✓ Law Verified August 2026
An Indiana eviction record can block apartment applications for years — often regardless of how the case actually ended. This guide answers the question directly for Indiana: whether a sealing law exists here, exactly how to use it if it does, and the real alternatives if it does not. Verified against official Indiana sources as of August 2026.
In This Indiana Guide:
How the Indiana Sealing Law Works
| The law | Indiana Code 32-31-11 (Disclosure of Residential Eviction Information), originally effective July 1, 2022, substantially expanded by Senate Enrolled Act 142 (Public Law 128-2025), signed May 1, 2025, effective July 1, 2025 |
| Who qualifies | Four categories of residential eviction cases qualify under IC 32-31-11-3: (1) the eviction action was dismissed, including a landlord withdrawal or a dismissal for the landlord’s failure to prosecute; (2) judgment was entered in favor of the tenant, meaning the court denied the landlord’s claim for possession; (3) a judgment against the tenant was overturned or vacated on appeal; (4) added by SEA 142 in 2025 — a judgment was entered against the tenant and either any money judgment connected to the eviction has been satisfied in full, or the judgment included no money judgment and at least 7 years have passed since the judgment was entered. Cases resolved through a residential eviction diversion program are also addressed by the statute. |
| Automatic or petition | BOTH, depending on the category. For dismissals, tenant wins, and judgments overturned on appeal, sealing is AUTOMATIC as of July 1, 2025 — the court is required to order the clerk and any state, regional, or local case management system not to disclose the records without the tenant filing anything, and the appellate court must redact the tenant’s name from opinions going forward. For a satisfied money judgment, or a no-money judgment that is at least 7 years old, the tenant must file a PETITION/motion — a Verified Motion to Seal Court Eviction Record. The statute does not require a hearing, and many courts grant the motion on the papers; some courts still notify the landlord. Because automatic sealing is new and courts do not always catch older cases, many tenants with pre-July-2025 dismissals still need to file the motion to get the record actually sealed. |
| Waiting period | None for dismissed cases, tenant wins, satisfied money judgments, or judgments overturned on appeal. 7 years from the date the judgment was entered for a judgment against the tenant that did NOT include a money judgment. |
| Cost | UNVERIFIED — the sealing statute sets no statewide filing fee, and courts frequently process the motion in the existing case at no charge, but some county clerks assess a redocketing fee to reopen a closed case, so confirm the amount with your clerk. If a fee is charged and you cannot afford it, you may be able to ask the court to waive it by filing an affidavit of indigency under IC 33-37-3-2. |
Step by Step: Sealing Your Indiana Eviction Record
First look up your case on the Indiana courts public portal at mycase.in.gov to get the exact case number, court name, and case caption. Use the free Indiana Legal Help eviction sealing packet, which contains three documents: an Appearance form, a Verified Motion to Seal Court Eviction Record, and a proposed Order for the judge to sign. Complete a separate set of forms for each eviction case you want sealed.
File the signed forms in the SAME court where the eviction was originally filed — usually the county circuit, superior, or small claims court. You may e-file through Indiana’s e-filing system at in.gov/courts/efiling or file paper copies with the clerk. Check with that clerk about whether the closed case must be redocketed and whether the landlord must be served with a copy.
If the judge sets a hearing, be ready to show proof — a satisfaction of judgment, a paid receipt, the dismissal entry, or the date of the judgment showing 7 years have passed.
If the eviction ended in dismissal or a tenant win after July 1, 2025 and the record is still visible on mycase.in.gov, you may be able to contact the clerk and ask the court to enter the sealing order the statute already requires.
What sealing actually does: The court orders the clerk and the operator of any state, regional, or local case management system not to disclose or permit disclosure of any record in the eviction case, including the landlord’s original petition for possession, and directs the clerk to redact or permanently seal the court’s own records.
In practice the case disappears from mycase.in.gov and from the public court file, so tenant screening companies that pull Indiana court data can no longer see or report it, and landlords running a standard screening report should not find it. On appeal, the appellate court must redact the tenant’s name from opinions issued after the order.
Sealing does not erase private databases that already copied the record before sealing — that is why an FCRA dispute is often still needed — and it does not undo any unpaid money judgment, which remains collectible until satisfied. Check with your court about exactly what its order covers.
Why An Indiana Eviction Record Follows You — and For How Long
An eviction case becomes a public court record the day it is filed — even if you won, even if it was dismissed, even if you moved out voluntarily before the hearing. Tenant screening companies copy these records in bulk and resell them to landlords, which is how an Indiana eviction record from years ago can quietly sink a rental application today.
Under federal reporting rules these records generally stop appearing on screening reports after seven years, but the public court file itself can remain searchable far longer unless it is sealed.
That is why the filing itself, not just the outcome, is what matters — and why sealing laws are spreading state by state. Most landlords never read the court file; they read the one-line summary a screening company sells them. Getting the Indiana eviction record sealed, corrected, or accurately described is what changes that one line.
Check Your Indiana Eviction Record First
Before filing anything, find out what your Indiana eviction record really looks like to a landlord. Search the online case index for the court where the eviction was filed, and request your file from the major tenant screening companies — you are entitled to it.
Tenants are often surprised in both directions: some discover the case they worry about was never reported, others find a case they had forgotten, or one that is not even theirs.
Knowing exactly what appears, and how it is described, tells you whether to pursue sealing, a dispute, or both.
Screening reports are also where errors live. A dismissed case reported as an eviction, an old address matched to the wrong person, or a paid judgment still shown as owing are all fixable — and fixing the report is sometimes faster than any court process in Indiana.
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Your Federal Rights Against Tenant Screening Companies
Tenant screening companies are consumer reporting agencies under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681 and following, so you have dispute rights no matter what your court record says.
If you are denied housing, charged a higher deposit, or required a cosigner because of a screening report, the landlord must give you an adverse action notice naming the screening company, and you are entitled to a FREE copy of that report from the company within 60 days of the adverse action.
You are also entitled to one free report per year from each nationwide specialty tenant screening agency on request. Read it for a dismissed case reported as an eviction, a case that belongs to someone else with a similar name, a satisfied judgment shown as unpaid, or a case older than the FCRA reporting limit of 7 years for most civil judgments.
Dispute in writing to the screening company, attach proof such as the file-stamped dismissal order, the sealing order, a satisfaction of judgment, or your lease, and keep copies plus proof of mailing. The company then has 30 days to reinvestigate, extended to 45 days if you send additional documents during the 30-day window, and it must delete or correct information it cannot verify and send you the written results.
Also dispute directly with the landlord or collection agency that furnished the data, since furnishers have their own FCRA duty to investigate.
If a company keeps reporting a sealed or dismissed Indiana eviction after you dispute it, you may be able to file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or with the Indiana Attorney General’s consumer protection division, and the FCRA allows private lawsuits for willful or negligent violations.
Timing matters more than tenants expect. If you are apartment-hunting right now, start the screening-report disputes today — they run on federal deadlines and cost nothing — while any Indiana court process moves in parallel. If the move is months away, that is enough time for most sealing petitions, vacated judgments, or corrected reports to finish before a landlord ever pulls your Indiana eviction record.
Worth watching in Indiana: Senate Enrolled Act 142 of 2025 (Public Law 128-2025) is the current governing change and no further eviction sealing amendment has been verified as enacted since; any newer 2026 session bill is UNVERIFIED — check the bill list at iga.in.gov.
Indiana’s statute also covers eviction diversion program cases, and several counties including Marion County, Tippecanoe County (Superior Court 7 publishes its own eviction expungement instructions), and Clark County publish local eviction expungement or sealing packets, so your county clerk may have a county-specific form on top of the statewide Indiana Legal Help packet.
Free eviction sealing clinics run periodically through Indiana Legal Services and local legal aid and volunteer lawyer programs; many tenants use these instead of hiring an attorney.
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You May Also Like
Official Indiana Sources & Resources
- Indiana Courts Self-Help: in.gov/courts/selfservice/
- Indiana Statute: iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/32#32-31-11
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
- Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex
Taking Control of Your Indiana Eviction Record
An Indiana eviction record is not a life sentence — it is a document, and documents can be sealed, corrected, or accurately explained. The tenants who struggle longest are usually the ones who never look at what their Indiana eviction record actually says, so start by pulling the court file and your screening reports.
Whether Indiana offers sealing or only the federal dispute route, acting on the Indiana eviction record beats hoping landlords will not check — they almost always do. A short, honest cover letter to a prospective landlord explaining the circumstances can also do real work while the record process runs.
This Indiana eviction record guide was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Sealing laws are changing fast — new states pass them every year, so re-check before relying on this page.
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Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.