Lic Suspended in NJ 17 years ago and FTA

[jonweed]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL and NJ

(sorry, originally posted on wrong forum)

I received a speeding ticket in NJ in 1987 a week before my wife at the time and I moved down to FL. We moved and to be honest it was simply forgotten about.

In 1992, we moved back to NJ and after two months my wife took my son and moved back to FL because she didn't want to be away from her parents. I quit my job a few weeks later and moved back down to FL where I have lived ever since.

I don't remember this part at all, but again, just before I moved back to FL I got a ticket for driving on a suspended lic, due to the speeding ticket in '87 that I forgot about and never paid. (I think my tailight was out and the officer tried to cut me some slack and didn't cite that).

Now, I have had a valid FL lic for 17 years and went to renew it and bam, I have the two tickets plus a failure to appear in NJ.

I have contacted both courts (Hanover for the speeding ticket and Denville for the DSL and the FTA) and have made arrangements with Hanover to pay the speeding ticket, and then NJ MV to pay the fine to have the suspension lifted.

My problem is that Denville wants me to come up there and go to court because it is a mandatory court appearance and I have the failure to appear.

All this is totally my fault and should have been taken care of at the time, but things were very, very tight financially and emotionally very hard, and I really did totally forget after moving back (still no excuse for not taking care of it all).

My question is how can I satisfy my obligation to Denville without going to court and what kind of problem and fines/punishment can I face from the FTA?

Thanks for any advice,

Jon