FORMS & INSTRUCTIONS - Application to Seal a Criminal Conviction after 10 Years - CPL 160.59

Steps to Prepare and File a CPL 160.59 Sealing Application

• STEP 1: Complete the Request for Criminal Certificate of Disposition and submit it to the appropriate clerk of the court.
  Note: Complete a separate request for each case you will be asking the court to seal.
• STEP 2: Once you receive your criminal Certificate of Disposition from the court, complete pages 1 and 2 of the Sealing Application (i.e., Notice of Motion and Affidavit in Support).
• STEP 3: Serve the Notice of Motion and Affidavit in Support (i.e., pages 1 and 2 of the Sealing Application) upon the District Attorney of the applicable county. You can look up the address for each District Attorney's office in the List of District Attorneys Offices.
  Note: If you are asking the court to seal more than one conviction and convictions occurred in different counties, you must serve the District Attorney of each applicable county with copies of your papers.
• STEP 4: Once the District Attorney has been served, complete page 3 of the Sealing Application (i.e., Affidavit of Service).
  Note: If more than one District Attorney has been served, and the service was performed on different dates or by different people, you must complete a separate Affidavit of Service (i.e., page 3 of the Sealing Application) for each one.
• STEP 5: File all pages of your Sealing Application and any supporting documentation with the appropriate court.
• STEP 6:  If you want to confirm that the change was appropriately made to your criminal history record, complete the Request for CPL 160.59 Seal Verification Form  to receive verification from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services that a CPL 160.59 Seal has been applied to your New York State Criminal History Record.
  Note: A copy of the signed court seal order must be mailed along with the verification form.