Sealing a Record
DWI Nondisclosure in Texas
A Texas DWI has been eligible for sealing since 2017. Pages telling you a DWI can never come off your record are describing law that changed years ago.
But the eligibility rules disqualify a lot of people, and usually not for the reason they expect. The most common disqualifier has nothing to do with the DWI at all.
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Three routes and three waiting periods
Which one applies depends on how your case ended, and the interlock condition makes a material difference to two of them.
Texas DWI nondisclosure waiting periods
| How the case ended | Statute | Waiting period |
|---|---|---|
| Deferred adjudication, discharged | 411.0726 | 2 years after discharge |
| Conviction with probation | 411.0731 | 2 years after completion with a 6 month interlock condition, otherwise 5 |
| Conviction without probation | 411.0736 | 3 years with a 6 month interlock, otherwise 5 |
Notice what the interlock does. On a conviction with probation it cuts the wait from five years to two. On a conviction without probation, from five to three. A condition people resist as a burden is, on this measure, worth years.
That is a genuine planning point at sentencing rather than a discovery made afterward, and it is one of the reasons the end of a case is worth thinking about at the beginning of it.
The clean record rule, which disqualifies most people
All three routes require a genuinely clean record, and the statutory language is broader than almost anyone assumes. The person must never have been previously convicted of, or placed on deferred adjudication for, another offense other than a traffic offense punishable by fine only.
Read that again, because the usual summary is wrong. It is not about prior DWIs. Any old non traffic conviction or deferred disqualifies you. A theft from a decade ago. A misdemeanor assault at nineteen. A deferred you were told would not count. Any of those closes the door on sealing a DWI that would otherwise qualify.
Two further exclusions apply on top of it. A conviction where the alcohol concentration was 0.15 or higher under section 49.04(d) is excluded entirely. And nondisclosure is denied where the State proves the offense resulted in a collision involving another person, which expressly includes your own passenger.
What sealing does and does not do
An order of nondisclosure is worth having. It is not the same as the record ceasing to exist.
An order of nondisclosure seals the covered criminal history from public view; it does not destroy the record or change the underlying disposition. Government Code sections 411.075 and 411.076 preserve access for criminal justice and specified licensing purposes. Private background companies that receive the statutory notice must remove the sealed information under section 411.0851. That makes nondisclosure meaningful for public searches while remaining different from an expunction.
Private vendors must purge
Background check companies are required to purge the record on notice under section 411.0851. That covers most employment and tenancy screening.
Some agencies still see it
Law enforcement and licensing agencies retain access. For regulated professions that matters, and it is the main reason to be precise about what sealing achieves.
Some offenses have no path at all
Section 411.0735(a)(1) excludes flying while intoxicated and the under 21 offense under Alcohol Beverage Code section 106.041 from nondisclosure entirely. A second or subsequent DWI is never sealable either.
Related pages
Nondisclosure questions
I heard a DWI can never be sealed in Texas.
That has been wrong since 2017. A DWI can be sealed through one of three routes depending on how the case ended, subject to eligibility rules.
I have an old theft charge. Does that matter?
Yes, and this is the disqualifier people most often miss. All three routes require that you have never been convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for any offense other than a fine only traffic offense. An unrelated case from years ago disqualifies you.
Does an interlock help or hurt?
For sealing purposes it helps considerably. A six month interlock condition cuts the waiting period from five years to two on a conviction with probation, and from five to three without.
My case involved a minor collision. Am I still eligible?
Probably not. Nondisclosure is denied where the State proves the offense resulted in a collision involving another person, and that includes a passenger in your own vehicle.
Will a background check still show it?
Private background vendors must purge the record on notice under section 411.0851, so most employment and tenancy checks will not show it. Law enforcement and licensing agencies still can.
What about a second DWI?
A second or subsequent DWI is not sealable. Neither is an underage offense under section 106.041. See clearing a DWI from your record for the other routes.