This article is intended to both educate and assist you on the process of obtaining an expungement in Loudoun County, Virginia.   The first step is to make sure that you’re eligible for an expungement.  If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already read our article on Expungements in Virginia Generally.  If not, feel free to click there now to make sure.    

Once you’ve made sure you are eligible for an expungement, you must fill out and file several required documents with the court.  A shoutout to the clerks in Loudoun County who created this fillable PDF which makes it slightly simpler.   

You’ll need to fill out the form, print off 3 copies of the petition, cover sheet, and order.  Note, you only need one copy of the last page, which provides a refund of the filing fee if you are successful.  With all of those documents, you go to the Loudoun County Courthouse during normal business hours—clerk’s office closes at 4:00.  While there, you need to get a certified copy of your disposition for the charge and two additional copies.  You can get this from the clerk of wherever your case was adjudicated.  Take 3 copies of the petition, order, and certified disposition, along with a check for $98.00, to the Loudoun Circuit Court civil clerk and tell them you want to file for an expungement.  If anything is missing, the clerk or court will reject the filing.   

Once you’ve filed, you need to take 2 copies of the petition and order to your local Sheriff’s office to be fingerprinted.  Each jurisdiction does it slightly differently, so call them to make sure you won’t be turned away.  Once completed, the deputies will send these fingerprints and copies of the petition/order to the Virginia State Police who will perform a background check.  This process can take up to 8 weeks, so you should do this as quickly as you can once you have a filed petition.  If you are out of state, a local sheriff’s office or private company may be able to assist.   

Eventually, the Virginia State Police will return your fingerprints and background check to the court.  By this point, the Commonwealth’s attorney may have returned their copy of the petition indicating they are opposing/consenting to the expungement.  If they oppose, you will need to schedule a hearing for the Judge to listen to the Commonwealth’s position and determine if expunging the records is proper.  If the Commonwealth agrees to the expungement petition, you can speak to the clerk and ask the order be submitted for signing.  

If the Judge agrees that an expungement is warranted, they will sign and enter the order. Following this, requests will be sent to the various Virginia entities to remove your criminal charges from their databases.    

Although the process above is not as difficult as other legal processes, there are numerous pitfalls that will complicate getting an expungement granted.  The clerks view self-filed expungement petitions critically to make sure everything is together, which may result in numerous trips to the courthouse and eventual frustration.  If you’d prefer, McCollum Legal has streamlined this process to quickly acquire the necessary information, file the required documents, and obtain an order of expungement without the inconvenience of performing the above steps. Out of state citizens can also accomplish all of the above without traveling to Virginia if they are represented.  

Additionally, if you are one of the many former clients for whom we have secured a dismissal, nolle prosequi, or not guilty verdict, we offer this service at a discounted rate since we do not need to collect the information necessary to file.