Last revised: [date — to be set on attorney approval]

Terms of Use

These Terms of Use govern your use of the Expunger website and app. Please read them before you use the free Eligibility check or become a Client.

Who offers this service

The Expunger site and app are offered by the Firm — an attorney-owned law practice — using software, brand, and marketing owned and operated by an affiliated management services organization (the MSO). The MSO is not a law firm, does not practice law, and does not represent you. Where these Terms say "we" or "Expunger," we mean the Firm, except where a provision is by its nature about the software or site itself, in which case it may be operated by the MSO on the Firm's behalf.

Using the free Eligibility check creates no attorney-client relationship

Answering intake questions and receiving a free Eligibility estimate does not make you a Client and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Nothing you are told at this stage is legal advice.

The Eligibility estimate is exactly that — an estimate, generated from the court docket information we could find and the information you gave us. It may be wrong: a docket record can be incomplete, out of date, or about someone else entirely, and the estimate does not account for facts a court might weigh that are not visible in the docket. You become a Client, and an attorney-client relationship is formed, only when you and the Firm sign an engagement agreement.

The Engagement controls

If you become a Client, your relationship with the Firm is governed by the signed engagement agreement between you and the Firm. Where anything in these Terms conflicts with your engagement agreement, the engagement agreement controls. These Terms describe the site and app generally; the engagement agreement describes what the Firm has actually agreed to do for you.

Fees and refunds

Fees for legal services are set out in your engagement agreement and on the site at the time you engage the Firm. There are two separate refund situations, and they are never the same thing:

• If the Firm never files your Petition, the portion of your fee for that unfiled matter is unearned and is refunded to you in full, as a matter of right under the rules governing how attorneys must handle client funds (California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.15) — not as a marketing promise.
• If the Firm files your Petition and the court denies it, you receive half of that matter's fee back, under our advertised Guarantee. The court's decision is what triggers it, not the Firm's judgment, and the refund is automatic — paid within 10 business days of the court's order denying the petition, with nothing you need to ask for.

These are separate, and a page or message describing the Guarantee will always say which situation it is talking about, at the point it is discussed — never presented as one blended policy.

Money you pay toward legal fees is held in the Firm's client trust account and is not the Firm's money until it has been earned for work actually performed, consistent with Rule 1.15.

What the product does and does not do

We help you seek relief from a court or state agency on a qualifying criminal record. In California, this typically means dismissal under Penal Code § 1203.4 (the court permits you to withdraw your plea, enters a not-guilty plea, and dismisses the case) and, where applicable, reduction of a wobbler felony to a misdemeanor under Penal Code § 17(b), or of a qualifying misdemeanor to an infraction under Penal Code § 17(d)(2). In Washington, this typically means vacation of a felony conviction under RCW 9.94A.640, or of a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor conviction under RCW 9.96.060, depending on the offense.

We do not call this "expungement," and we do not say a record is "cleared," "erased," or "wiped." None of those describe what the law actually grants. A court's order does not physically destroy or return your record. Even after relief is granted:

• your record remains visible to law enforcement, the state's criminal-history repository, and specified licensing bodies;
• if you are asked directly on an application for public office, for a professional or occupational license, or for a contract with the state lottery, you must still answer truthfully about the underlying conviction — relief does not excuse you from that duty;
• relief does not restore firearm rights and does not end any duty to register as a sex offender, where either applies to you.

We will tell you, before you pay anything, which of these apply to your specific case.

Exposure and Remediation

As part of some engagements, we look for places online where your case is visible (Exposure) and act to reduce that visibility (Remediation):

• Takedowns — requests to data brokers, people-search sites, and forums to remove your content — are billed only when the removal is confirmed at the source (the site itself deletes the content). An attempt that does not result in confirmed removal costs you nothing.
• Booking photographs are never billed, under any circumstance. Where the law entitles you to a free removal of a booking photograph, we make that demand for you at no charge.
• We make no promise about news reporting. Courts have consistently held that the government cannot compel a publisher to take down a truthful news report about lawfully obtained public record information, even after relief is granted. We will not promise to have a news story removed, and we will not charge you to try.

Acceptable use

You agree to use the site and app only for their intended purpose — seeking information about, and legal services for, your own criminal record — and not to misuse them, including by attempting to access another person's information, interfering with the service's operation, or submitting false information.

Accounts and security

If you create an account, you are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for activity that occurs under your account. Tell us right away if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission. We may require additional verification steps (such as two-factor authentication) for certain account types.

Electronic communications

By using our site and app, you consent to receive communications from us electronically — including notices about your matter, account activity, and these Terms — and agree that such communications satisfy any legal requirement that they be in writing, consistent with the federal E-SIGN Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).

Limitation of liability and disclaimers [attorney to confirm scope]

The free Eligibility estimate is provided "as is," without guarantee of accuracy, and reliance on it before you become a Client is at your own risk. Beyond the specific commitments in your engagement agreement — including the refund and Guarantee terms above — we disclaim liability for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from use of the site or app to the fullest extent the law allows. [The precise scope, caps, and carve-outs of this section require attorney review before publication — do not rely on this paragraph as final language.]

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the law of the state in which the Firm representing you is organized — California or Washington, depending on which Firm entity you engaged. [Confirm the precise choice-of-law mechanics with the attorney of record before publication.]

Dispute resolution

[Placeholder — dispute resolution provisions (including whether any arbitration clause applies) are left for the attorney of record to draft. None is included in this draft.]

Attorney advertising notice

This site is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. As described on the site, a named, licensed attorney reviews and approves every Petition before it is filed. This notice, and the site's advertising content generally, is intended to comply with the California Rules of Professional Conduct governing attorney advertising and solicitation (Rules 7.1–7.5).

Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the site or app for violation of these Terms. Termination of site or app access does not, by itself, end an attorney-client relationship formed under a signed engagement agreement; that relationship ends only as the engagement agreement and applicable rules of professional conduct provide.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will update the "Last revised" date at the top when we do. Continued use of the site or app after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Contact us

Questions about these Terms? Email us at hello@expunger.ai.