Florida Law Provides for Record Expungement

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Feb. 21, 2014) – As more and more employers perform background checks on potential job applicants, it is more important than ever to have a clean criminal record.  Convicted or not, just being arrested can have serious consequences especially for first-time offenders. Fortunately, Florida law allows citizens to seal or expunge a criminal arrest record; while the legal process is complicated, an experienced attorney like Guy Seligman can help.

Fort Lauderdale attorney Guy Seligman is the expungement lawyer for Fort Lauderdale and all of Broward County and has three decades of experience helping clients maneuver through the complicated maze of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

Clearing an individual’s criminal record can be complicated and require multiple court hearings, arguing the case against the district attorney or explaining the situation to a judge. Guy’s legal team can handle the entire process, “An expungement of your record, if you qualify, will result in the extraction and isolation of all records on file with any court correctional facility or law enforcement agency,” said Guy. “Our law office can help with complaints, warrants, reports, commitments, criminal arrest history records, fingerprints and your rap sheet.”

“Typically, clients come to us wanting to expunge prior arrests because of mistakes they made in the past.  These youthful slip-ups can be embarrassing and affect employment and relationships,” said Guy.  “There are several important factors to determine eligibility for expungement that we can discuss when you are ready.”

One possibility is that the FDLE has made a mistake. The FDLE provides a process by which individuals can request that an error reported on their criminal arrest history be corrected. This could be an inaccurate charge appearing on one’s record or inaccurate court information. “It may be surprising to know that many people with common names have arrest records appearing on their criminal histories that belong to someone else,” said Guy. “If you suspect that you have a mistaken arrest on your record or information posted there is incorrect it can be fixed – and the sooner the better.”

It is important to note that an expungement does not destroy records; it extracts and isolates the records. Under most circumstances, once an expungement has been granted those records cannot be disclosed. If you have been granted an expungement you can respond that you have no conviction when asked a question about having a criminal record. Exceptions to this rule include a person seeking a second expungement, a person seeking a conditional discharge, and a person seeking to obtain employment in law enforcement.

Seligman suggests that anyone who think they are eligible for expungement or record sealing contact him at his new hot line at: 954/760-7600 covering: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, and all of Florida.  This new hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.

About Guy:

Guy Seligman is a criminal defense lawyer who started his career at the Dade County State Attorney’s office and later in the Broward County Public Defender’s office in the late 1980s.  Guy opened his home office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and has been there ever since.  A native Floridian, Guy has spent the last 25 years building relationships with prosecutors, judges and law enforcement officers and court officials. Guy is known as a fighter for the under-represented, the bullied and people who are being taken advantage of by either the system or their opponents.  Guy Seligman can be contacted at 954/760-7600 or on the web at http://www.fixsuspendedlicense.com