Suspended License

[Eclipso]

What is the name of your state? PA

My story : On Sept 10th of 2004 I was pulled over for ilegal left turn also driveing without carrying license. Got a nice 210$ fine. I had no money or income at the time and could not afford to pay the fine. In PA, they give you a 10 day limite . I didn't respond becuase I had no money at all to put down on the fine. I get a warrent , I responded ect. Few months past, I pay the fine ect ect cleared . This is my first offense / driveing offense. Just of April 19 2005, I got pulled over for blowing a stop sign. The officer asked for my License , insurance, and registration. Everything checked clear except my Drivers license. He told me it was suspended. As we talked more about the matter, it came down to Not paying the DMV to restore my license when I paid the citation for ilegal left turn.

I don't think or know if I got a letter from the DMV about haveing my license suspended for not paying a fine on time / responding on time. If I would have known, I would have paid that 30$ the min I paid the citations from last year. Infact, I knew about my drivers license was suspended becuase it is written on the citation if I didn't respond ontime. But,I thought by paying the citation my driving privlages would be reinstated. My question is :
1.) Should I fight this in court? Citation or the DMV? or both?
2.) Do I need to bring a lawyer? I know its the smartest thing to do, but I'm on a bidget and really can't afford an attorney.
I'm not very fond of PA laws, I'm only 19 years old just getting to know it the hard way.
Any help would be appriciated.

 

[zippysgoddess]

Well first of all, you should never ignore a fine, in PA. you are allowed to make payment arrangements if you can't pay the amount in full. You go to a Justices office, he will look over your income and situation and set up a plan for you, then you only have problems if you don't keep to the payment plan.

Secondly, yes, if your license is suspended, you have to pay the fines in question that causes the suspension as well as a fee to the DMV to get your license back. No way around that.

You also contradict yourself, saying you didn't respond because you couldn't pay and you did respond so it shouldn't have been suspended. More than likely it was suspended because you didn't pay at first or make proper arrangements and they had to issue the warrant. The DMV does not have to send you a notice, you are informed of the repercussions at the time you get your citation and that is considered notice enough.

Sorry to say you don't have much of a leg to stand on here.

My DH's was suspended once and we were able to clear if up because we HAD paid on time, the court just took awhile to send the money to the state and the suspension got reported in the meantime. Unless you have a situation like that, you are out of luck.

 

[Eclipso]

Just to add, I walked over to the DMV the following day to get my license back after it was talken the previous night. I only live 1 min away from the DMV. I'm not a lazy person, If I had known I had to pay DMV fee. I would have payed it the day I payed my citation.