Sometimes that little ticket ends up buried in your glove compartment or thrown on your kitchen table, and before you know it, weeks or even months pass before you get around to paying it off.
Many drivers wonder what happens if you don’t pay a ticket on time, and some people even worry about being taken into custody by the police with handcuffs for a measly speeding ticket or parking violation. Thankfully, the truth is a bit more involved than that.
So here is the reality: while it is unlikely you’ll be taken into custody simply for owing money on a ticket, by failing to take care of the citation altogether, you could trigger a series of consequences that will make things worse and worse.
We’re talking accumulative late fees, a suspension of your license, and potentially even arrest warrants if the stakes raise high enough.
So before you ignore that ticket and hope for the best, get a gripping reminder about what you could lose in the process and how a relatively simply ticket could turn into true legal entanglement if you are not careful.
How Unpaid Tickets Grow
When you first receive a ticket you usually have a grace period to figure out whether to pay the fee or contest it in court.
However, if you simply neglect it altogether, the system will start imposing penalties very quickly. First, you’ll incur late fees. Some late fees will double, or triple the original fine amount.
Then, you’ll start receiving notices in the mail from either the court or DMV regarding the unpaid ticket. These notices are not friendly reminders. They are official notices which require a response. Ignoring the court notices can lead to serious consequences.
If you continue to ignore everything, many courts will send your case to collections. Meaning, you are now dealing with debt collectors, in addition to the court system, and they will call you, and could affect your credit score.
Some courts will send you orders to appear and explain why you haven’t paid. Ignoring a court order is when things could get real serious from a legal position.
License Suspension
At this point, unpaid tickets, are really going to start affecting your day to day life.
Many states will suspend your driver’s license over unpaid fines for minor violations. Once your license is suspended, driving is illegal, period.
This is the part where people really get into trouble – driving on a suspended license is often a criminal offense, not just a traffic violation.
Driving with a Suspended License – When Doing so Accepting Arrears in Legal Judgments is No Longer a Matter of Personal Choice.
If you get pulled for a suspended license you may be arrested at that moment and face much more serious penalties than what the ticket would impose.
Suspensions of license can complicate more than just the ability to drive lawfully. Many employers continue to monitor employee driving records and consider downgrading or possibly even ending relationship for any infractions involving lawfully operating a vehicle.
Insurance companies are vigilant as well and can raise your insurance rates based on the existence of a suspended license and in fact, cancel insurance altogether, based on taking a risk as a suspended licensed driver.
Reinstating a license, meaning you can again begin to operate a vehicle legally again involves taking several steps, including paying all fines outstanding as well as reinstatement fees, which can range from hundreds to even thousands, if you have ignored more than one ticket.
When a Warrant is Possible
If you don’t appear for a court date or make your fines all payed as ordered, a court can issue a bench warrant.
This is not a hypothetical occurrence – courts continue to issue warrants regularly, especially in areas where courts are trying to clarify the existence of had a delimiting the vacation of unrealized tickets.
Once a warrant is issued subsequent engagements will have an increased chance of ending with an arrest.
You can be arrested during a traffic stop for what could be entirely related both to your operating of a vehicle, a at place you were presumably safe because police were gone – could be anywhere or any context where police may have wished to speak with and question their orders.
A brief weigh-to-follow the presumable separation between civil penalties (fines) and criminal consequences, (warrants & jail) – You cannot be jailed solely on the basis of being poor or that you have no means to pay-off fines & penalties. However, not complying with a court order of engagement or failure to appear as required can lead to the level of consequence you become a part.
If you are not addressing possible warrants most courts have online search to see if there are warrant(s) in your name, it might be worth checking if you have avoided paying a more than few tickets in the past.
Don’t Let a Ticket Destroy Your Life
Look, ignoring a ticket probably feels like the path of least resistance but failed obligations of a fine can easily become serious trouble that you should not have otherwise endured in the first place.
You will never go to jail just for not being able to get out fo debt, nevertheless you are risking your freedom in any case where not going to a COURT ORDER appointment, and also not paying your personal penalty of fines will not lead an arrest suspected of incorrect court activity.
If you already have received a ticket and it is questionable whether you can afford the fine, while not paying is not the option to shape your most individual encounter freedom.
Paying the fine at a rapid speed will work. Ignoring your potentially bad ticket does not mean you cannot pay to take action, but slow as you must from own debt pay for the citation on record today – take action sooner rather than after delinquency puts handcuffs around your freedom in the world as you.
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