about it. Piotrowski Law, a boutique criminal defense practice with offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, has issued clear guidance on who qualifies to seal or expunge a Florida record and what the process actually requires of an applicant.
Florida handles sealing and expunction under two separate statutes, sections 943.059 and 943.0585, and the paperwork order surprises people. Nothing starts in a courtroom. The first step is to apply to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for a Certificate of Eligibility, which carries a $75 processing fee and requires a certified disposition and a fingerprint card. Only after FDLE issues that certificate can a petition be filed with the court that heard the case. A defense attorney in Miami working these files spends most of the effort on the front end, because an application rejected by FDLE for a missing disposition costs months.
"The disqualifier that catches people is adjudication," a spokesperson for the firm said. "If the judge adjudicated you guilty, sealing is off the table no matter how long ago it was or how well things have gone since. Withheld adjudication is a different story. And there is a list of offenses under section 907.041 that stay ineligible even with a withhold. Most people have no idea which category their old case sits in until someone pulls the file and reads it."
The firm was founded by a former Assistant State Attorney for the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County and handles state cases throughout Florida, as well as federal matters nationwide. Consultations cost nothing. The Miami office takes calls at 305-204-5000.
One more piece of the law goes unused. Since 2019, Florida has automatically sealed certain records where charges were dropped or never filed, without any petition at all. Sealed is not the same as gone, though. Law enforcement agencies, school boards, and several licensing bodies keep access. A criminal defense attorney can tell a client which of the two remedies applies and whether waiting ten years to convert a sealing into an expunction makes sense.
About Piotrowski Law
Piotrowski Law serves Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County from three South Florida offices, and appears in Florida state and federal courts nationwide on a case-by-case basis. A criminal defense attorney in Miami at the firm handles matters ranging from misdemeanor possession to murder, along with probation violations, juvenile cases, and record sealing and expungement.
For more information, visit https://cplaw-miami.com/.
Media Contact
Company Name: Piotrowski Law
Email: Send Email
Phone: 305-204-5000
Address:169 E Flagler St #1600 Miami, FL 33131
City: Miami
State: Florida 33131
Country: United States
Website: https://cplaw-miami.com/
