CFP Board Requests Public Comment on Proposed Changes to Fitness Standards, Procedural Rules and Sanction Guidelines

On July 21, CFP Board released for public comment proposed changes to its Fitness Standards, Procedural Rules and Sanction Guidelines. This proposal improves CFP Board’s existing process for evaluating the ethical fitness of CFP® certificants and candidates for CFP® certification when it comes to the issue of criminal expungement.

As part of the revision process, CFP Board actively seeks input from various stakeholders, including practitioners, candidates, firms, membership organizations and the public. The deadline to submit comments is Friday, August 21, 2026.

The Board of Directors of CFP Board is dedicated to strengthening the profession and sustaining public trust. A fair, consistent enforcement process is essential to that work and helps ensure that CFP® certification remains relevant and valuable as financial planning evolves.

Background

In March 2026, CFP Board formed the Criminal Expungement Commission and tasked the Commission with recommending a new standard for a circumstance that does not frequently arise, and that CFP Board previously has not defined: how to handle expunged criminal convictions when upholding the Ethics standard for CFP® certification. The Commission includes all but one member of the previously constituted Sanctions and Fitness Commission that developed the revised Sanction Guidelines and Fitness Standards. The Commission met five times in April and May 2026.

Building on the Commission’s work, CFP Board proposes to modify the Sanction Guidelines, Fitness Standards and Procedural Rules to treat the expungement of a criminal conviction as a mitigating factor. A “criminal expungement” refers to any legal process that removes the official record of a criminal conviction from public access. This proposal is unrelated to the expungement of customer complaints or civil dispute information from BrokerCheck.

Proposed Changes to the Fitness Standards, Procedural Rules and Sanction Guidelines

An applicant for CFP® certification must report prior convictions for a Felony or Relevant Misdemeanor. Depending on the nature of the conviction, the applicant may be required to petition the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (DEC) to determine their ethical fitness. (The DEC is the peer-review body that makes ethics determinations.) Under the proposal, expungement of a criminal conviction would be recognized as a potential mitigating factor, meaning the DEC would determine whether mitigation is warranted based on the facts and circumstances. In deciding whether to mitigate, the DEC would weigh an expungement more heavily if the criminal conviction was expunged because the state court made positive findings about the applicant’s rehabilitation, good moral character or low risk of recidivism.

The applicant would continue to have the burden of establishing ethical fitness for CFP® certification, regardless of expungement. The DEC would not be required to mitigate in any particular case. This means the DEC could grant the Petition for Fitness (which means the applicant will be allowed to become a CFP® professional), grant it with a Public Notice or deny it with a Temporary or Permanent Bar (which means the applicant will not be allowed to become a CFP® professional).

The proposal would preserve CFP Board’s existing public-notice requirements. In particular, if the DEC grants the Petition for Fitness of an applicant with an expunged criminal conviction, the DEC would apply the Fitness Standards to determine whether a Public Notice was necessary. CFP Board proposes to treat applicants with expunged criminal convictions that warrant public notice the same as other individuals whose conduct warrants public notice: CFP Board would publicize the decision and require the CFP® professional to disclose the outcome to clients.

The revisions allow an applicant with an expunged Felony conviction that presents an absolute bar to file a Fitness Petition and ask for the absolute bar to be mitigated. In that circumstance, the applicant may (or may not) be found ethically fit for certification. An applicant whose Felony conviction was not expunged would not have the opportunity to file the Fitness Petition and would be barred from certification.

Language also has been added to the existing “Other Relevant Assessments of this Misconduct” mitigating factor in the Sanction Guidelines to address how the DEC should weigh expungement. In assessing whether the applicant has engaged in a pattern of similar misconduct, the DEC would consider all convictions, whether or not expunged. If an expungement is based on an express finding of actual innocence, then the criminal conviction is treated as though it never occurred.

Review a redlined copy of the proposed changes to the Fitness Standards.

Review a redlined copy of the proposed changes to the Procedural Rules.

Review a redlined copy of the proposed changes to the Sanction Guidelines.

CFP Board welcomes all input on the proposed revisions. Comments can be submitted to CFP Board through an online form. CFP Board will post all comments on the CFP.net website with the commenter's name and the date submitted. The deadline for comments is Friday, August 21, 2026.

CFP Board will review comments and determine what changes, if any, to make to the proposed revised Sanction Guidelines, Fitness Standards and Procedural Rules.