Q: Do I have to disclose an expunged record during a name change?
I am doing a name change in Texas and it is asking if I was ever charged with a misdemeanor a/b or felony. I was, but iT was expunged. I’m not sure if I still need to disclose that to them since it also happened over 10 years ago as a minor.
A:
The expungement of a case doesn't merely hide it from view, the expunction acts like a sci/fi time machine taking you out of this universe and depositing you in a nearly exact copy of your "home" universe. After an expunction is granted, you find yourself in a place where that case never happened.
You do not have to, and you should not, ever mention that case again. Doing so actually brings it back into existence, in a manner of speaking, by the very fact that you have referenced it.
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