Three Unpaid Traffic Tickets in CA

[DB1031Throw]

Hello, I have 3 unpaid tickets. They are all from speeding 20 over speed limit. One is from December 2017, one around April of 2018, and one from June 2018. I know.

I need help on where to start with these. I did not appear in court. I have received a notice that my licence will expire in Feb. I am sure starting somewhere is better than nothing... These fees total over $2000. I cannot afford this, I couldn't even afford just one ticket...

 

[quincy]

Hello, I have 3 unpaid tickets. They are all from speeding 20 over speed limit. One is from December 2017, one around April of 2018, and one from June 2018. I know.

I need help on where to start with these. I did not appear in court. I have received a notice that my licence will expire in Feb. I am sure starting somewhere is better than nothing... These fees total over $2000. I cannot afford this, I couldn't even afford just one ticket...

You could start by speaking to an attorney in your area to discuss your options or you could go to the court and try to work out a payment plan.

 

[CdwJava]

If you failed to appear, chances are good that your license has already been suspended. As such, any car you drive can be impounded for 30 days and subject to nearly $3,000 in fees before it is released. There is also a chance you can be arrested for a future offense or that arrest warrants have already been issued.

As suggested, it it stime to speak with an attorney. You may very well be able to arrange a payment plan .. though, you may be a pedestrian for a while.

 

[adjusterjack]

These fees total over $2000.

Probably would have been a third of that had you paid them when you got them.

 

[Zigner]

Probably would have been a third of that had you paid them when you got them.

I disagree - $2k sounds about right if he had paid them all when due. Gotta love California! I suspect the fines, fees, etc., are all much higher than $2k now. The best thing for our pauperous OP would have been an avoidance of any tickets in the first place, but certainly avoidance of the second and third. If the OP wishes to get any reduction of penalties, etc., then s/he'll need an attorney. Otherwise, the OP ought to figure out a way to pony up.

 

[NeilTheCop]

If you failed to appear, chances are good that your license has already been suspended.

Would California have issued a failure to appear arrest warrant?

 

[CdwJava]

Would California have issued a failure to appear arrest warrant?

It is rare, and does not generally happen, but there are circumstances (like when you have a repeat offender) where they do.

 

[CdwJava]

Pursuant to state law, a warrant is not supposed to issue from a single infraction FTA. But, that rule goes out the window when you have a repeat offender as our OP appears to be. Not every jurisdiction will do so, even on multiple offenses, but it is sufficiently common that we will find it.

 

[NeilTheCop]

A good 75% of our arrest warrants were either for failure to appear or failure to pay fines.

 

[CdwJava]

In CA state law and court practice restricts such penalties for most FTAs. A license suspension tends to be about it. Where I used to work we had one guy who bought cars for about $300 a pop KNOWING they'd get towed out from underneath him. He finally started going to jail for 30-90 days at a time and he was suddenly cured. (Of course this was before AB109 when we used to have room in the jails for scofflaws ... now ... nope!)