Texas Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision
(AKA: Deferred Adjudication Probation)

Nearly 2 million Texans have accepted deferred adjudication judgments for misdemeanors and felony arrests with the misconception that once the probation period was over and the charge dismissed that it would not be on their record. Unfortunately this is not the case: the arrest, court and the judgment of deferred adjudication remain on your record and available to the public to view unless you are granted a Petition for Non-Disclosure through the Courts.

Deferred Adjudication

In Texas, many landlords, potential creditors, mortgage companies and employers check your background to investigate potential tenants, borrowers and employees. These companies generally treat a deferred adjudication the same as a conviction. That means that people are often unable to rent apartments or get jobs because a deferred adjudication judgment is on their record.

The law concerning deferred adjudication records changed effective September 1, 2003.

Prior to this, a record of deferred adjudication probation remained accessible to the public. As of September 1, 2003, a person who has successfully completed a deferred adjudication probation for a class B misdemeanor, a class A misdemeanor, or even a felony, may (depending on the offense committed) be able to ask the judge of the court of original jurisdiction to sign an Order of Non-Disclosure barring governmental agencies from disclosing the existence of the charge or the deferred adjudication sentence.

For most misdemeanors, the defendant can petition for the Order of Non-Disclosure immediately after his deferred adjudication is discharged. For others, a defendant must wait years after a deferred adjudication is discharged to file for an Order of Non-Disclosure. For felonies, there is a longer waiting period after the deferred adjudication is discharged. Some offenses cannot be sealed with an Order of Non-Disclosure.

After a judge has ordered nondisclosure, the defendant may deny the occurrence of the arrest and prosecution unless the information is being used against him in a subsequent criminal proceeding.