Is it possible to pay old fines and avoid jail time?

Question

My husband has several warrants due to non-payment of fines and failure to appear.  The things that led to his arrests/fines/warrants happened a very long time ago, but he hasn't gone to pay the fines because we cannot afford for him to do any jail time due to the warrants.  Who do we contact to attempt to pay off the fines? Is there a way for him to avoid jail time?

Harley Gutin · Answer

Yes.

Michael J. Breczinski · Answer

You can send in money to the court to pay off the fines but eventually would have to appear in front of a judge and hope they will not jail you if you have paid everything off.

George Derieg · Answer

It depends. If these are just probation fines, then you won't be looking at jail time. If these are restitution fines, most judges will incarcerate you for that. Most likely, if you do not pay these fines off, they will turn into civil judgments.

Austin Hirschhorn · Answer

It is possible to pay old fines and avoid jail time. You should hire a lawyer for your husband who will get a copy of his driving record and analyze the unpaid tickets and warrants and then try to work out a payment plan for your husband.  If he is successful your husband should not have to spend any time in jail.  If there have been outstanding warrants for a long time, he has probably been doing something right lately to avoid being stopped by the police.

Clayton Lockhart · Answer

Contact the court clerk, or hire an attorney to act on your behalf.  It depends on the offense(s) that were committed (if they are misdemeanors the offer to pay the fines in full is generally sufficient, but felonies can be a different story). The attorney can usually have more success in negotiating with the court personnel and the proscutors in a situation such as this.  However, the disclaimer is that the final decision on whether any jail time is going to be served rests with the judge.

Eric Sterkenburg · Answer

If a person has warrants for non-payment of fines and failure to appear this can be taken care of by going to the court that issued the warrants. Depending on the reason for the fines and the reason for the failure to appear your husband may not have to go to jail. If he waits until he is stopped by the police for something and they run his name he will be taken to jail right then.

Gregory Casale · Answer

I have handled many cases similar to the facts that you present. The various registry of motor vehicles (RMV) around the country have recently come online and been networked together. This has caused many people with old Massachusetts warrants, for failure to pay fines or costs, to now have their licenses suspended or denied renewal until old warrants are cleared. As the result, we have received calls from all over the country from people who had old open cases, in all stages of the court process, from prior to arraignment through probation after disposition, that now need to address the old cases. We have been able in almost every case to get these cases cleared WITHOUT the person physically coming back to Massachusetts to appear. There is no guarantee that we can do this since the true rules require that before a warrant is removed the person must appear in court, in person. Despite this requirement, we have been able to save a lot of people travel and lodging expenses and cleared every one of these cases.

S Hunter · Answer

I am guessing that there are outstanding warrants out for his arrest. In these situations the best thing to do is hire an attorney and see if they can negotiate something with the prosecutor. The other option is for him to just go on in and turn himself in and throw himself on the mercy of the court. Also depending on the charges etc, the statute of limitations (the time they have to charge him) may have run. I don't know how old he is but he definitely should clear these up before her wants to recieve social security as they will not give him benefits if he has outstanding warrants. Also if he is in Wayne or Washtenaw Counties, they have a street court program for just these types of cases. It would never hurt to call your local court and see what programs they have if any.

Jeff Yeh · Answer

It really depends what the underlying charges are. If they're just infractions, he can go to the clerk and pay everything off. If they are misdemeanor(s), then it is more complicated and he should have an attorney do it so he doesn't get taken into custody.

Jeffrey Pollock · Answer

It depends upon to whom the fines, etc. are owed. Consider hiring  counsel  to pay off the entirety of the balance due and then to later contact the warrant office and turn the Defendant in to the issuing authority.

Dennis Roberts · Answer

Contact the clerk of the court. If there is a warrant out for him he is in  trouble but if not he can probably get the case put back on calendar and pay the  fines.  He might even be able to just pay the clerk.

Gregory Crain · Answer

Call the clerk to see who takes the fines, mail them in.

James Osak · Answer

You EITHER pay the fine(s) OR the Court will jail you. It's that simple.

Gary Russell · Answer

If there are arrest warrants issued for your husband, he most likely will have to personally appear in court (with an attorney for his protection) to answer the warrants.  If they were issued because he simply has not paid in full fines and costs, then most courts are simply looking to get paid and would probably not sentence him to any jail.  But, the court certainly has the power to incarcerate him for failing to abide by the court's previous orders.  He should consult with an attorney and have the attorney make arrangements in advance with the various courts, so you know in advance what will likely happen.

Stephen Freeborn · Answer

Without knowing what the fines are related to (what charges/convictions), I would strongly suggest that you retain  the services of an attorney to look into this for you.  Bottom line:  the problem is not going to go away by ignoring it.  The last thing you want to happen is to be stopped for some minor traffic incident and have the officer see that there are multiple warrants out, and upon seeing this, take your husband to jail.   Hire an attorney.

Larry Dunn · Answer

A person with outstanding warrants is subject to being arrested. Contacting   the court to arrange to pay the fines may avoid imposition of jail.  Contacting  the court in person is usually the best tactic to avoid jail however   you could be arrested when you appear at the court.

Terry Nelson · Answer

Warrants can not be simply paid  they reflect new criminal charges to be handled.  You must turn yourself into the issuing court, with or without an attorney, and try to negotiate a recall of the warrants and a plea bargain on the new  Failure to Appear  criminal charges.  You'll try to negotiate bail reduction or OR release.  You'll then try to negotiate a deal or payment plan on the unpaid fines that caused the warrant, and try to avoid jail time being ordered.  Turning yourself in voluntarily will result in a better outcome than being brought in cuffs to court after arrest on the warrants.  That can happen if you come in contact with law enforcement or customs anywhere in the US.  On misdemeanors and infractions, your attorney can appear in court without the defendant being present.  While this isn't a 'capital case', you face potential jail and fines, so handle it right. Effective plea-bargaining, using whatever legal defenses, facts and sympathies there may be, could possibly keep you out of jail, or at least dramatically reduce it.  Unless you're competent to effectively represent yourself in court against a professional prosecutor trying to put you in jail, most people hire an attorney who can.

Mark R. Thiessen · Answer

Call a bail bonds and try to do a walk through.  Once he pays the fines, then they will give him a court date.  he only goes to jail for a short time until he just get sbailed out.  Once he has a court date, then call an attorney and fight the cases.

Matthew Sharp · Answer

Yes, he can avoid jail time by paying off the warrants and fines. He needs to contact the court that issued the warrants in order to make payment. Often things like this can be handled over the phone.

Steven Alpers · Answer

That is hard to answer. If there are warrants for violation of probation it would certainly help to have the money to pay the fines.  The court may have its own idea on whether that is sufficient or whether there should be jail.  It is always  better to hire an attorney an go to court voluntarily, if your husband is arrested it will definitely go worse for him.

Nathaniel Shafer · Answer

Depending on the number of warrants and the seriousness of the alleged crimes, it may be possible to avoid jail. If you hire an attorney, they can make an appearance for him in court to pay old fines. Without knowing the specifics of his situation, it's impossible to say for sure if he will avoid jail.

Timothy Klisz · Answer

Yes, a skilled lawyer can package up these matters and hopefully avoid jail.

Jared Altman · Answer

He really needs to arrange to go to court with a lawyer.

Mark Smith · Answer

My guess the warrants are cost warrants. If your husband is found the judge   will release him for the bail amount of the fines. He should surrender to  the  court and work out a payment plan.

Brian Wanerman · Answer

If you are in California, if the failures to appear are for misdemeanor charges, if the failures to appear are more than one year old, and if your husband has done nothing to try to hide from the authorities, the charges generally can be dismissed through a Serna motion.  Consult an attorney.

Bernal Ojeda · Answer

Call the court clerk criminal division and pay the fines. The judge probably will not request jail time assuming all fines are paid and assuming they are just traffic tickets.

Russell Pietryga · Answer

Usually, the best way to handle this type of case is to file Motions to Recall the Warrants & Set matter for Pretrial. The key is to get all the warrants recalled prior to showing up for the first court date. If you don't you run the risk that you will get arrested at the first court date and sit in jail until you get an opportunity to see all the judges that issued the warrants. It helps to contact the prosecuting attorney and get a stipulation to recall the warrant prior to filing your motions. Judges are more likely to recall the warrant if you get a stipulation from the prosecuting attorney.

Philip Hache · Answer

What are the fines for (what kind of conviction(s).  You should speak to an attorney in your area about your situation in more detail so they can better assess your situation.

Kathryn Hudson · Answer

At this point he probably has several Failure to Appear or Failure to Pay Fines warrants. You would be wise to hire an attorney that can negotiate with the prosecutor to set up a payment plan to avoid any jail time. The longer he waits the more difficult it will be to get a favorable outcome.

Andrea Rogers · Answer

You can contact each court where he has warrants and tickets and ask if  he can be put on a payment plan to start paying them off. If he's not  sure where he has warrants, then an attorney can do a warrant search for  a small fee.  There may be a bond that he has to pay to lift the warrant. It's cheaper  to hire an attorney to lift the warrant (your husband won't have to pay  the bond if he hires an attorney to lift the warrant) and get a new  court date for him so he can pay off the fines.  If he has never gone to court for the tickets, then an attorney can lift  the warrant and negotiate a plea bargain with the prosecutor to see if  the tickets can be dismissed or reduced to non-moving, no-point  infractions. He will still have to pay fines and court costs, and  possibly a warrant fee, but he won't have points on his driving record.  If he just pays the fines and pleads guilty, then points will be added  to his driving record. If he accumulates 8 points within 18 months, his  license will be suspended for 30 days. If he accumulates 12 points  within 12 months, his license will be revoked for 1 year.  If your husband went to court in the past and pleaded guilty on these  tickets many years ago and the court assessed the fines, but he just  couldn't pay them off, then it's possible that the court might not allow  an attorney to lift the warrant for him and the court will refuse to  lift the warrant until all fines are paid in full. It just depends on  which court these tickets are in.

Leonard Harden · Answer

Pay fines using a credit card by phone.  Then call a local lawyer to help vacate warrants and arrange to have him turn himself in.

Dennis P. Mikko · Answer

Depending on what the fines are for, by paying them the warrants may be recalled and he would not face jail time.  If he is arrested ont he warrants, he will go to jail.  You should seek the advise of an attorney who could make arrangements for the payment of the fines and negotiate a final resolution.

Emmanuel Eke · Answer

Yes. Most tickets/warrants can be resolved without going to jail, by paying fines which usually will include court's cost.  It is advisable to have an attorney assist you.

Thomas Edward Gates · Answer

Jail time is not automatic in cases like yours, however, it may be handed down given the extent of the previous charges and how long the warrants have been outstanding.  Besides paying for the fine, your husband must make a court appearance because of the warrants.

John Brennan · Answer

Get an attorney and see if there can be some agreements and compromises to clear his issues.  There are no guarantees, especially in situation such as this.

Robert De Groot · Answer

Only a privately retained attorney can do something about these issues, negotiate a resolution with the State. And only an attorney who knows all the facts can answer this question.

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Is it possible to pay old fines and avoid jail time?

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