Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

protection order expungement

If a family law court ordered a protection order, however there was no criminal action or act of domestic violence associated with it. Once that protection order had expired or was cancelled, can it be expunged from the defendant's criminal record database?


Asked on 12/28/07, 5:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: protection order expungement

Unfortunately, no. Expungement removes non convition data from the Washington State Patrol's information database. Court orders regarding conduct that is denominated Domestic Violence CANNOT be vacated, expunged or otherwise removed from the offender's history.

You'll want to look at Washington's criminal codes at RCW 9 and 9A for the citations.

I don't think this is fair or right, either, but there it is.

Elizabeth Powell

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Answered on 12/29/07, 12:18 pm


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