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Is there no statute of limitations for expired license plate fines?

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c627627

Member
So this guy leaves the great state of Indiana to move out of the state on the day his Indiana license plates expire. He figures as soon as he gets to the other state, he'll get license plates there because he's moving there.

Of course Indiana cops pull him over on his way out & give him a ticket for expired plates.

He gets another state's license plates and never pays the Indiana fine.


Seven years later he moves again, this time to Florida & they site this incident from seven years ago as the reason for not being able to give him a driver's license there.

Indiana tells him there is no statute of limitations, he has to pay Indiana $132 if he wants to get a driver's license in Florida.


Is it true that these fines never expire?
 


gawm

Senior Member
justalayman said:
Just pay the fine and hope the isn't a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to appear.
Bench warrants are only issued when people fail to appear on criminal citations. Expired tags are a civil violation. When you did not appear on that they found you guilty and issued you a fine. Since you never paid the fine your license was suspended. Your license will be suspended until you pay the fine. If your license is suspended in one state it is suspended in all states.
 

c627627

Member
Thank you. I understand paying the full fine is the one and only option if he wants to move to Florida, regardless of how much time passes after the incident.

Interestingly, he lived in Missouri for seven years, he could have just renewed his license there apparently without a problem had he stayed to live there. This appears to conflict with "If your license is suspended in one state it is suspended in all states" statement, does it not?
 

gawm

Senior Member
c627627 said:
Thank you. I understand paying the full fine is the one and only option if he wants to move to Florida, regardless of how much time passes after the incident.

Interestingly, he lived in Missouri for seven years, he could have just renewed his license there apparently without a problem had he stayed to live there. This appears to conflict with "If your license is suspended in one state it is suspended in all states" statement, does it not?
People do slip through the cracks sometimes, the system isn't perfect. Had he told Missouri, "hey, my license is suspended in Indiana, that's not gonna make a difference is it"? I guarantee you they would not of gave him a license. For some reason that info did not get on their computer system. So the answer to your question is no it does not conflict with my statement at all.
 
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c627627

Member
I'm guessing he got a new license upon his arrival in Missouri at which time the expired tags ticket didn't make it to the books yet.

Could it be that they don't check these things when renewing, (only when issuing new licenses), and that's how he was able to renew his Missouri license, just curious...
 

c627627

Member
Someone else mentioned that regardless of reasons in this case, there are DMVs in certain states that are not on the national system completely yet....
 

Two Bit

Member
The Statute of Limitations doesn't apply because the SOL referes to the time between when the offense is discovered and when the state begins it's prosecution of that offense. The SOL clock generally stops while a person is not publically a resident of the state or when the person is a fugitive.

While some states might not issue warrants for failure to appear and failure to pay fines, others do. If this ocvcred in Georgia, there would be an outstanding arrest warrant as well as a suspension of the fugitive's privlege to drive.
 

c627627

Member
...and the suspension is to be enforced in all 50 states (provided their records are up to date), right?

I'm assuming that's what you mean. It's important to add that because it's probably how core misconceptions are made by people with similar cases and no experience with how these things work...
 

Two Bit

Member
It depends. Each state controls who is allowed to drive on its highways. Generally, a person who has a license in one state is allowed to drive in all 50. However, it is possible for one state to not recognize a suspension from another state.

For instance, according to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, the state of California will not honor our suspensions for Failure to Appear. So if a driver from California is stopped in Georgia, and then fails to appear, Georgia will suspend his privledge to drive in Georgia. At that point, even though the person may have a valid California license, he would be arrested for Driving While Suspended if he was caught driving in Georgia again.

Now, Georgia will notify California of the suspension, but it would be up to their policy as to whether or not they would suspend the California licnse altogether.

I think it would be unlikely that another state would arrest someone for driving while suspended if they were suspended in Georgia, but still had a valid license from antoher state.

Because of this, a Califonira driver stopped in Georgia stands a good chance of being taken to jail to post a bond if stopped for a traffic violation in Georgia. Other states included on the list include Oregon, Washington, and 3 others whose names I forget.
 

c627627

Member
However, the main point of the thread is obtaining a license in another state.

If the driver moved from Georgia to California and tried to get a California license, they would not be able to because of the Georgia violation, right?

Most places in all states enforce this although it appears smaller number of places in some states do not, right?
 

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