Your Situation
Assault — Family Violence Conviction in Texas — What Are Your Options?
Straight answer first: a assault — family violence conviction cannot be expunged in Texas absent a pardon. And for this offense category, sealing is generally unavailable too — so the honest work is a careful records review and a look at what else the record contains.
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Statute
Tex. Penal Code § 22.01; Tex. Fam. Code § 71.004
Offense level
Class A misdemeanor to felony, with enhanced consequences
What a conviction forecloses — and what it doesn't
Expunction is reserved for cases that ended without conviction, so the conviction itself stays. Felony and family-violence convictions fall outside the sealing statutes as well, so no petition converts this record to private.
The records-review angle people skip
Convictions rarely travel alone. Companion charges dismissed at plea, earlier arrests that never filed, deferred entries from other years — records are messier than memory, and the other entries often have remedies even when the conviction doesn't. A family violence record is uniquely destructive: it appears in custody and divorce proceedings, triggers the federal firearm ban if it ripens into a conviction, bars many housing applications, and reads as the most serious possible misdemeanor to any employer. For a charge that was dismissed, leaving the arrest on your record means carrying all of that stigma for something the state chose not to prosecute.
The review is free either way — and if the honest answer is that nothing clears, we'll say exactly that instead of selling you a petition.
Common questions
Can a assault — family violence conviction ever be expunged in Texas?
Only through a pardon or a finding of actual innocence — otherwise no. For this category, sealing is generally excluded too; the review focuses on companion records and collateral options.
Do background checks show a assault — family violence conviction forever?
Convictions report indefinitely unless sealed. Texas records never age off on their own.
Disclaimer: This page is general legal information about Texas law, not legal advice about your case, and reading it does not create an attorney‑client relationship. Eligibility depends on the complete details of your criminal history — get a free case review for a definitive answer.
Get your situation confirmed — free
One short conversation and a records pull tells you exactly what clears, what seals, and what it costs.