Your Situation
Assault — Family Violence Deferred Adjudication — Background Checks & Sealing
This page owes you the hard truth: deferred adjudication with an affirmative family-violence finding is excluded from both expunction and nondisclosure — the harshest record rule in Texas law. But "excluded" turns on what your judgment actually says, and judgments are worth reading carefully.
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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
Why family violence deferreds can't be sealed
Texas Government Code excludes offenses with an affirmative family-violence finding from nondisclosure entirely — completing the deferral doesn't change it, and no waiting period ever arrives. Expunction is likewise unavailable for completed Class A/B deferred adjudication.
What's actually worth checking
Whether a family-violence finding was formally entered in your judgment — sometimes it wasn't, which reopens sealing analysis. Whether companion charges from the same arrest were dismissed — those may have their own remedies. And whether the underlying facts support any collateral relief. A records-level review answers all three, free.
Common questions
Is there any way to clear a family violence deferred adjudication?
Not through expunction or nondisclosure if an affirmative finding was entered. The productive review is whether the finding actually appears in your judgment and whether companion charges have their own remedies.
Will this show on every background check forever?
It remains publicly reportable, which is exactly why dismissed family-violence cases (a different outcome) should always be expunged — expunction is the only remedy this category ever gets.
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.