DUI Expungement/Set-Aside in Michigan
Years after a first drunk driving case ends, the conviction is usually the part still doing damage. It surfaces in a background check for a promotion, a rental application, or a license renewal, long after the fines are paid and probation is over. Michigan now allows a first conviction for operating while intoxicated to be set aside, which is the state’s formal term for a DUI expungement. Our firm has spent more than 30 years helping good people throughout Metro Detroit close that chapter, and this is one of the few tools that genuinely does that.
What a Set-Aside Changes for Jobs and Housing
When an employer or a landlord runs a Michigan background check by name, the state’s official tool for that job is ICHAT, the Michigan State Police’s public criminal history search. That database holds public criminal history record information reported by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and courts across all 83 Michigan counties, which is how an old conviction keeps surfacing long after the case is closed.
Once granted, a set-aside (expungement) changes what that search returns. The State Police keep the conviction as a nonpublic record, available to courts, police agencies, prosecutors, and a short list of other government actors for narrow purposes. Private employers and landlords are not on that list. The nonpublic record is exempt from disclosure under Michigan’s public records law, and anyone who knows or should have known about the set-aside and divulges, uses, or publishes the conviction commits a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both.
There are two important limitations to that. First, a screening company is not liable under this statute for reporting a conviction that was still a public record on the date of its report, so an older report or a stale private database can keep showing the conviction until the data refreshes.
Second, law enforcement agencies and the Department of Corrections can still see the nonpublic record when you apply to work for them. For most jobs and rental applications, though, the conviction stops being part of your file.
Who the One-Time Second Chance Actually Reaches
Michigan’s DUI set-aside law covers one narrow category of case: a single conviction for a first-offense operating while intoxicated (OWI, commonly called DUI) violation. The exception is written narrowly. It applies only to a person who has not already applied for and received a set-aside of a first-violation OWI conviction, which is what makes this a one-time deal. Use it once, and it is gone: the law offers a single second chance, not a recurring remedy.
Several categories are excluded no matter how much time passes, and the court has no discretion:
- Any traffic offense that caused injury or death, which permanently removes the most serious OWI cases
- Any traffic offense committed by a driver with a commercial endorsement while operating a commercial vehicle, or that is otherwise a commercial motor vehicle violation
- Any OWI conviction other than a first violation offense, and any repeat application by a person who already used the one-time relief
Because eligibility turns on the specific subsection of the law under which you were convicted and on what your record shows, the honest first step is to review your record rather than guess. Our companion article on whether a Michigan drunk driving conviction can be cleared walks through the eligibility basics in more detail.
Counting the 5 Years the Way the Statute Counts Them
Some people are under the misconception that all they have to do is wait 5 years from their conviction for a set-aside. That is not what the law says, and not understanding this can cost people filing fees and years of waiting. What the law specifically states is that the 5-year period runs from whichever of these happened last:
- The day the court imposed your sentence
- The day you completed probation
- The day you were discharged from parole, where parole applied
- The day you completed any term of imprisonment
For a typical first offense case in Oakland, Macomb, or Wayne County, that means the clock starts running when probation ends, not on the day you stood in front of the judge to be sentenced. A 2-year term of probation pushes your earliest filing date out to roughly 7 years from sentencing. Two more conditions must also be met: you cannot have criminal charges pending when the court decides, and you cannot have been convicted of any criminal offense during the applicable 5-year period.
How the Application Process Actually Works
A set-aside of a first DUI conviction does not happen automatically. Michigan’s Clean Slate laws do clear certain convictions with no application at all, and that automatic process took effect on April 11, 2023, but the Michigan State Police lists operating while intoxicated among the convictions the automatic process will never touch. The separate provision that made a first violation OWI eligible by application took effect earlier, on Feb. 19, 2022. Waiting will therefore accomplish nothing.
The application must be filed in the court where the conviction occurred. You send the Michigan State Police a copy of the application, one complete set of fingerprints, a certified copy of the judgment of sentence, probation order, or register of actions, and a $50 processing fee. Copies also go to the Attorney General and the prosecuting official, either of whom may formally contest it. The judge cannot act on the application until the State Police report your criminal history information back to the court.
A drunk driving set-aside typically asks more of you than an ordinary expungement does. The reviewing judge is allowed to consider whether you took part in and benefited from rehabilitative or educational programming, and may deny the petition outright if not convinced that you did. The statute calls this relief a privilege rather than a right.
The order form the judge signs requires a finding that your circumstances and behavior since the conviction warrant setting it aside, and that doing so is consistent with the public welfare.
For many people, that showing is straightforward: the file needs to show that a single OWI conviction was not a symptom of an underlying drinking problem, and that a clean 5 years since then gives a more accurate picture of the person. For others, real recovery work is the heart of the case. Attorney Jeffrey Randa completed a formal postgraduate program in addiction studies, and our firm draws on that knowledge to build the showing each petition requires.
What Happens If a Judge Says No
A denial is not a final “no,” but it is a temporary setback. Michigan law bars a new petition on the same conviction until 3 years after the date of the denial, unless the judge sets an earlier date in the order denying it, and the state court order used in these matters has a line for exactly that. In our experience, an earlier date is not uncommon.
This is why a first attempt should be presented carefully and thoroughly. A petition filed too early, missing documentation, or thin on the rehabilitation issue or subsequent life changes cannot simply be corrected and refiled next month. We would rather tell you plainly that you are not ready yet, and help you get there, than plow forward and burn up to 3 years of your time.
Your Criminal Record and Your Driving Record Are Two Different Fights
A set-aside that gets granted makes the criminal record nonpublic. It does not remove anything from your driving record. Michigan law specifically says a set-aside order must not require the conviction to be removed from the record the Secretary of State maintains. A criminal record and a driving record exist on separate tracks, and a set-aside reaches only one of them.
If your OWI also cost you your license, getting it back is a separate fight, decided by the Secretary of State rather than a criminal court, and it is one we handle through our Michigan license restoration practice, which is why we can tell you which of your two records a set-aside will and will not fix.
Talk With Our Office Before You File
If one Michigan OWI is still standing between you and a job, an apartment, or peace of mind, we can tell you whether it can be set aside and when you can file. We have concentrated on drunk driving defense, criminal defense, and Michigan license restoration work for more than 30 years, and we know how these petitions are received in Metro Detroit courts. We handle DUI cases across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and the surrounding counties.
We offer free, confidential phone consultations Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, at 586-465-1980, and an after-hours answering service is available. You can also reach us through the contact form or the chat box on our website.
Learn more about DUI expungement and set-asides in Michigan.