Legal Question in Traffic Law in North Carolina

I was pulled over for lapse of ins. from over a year ago. I received a ticket and went to court asking for a continuance so I could get a hearing from dmv. I rec'vd letter from dmv that I would not require a hearing as long as I had paid the necessary fines to the tag office. I got all the things taken care of but I completely forgot the continuance and missed the court date. Where do I go from here??? HELP!?! NC STATE.


Asked on 2/02/13, 10:24 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

If it has not been more than 20 days since you missed your court date you can go to the clerks office and ask to have your case put back on the court calendar. Often they can put a case back on the calendar that day and you can simply take care of the ticket as if you had not missed your court date. If you have everything in order with DMV and bring proof of that with you to court - often the Assistant District Attorney will consider dismissing the ticket. All done - no harm, no foul.

If it has been beyond 20 days - that's when bad things start to happen! Your failure to appear will be reported to DMV which will result in a notice of suspension of you license being sent to you and the attachment of a $200 FTA penalty by the court. And the hits just keep on coming - if your ticket is a criminal citation (which yours most likely is) it is possible a judge has issued an order for you arrest. If you do not resolve the ticket in the time alloted to you by the DMV letter - your license will be suspended and you will have a DMV restoration fee. At this point you may want to hire an attorney before things get any worse - and they can get worse.

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Answered on 2/02/13, 10:51 am
Jeff Rosner Rosner Law Firm P.A.

You may need to contact an attorney in the county where you got the ticket so he/she can get it back on the calendar and get it taken care of. Unfortunately, it will be more expensive at this point as there will be late fees and restoration fees.

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Answered on 2/03/13, 6:24 am


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