Sealing A Juvenile Record
Welf. & Inst. Code 781 — five years after jurisdiction ends, or any time after 18, a petition to seal
When the petition can be filed. A person, or the county probation officer, may petition the juvenile court to seal the records of the person's case five years or more after the juvenile court's jurisdiction ended, or, if no petition was filed, five years after the person was cited or taken before a probation or law enforcement officer, or in any case at any time after the person reached 18 years of age.
What the court decides. The court notifies the district attorney and probation officer, who may testify. If it finds that since jurisdiction ended the person has not been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, and that rehabilitation has been attained to its satisfaction, it orders the records sealed, including the court record, minute book, docket entries, and the records of the agencies named in the order.
What sealing does. Once sealed, the proceedings in the case are deemed never to have occurred, on the terms the section sets out.
Adult records, federal agencies' own files, immigration consequences, and sex offender registration are outside this page. Whether a particular record qualifies, and what a sealed record still allows an agency to see, are questions for a licensed California attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Welf. & Inst. Code 781 — Sealing of juvenile records; petition
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed California attorney.