Brave New World of Expungement: Clearing Criminal Records in Virginia Under the Law Effective December 1, 2026

Brave New World of Expungement

When: December 1, 2026 - 7:00 PM to December 1, 2026 - 9:00 PM

Zoom

Event Registration (For Members Only)

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Brave New World of Expungement

On December 1, 2026, Virginia’s expungement statute, Code § 19.2-392.2, changes again. Senate Bill 230 (2026 Acts, c. 1127) replaces the old “acquitted, nolle prosequi, or otherwise dismissed” test with a broader “not ultimately convicted” test; brings infractions (including dismissed traffic infractions) and civil offenses within the statute; requires the Commonwealth to state the basis for any objection; bars denial based on a prior conviction alone; allows one petition for charges from separate incidents; writes a “potential manifest injustice” standard into the statute; and conforms the negotiated route to expungement for deferred dispositions under § 19.2-298.02(D) and the juvenile-records statute, § 16.1-306, to the new test. These changes arrive five months after Virginia’s record-sealing law took effect on July 1, 2026. This introductory program explains both tools from the ground up for lawyers who have never filed an expungement or sealing petition.

Learning objectives

By the end of the program, participants will be able to:

1. Distinguish expungement from record sealing in eligibility, procedure, and effect.

2. Determine whether a charge is eligible for expungement under § 19.2-392.2(A) as amended effective December 1, 2026.

3. Explain the manifest-injustice standard, the no-prior-record presumption, and the new limits on grounds for denial.

4. Walk a petition through filing, criminal-history request, service, the Commonwealth’s response, hearing, and order.

5. Identify the four routes to sealing and apply the eligibility conditions for petition sealing under § 19.2-392.12.

6. Advise clients accurately about what expungement and sealing do and do not do, consistent with the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Registration is open to all VMVLA Members as a benefit of Membership.