Can I Pay Off My Warrant in Garland?
The absolute wrong way to remove a warrant is to go down to Garland Municipal Court and pay the ticket off. Many people do this each day across the State of Texas only to find that their license has been suspended as a result. We live in a heavily monitored world now. Everything you do is reported to some government entity that is motivated to either make you pay more money or punish you for acts the legislature has deemed to be improper. If you pay off a traffic ticket, the law is clear that the court must treat that payment as an admission of guilt as if it were said in front of a jury during a trial. This allows Garland Municipal Court to then report that guilt as a conviction to Texas DPS. Texas DPS will then determine what type of civil punishment to hand down to the driver for the reported conviction.
Many of the punishments handed down by Texas DPS are more severe than the actual fine paid to Garland Municipal Court. For example, a no insurance ticket that is paid at the window of Garland Municipal Court carries with it a surcharge penalty of $780.00 and a suspended license if SR22 insurance is not purchased and submitted to DPS as a result of the conviction. Further, a license reinstatement fee of $105.75 will have to be paid before the license will be listed as “eligible” in their monitoring system.
Who Really Benefits From Paying Off Warrants In Garland Municipal Court?
The only entity that really benefits from paying off old tickets is Garland Municipal Court and The Department Of Public Safety. This is due to Article 27.14 Of The Code Of Criminal Procedure. This specific code section allows courts to treat payments on old tickets as convictions. This law was structured this way to make the processing of cases easier for courts. If a court can convict a person based on a payment, then they do not need to monitor the case any further after that. They simply click a button and have the ticket reported as a conviction. The defendant gets a copy of the receipt and the warrant is issued.
Working With Garland Municipal Court
When you have a warrant in Garland Municipal Court your main concern should be getting that warrant lifted as fast as possible in to avoid being arrested. The most efficient way of getting your warrant lifted and protecting your driving record is to hire an experienced lawyer in Garland, Texas that is familiar with the procedures and policies of Garland Municipal Court. An experienced lawyer can save you time and money by insuring that things are done properly the first time. If a case is not done properly it can have a serious impact on your driving record, insurance rates and driver’s license. The last thing you want to deal with is a suspended license due to an improperly handled traffic ticket.
Getting warrants lifted in Garland starts with getting good information from the client. Once this information is received, the attorney can then work towards filing the proper documents in Garland Municipal Court in order to get the warrant removed. Normally, this takes only 24 – 72 hours to complete. If the person is in jail the warrant is removed the same day.
Hiring A Lawyer To Lift Warrants In Garland
When you hire an attorney in Garland for warrants, the hope is that you avoid the extra fees that would be owed to the State of Texas otherwise. Usually, the amount of money an attorney charges to lift a warrant is substantially less than any surcharge penalty or insurance increase caused by the conviction. Lawyers that lift warrants in Garland look at the big picture for their clients. They see the angles that may not have been noticed by their clients. It is an experienced lawyers job to make sure that these consequences are considered and balanced for their clients to have a full understanding of the gravity of a warrant in Garland. If a lawyer is not able to explain both the fine amount from Garland Municipal Court and the civil penalties that could follow, then you may want to consider using a different attorney for your warrants. If you would like to discuss getting warrants lifted in Garland with our experienced lawyers, give us a call today at 214-321-4105.
The Process of Lifting Warrants and Garland Municipal Surety Bonds
In order to remove a warrant in Garland Municipal Court a lawyer must first file a surety bond. The document filed by lawyer to lift warrants in Garland Municipal Court is referred to as a “surety bond.” This document is filed personally by the Garland ticket lawyer and makes the following affirmations:
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- Promise to be held responsible for the total amount of the fine up to double the actual cost
- Promises to appear in court for all future settings to work towards resolving the case
In exchange for these promises, Garland Municipal Court will recall the warrants and set the case back on the docket to try to resolve. It is important to understand that simply removing the warrant is not enough to resolve the case. The matter has to be resolved in open court to finalize the case. This is where many who have been bonded out of jail make their mistake. They think that by “bonding” out of jail, the matter is closed and it is not.
Garland Municipal Court has their own surety bond forms that must be used in order to lift a warrant. Many attorneys who are not familiar with the court procedures and policies will draft their own surety bonds and deliver them to the court only to find that one is not needed. Everything is done paperless at the courthouse. Once the attorney appears in person in Garland Municipal Court, then the documents can be printed out and given to the attorney to establish to the client that the warrants have in fact been lifted and the new court date has been received.
Remember that if you hire a lawyer to help you lift warrants in Garland that the warrant being removed is only the first step. Next that attorney will be required to appear in court on your behalf. The attorney should notify you of this court date not later than 1 week after they have been hired. If you hire the lawyer and have not heard back from them in this amount of time it is crucial that you call their office to see what the status of your case is.
Keeping The Garland Ticket Off Your Record After The Warrant Is Removed
Once the warrant is removed, it becomes the responsibility of the defendant to keep track of the pending court dates through their attorney of record. Good communication is the first step to ensuring that the case does not go back into warrant status and stays off the permanent record of the defendant. We have had horror stories where a client has hired us to lift the warrant which we do. After the warrant is lifted, the client does not return our phone calls or respond to our e-mails. The case ends up going back into warrant status all because the client refused to communicate regularly.
Once an attorney appears in Garland Municipal Court for you, the work begins to protect your record and/or get the case dismissed depending on the circumstances. You should not think that by simply hiring an attorney in Garland for warrants that your cases are going to magically disappear. Dismissals do not grow on trees. They are hard earned in today’s legal environment. If you get one, then great. If not, it is more important to make sure the record remains clear. This is normally where the attorney earns their money making sure that you are protected after the Garland warrant is lifted.
need to get a warrant lifted off me…
We would be glad to help you with your warrants in Garland. To hire our office simply click on this link or call us at 214-321-4105