Sealing an Order of Protection That Was Dismissed

[untouchedworld]

My question involves restraining orders in the State of: Illinois (Winnebago county)

How do I go about sealing the order of protection against me that was recently dismissed on December 15th?

My ex-girlfriend recently put an order of protection against me on November 30th, 2011. I was unaware of it, never served, and only found out about it and that the plenary court date had passed when I came back home. I looked into it, and it would appear that the case for the plenary order of protection was dismissed. It would also appear that the temporary order of protection was expired on Dec. 15th, which is also when the court date for the plenary order of protection was.

I looked into the records of the situation, and supposedly neither party showed up for the plenary court hearing. As such, the case was dismissed. I didn't show up, because I was not served... And accordingly to Illinois law, if you're not served, you don't have to go to court or respect any of the order of protection (but if a person knows about it, then the individual has to obey the OOP).

Anyway, I want the record sealed now. I'm a broke college student. I recently got my Bachelors in Neuroscience (above 3.5/4.0). I'm a good student. And I want to have a nice future without this incident showing up on a background check.

So, I don't know law that well. In relation to sealing records, I can't find much information about sealing a dismissed order of protection after the fact that the case was dismissed.

Questions:
How do I go about sealing this case?
Has time time to seal the case expired?
When's the latest I can attempt to seal the case?

What are the chances I'll get it sealed? Are the chances likely and good?
What kind of reasons do I have to provide for why I want it sealed? Will the judge approve or frown upon particular kinds of reasons?
Do I really, really need a lawyer for sealing a case?
Would it be seriously stupid to go in front of a judge and ask for the case to be sealed?

I'm somewhat educated, and I suspect I could generate an argument and premises and my views on why I would want it sealed. I could write a nice 5-paragraph essay with argumentation, pull it out, say it to the judge, and then have the judge say what he thinks of it. I suspect that the person I would summons would not come to court or if she did, she wouldn't argue against it being sealed.

I don't have any money for a lawyer to seal a case. At most I could generate about $1000 USD. I think that's a lot for filling out some papers and presenting a single case to the judge for a one court day procedure.

More questions:
How many chances do I get to seal a record if a judge denies the seal the first time?
Can I go to another judge to seal the case if one judge denies the seal?

I might have more questions, but those are my main ones at the moment.

Sorry if posting in this forum board was wrong, but the thread doesn't seem to adequately fit elsewhere.

Background about the girlfriend and I:

Her and I broke up. She broke up with me, I talked with her, we hooked up again. The next day, I break up with her, belittling her, telling her I hate that she wants too much of my time (I'm in school, btw), and argue with her. I try calling her home to tell her I'm sorry, her mom answers, then I argue with her mom. I try calling the next couple of days to apologize, but no one will answer. I forget about it, because I have finals. I come home after finals, and find out I had this OOP.

Bad break-up basically. I'm not interested in moral judgements on my story. I'm interested in handling the legal matter, however.

Thanks.

[Mr. Knowitall]

It appears that expungement is not available for orders of protection.

[Pootter]

Why are you concerned with sealing or expunging the dismissal? Most of what I have read is that the DA felt that the case was not supportable and dropped it. It is like it had no merit or basis for prosecution. Your not guilty and your not innocent. The case went away. It's like it was never filed. I had a DWI dismissed and while it is on my record it is not held out that I was convicted. I think you are worrying about something that maybe will never haunt you and if it does you can show, or get the paperwork to show, the DA did not proceed and dismissed the charges against you.

[viol8te]

Who issues the order of protection? Was it civil or criminal court? That is going to be more important that the actual OOP.

Scratch that. I didn't realize that I was responding to a post that had so much dust on it!