Menu
1) Do Not pay GC Services 2) Do Not Plea Guilty 3) Don’t get caught driving on the way to court. A Traffic Ticket Lawyer Can Help You Get Your Driving Privileges Back.Even if you did not have a reason to miss court and DMV suspends your license, we can still restore your driver license. We can reopen the case contest the new vehicle code vioaltion, the new charge of failure to appear, get GC Services off your back, and fight the new 14601.1 misdemeanor offense driving on a suspended license.
There are consequences to not appearing in court.
Courts and the DMV can impose a California License Suspension for a numberof reasons.. There are a variety of reasons for the original suspension. Not all these reasons have to do with a criminal offense (drunk driving, reckless driving,probation violation)however, failure to address the issue can result in a criminal history along with additional penalties,community service and mandatory jail time.
If your license suspension was because of a DUI then you need to go get your license reinstated before court. By starting the reinstatement process to either get a valid license license you will not come to court empty handed. This gives the court and prosecution a reason to move away from the 14601.1 or 14601.2 charges which carry heavier penalties and down to a no license charge.
There are consequences to not appearing in court. Most people do not know they have a License Suspension in California until it is too late and they are facing new criminal charges for driving during the suspension period. Below is a list of common reasons why people have a drivers license suspension and variety of defenses, the arrest warrants that come with it and how the courts assign their accounts to private collection companies.
Thousands of California licenses are suspended everyday. However the most common is for not showing up to court. The typical scenarios for suspending a person driving privilege usaully involves missing a traffic violation for a minor offense (proof of insurance. unpaid ticket, ).
This is followed by the traffic violator overlooking a notice of suspension in the mail or it was mailed to an old mailing address (lack of knowledge). Others just disregarded and threw it away. The person thought it was no big deal. Since that day the person had been living life and thought the traffic ticket disappeared.
It’s important to show up to court for your traffic violation even if you disagree with it. Courts and the DMV do not like it when you ignore them and by ignoring them you are subjecting yourself to increase fines and penalties. You need to show up to court when on your court date. Failure to do so can result in a California License Suspension. This means the court will suspend your license and you will not be allowed to drive. If this happens and you are caught driving then you will be subjected to a driving on a suspended license charge by the district attorney in addition to your traffic violation . A driving on a suspended license charge will subject you to probation, jail time and fines.
A number of things can triggger a driver license suspension in California.
Some of reasons for for a California License Suspension include too many vehicle code violation points on the driving record.
An immediate license suspension will happen if you accumulate too many points. This is reffered to as a negligent operator (habitual traffic offender) suspension. This happens when a person gets 4 points (moving violations) on their driver license over a period of time. Most moving violations are 1 point, however there are a handful of violations that are 2 points. Violations that are 2 points include DUIs and getting into accdients. The reasons for the license revocation is to take the driver off the road by imposing harsher penalties if they are caught driving to avoid serious injury and traffic accidents.
A negligent op suspension hearing once too many points are accumulated because of driving violations. If this is the case then getting it is important to have an attorney who is knowledgeble with the Orage Driver Safety Office in Orange as Neg OP hearings are held there. A lawyer who is familair with the Driver Safety Office closest to you will take you a long way and provide you with defense strategies to represent or give you legal advice at the negligent operator hearing and take the necessary steps to enroll in you defensive driving classes before your hearing at the local driver safety office.
A failure to pay child support(if you fall behind on child support then you can get a License Suspension by DMV . The state legislatures have made up several ways to make dads pay overdue child support. There are also other ways your license can be suspended as well. ) is common reason for a license suspension. If this happens, then the issue needs to be resolved with child support. As a criminal defense attorney I get the prosecution to not push forward with the case in hopes of buying my clients more time to work out their issues in family court so they can go out and get their license and get their drivers license. This will result in a lower penalty and possibly an amended charge the vehicle code from a driving on a suspended license to a driving on a no license.
Many people have DUIs (driving under the influence of alcohol) ,reckelss driving, or chemical test refusal convictions and are lost in the burecracy. Despite paying all their penalty with the courts, doing their time in county jail, and serving out their suspension period pursuant to the vehicle code, they just did not take the right steps for getting their driver license back. Eventually they are pulled over by a police officer for a traffic law violation and facing prosecution on a new case.
Most of these things are adminstrative and are often fixable. The goal of your criminal defense attorney is to negotiate with the prosecution to not make you do the minimum jail sentence of 10 days and to give you more time for you to fix the problems and get a valid drivers license or at least a restricted license. See How do I get my license back after a DUI in California?
Other times, the California License Suspension may be unrelated to any vehicle code Instead they have to do with a person’s health and fitness to drive.
This happens when a person is ill or has some sort of medical condition which makes them a danger on the road. Some things that make a person dangerous on the road include that of suffering seizures or being legally blind.
In these cases a person will be called in for a fitness exam where they will be given an eye test and from there given a series of other test which will help and hearing officer determine whether or not their condition hampers them and makes them a dangerous individual on the road.
One of the common reasons for a Fitness Suspension by an Officer is the failure to pull over. Often times an officer will have a suspicion that there is an issue because the driver was nervous or took time to stop the car. However, these could be explained away by nervousness and medical conditions can be ruled out by a filling out a DS 326 form at DMV. However the problem is that the person is still facing an evading charge in court.
Vehicle Code 14601.1 – Driving on a Suspended license Vehicle Code 40508 – Failure to appear in court on a traffic citation
When people not show up to court, they will receive a failure to appear notice
1. You drove a motor vehicle while your driver’s license was (suspended/ [or] revoked)
AND
2. When the you drove, you knew that your driver’s license was (suspended/ [or] revoked).
[If the People prove that:
1. The California Department of Motor Vehicles mailed a notice to the defendant telling (him/her) that (his/her) driver’s license had been (suspended/ [or] revoked);
2. The notice was sent to the most recent address reported to the department [or any more recent address reported by the person, a court, or a law enforcement agency];
AND
3. The notice was not returned to the department as undeliverable or unclaimed;
1. You received a citation;
2. In connection with that citation, you signed a written promise to appear(in court/[or] before a person authorized to receive a deposit of bail);
AND
3. You willfully failed to appear (in court/[or] before a person authorized to receive a deposit of bail).
Someone commits an act willfully when he or she does it willingly or on purpose. It is not required that he or she intend to break the law, hurt someone else, or gain any advantage.
[It does not matter whether you were found guilty of the violation of the Vehicle Code alleged in the original citation.]
[It does not matter whether you were found guilty of the violation of the Vehicle Code alleged in the original citation.] Take Care of the Problem The main point if you NEED to show up to court or have an attorney show up on your behalf. By not showing up to court you are putting your self up for more charges. These charges include a failure to appear and additional civil assessments.
A civil assessment is an additional 300 charge to your California License Suspension. This additional money is money that you must pay on top of your case. I get many cases where people miss a court date and a civil assessment will kick in within a few weeks. It is important that you take care of your civil assessment and unfreeze your license at the same time.
In addition to this, the failure to appear is also a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor will affect your criminal record. It’s important that you take care of this the correct way. A California License Suspension will involve a hold on your license. This hold on your license will make it illegal for you to drive. If you are caught driving within this period then you are subject to jail time and fines. You are looking at probation and your car being impounded.
Arrest warrants for driving on a suspended license usaully shows up in the context of traffic tickets. When people fail to show up to the court case for a traffic ticket then the court will suspend a license and in lots of cases issue a warratn for arrest.
The arrrest warrant tells law enforcement that there is an arrest warrant out for you. This means that you can get arrested at any time there is law enforcement contact.
Even if you did not break a law you will still be exposed. For example, if you were in a car that and a passenger but the car got rear ended by no fault of the driver and police came by than the police can take you in. Bottom line is that you do not need to do anything new to get arrested. A warrant alone is enough.
GC Servcies is who you are suppose to deal with when your license is suspnded for not showing up to court. However, the keyword is supposed to.
GC services is a money making operation. They will take as much money as they can. GC services will go after you for the full amount of the ticket. In other words they will go after the maximum amount. For example, if the court was asking for 400.00 then GC services will come asking for $1400. In addition to this, the people who work at GC services are very agressive at getting you to pay over the phone. They will not tell you that there other options to handling things. You need filter out the BS and look out for your best interest.
Paying GC Servcies is one way to free up your license. However, it may not be the most effective method for many reasons. The first reason is that GC Servcies will always for more money from you than if you went to court. For example, if a ticket would have cost 300 dollars in court, GC services may go after 1200 dollars. In addition, by paying GC Services you are admittign guilt and will suffer the point on the vioaltion. Finally, many tickets that are with GC Services are many years old. These are the best kinds of tickets to fight as they have a high chance of dsimissal in court.
In fact, if a person misses out on their court date, then the court will usually add an additional charge of failure to appear. This is a misdemeanor in itself and carries jail time and fines of up to a 1000 dollars. In addition to this, the court will also add many extra fees. Some of these fees are labeled civil assessment. These civil assessments are hefty fines in itself. They can be anywhere from 300-500 dollars.
This does not come out well for the person who missed their court date. First their license gets Suspended License in California. In addition, they are now facing misdemeanor charges as opposed to just infractions and finally the fines have more than doubled. This type of mess takes a substantial time to clean up.
Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with independent research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis. . Only %2.5 of Attorneys are selected to Rising Stars
The objective is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel.
Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with independent research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.
Super Lawyers recognizes only the top five percent of attorneys from more than 70 practice areas per state. Rising Stars honors the top 2.5 percent of up-and-coming attorneys.
Copyright 2023 Law Office of Hieu Vu All rights reserved.
