Unpaid Fines for an Old Reckless Ticket I Thought Was Paid

[DocHoof]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California.

So, here is the skinny. I got pulled over for DUI in 1998 in San Diego. Went to court, the public defender had it dropped to a reckless driving (wet) so I would not lose my CDL. Was given a fine of $1,400 and sent on my merry way. During the same timeframe of this ticket, I was involved in a bitter divorce and had an outstanding child support balance. I sent my $1,400 fine to the clerks office, but now 14 years later am finding out the ticket is still showing as unpaid. Where the $1,400 I paid went is of no clue to me, but can assume the clerk applied it to my back child support. During my divorce, my family law attorney advised me to get an Arizona driver license, since Arizona would not suspend my license for a child support case in CA. So, I did and have held it since, with no tickets, accidents or so much as a parking ticket. It wasn't until about 3 months ago the support order was finally moved out of California that I realized this issue. Now that the support order is in Pennsylvania where my ex lives, I went down to the DMV in Utah (where I live) to reapply for my CDL. That was when I opened this can of worms I thought I had paid but still lingers over my head. The once $1,400 fine is now showing an outstanding balance over $5,000. I just want this gone once and for all, but I am not looking for a "get out of jail free card" or any other way to "beat" the system. I am willing to repay the original fine, but I'll be honest, the interest and penalties are enough to piss off the Pope. I no longer have any record showing that I sent $1,400 in a money order, so what are my options? Anyone with any real legal advice, I am more than open to suggestions.

[flyingron]

Such a tangled web we weave when first we try to deceive. If you hadn't broken the law originally trying to dodge your support obligations, you'd not be in this mess.

You have NO OPTION now but to pay California what they think you owe. Your chance to do anything else is long expired.

[DocHoof]

You know, it is people like you who make assumptions and then spew you unknowing and unfounded theories that piss people off. How you determined I was dodging child support is utter bovine scatology. For your information, my back support was accrued while waiting on a paternity test to verify that I was indeed the father with my cheating ex-wife(I physically caught her with another man, hence the divorce ).
As I stated in the original post, I did send a money order to pay the fine, so I have not knowingly dodged anything. As far as i amconcerned, your unfounded and blatant disregard for actual truths over speculative theories is about the most worthless response I have ever had the misfortune to read.

[flyingron]

If you would take a chill pill and lay off the imflamatory obfuscated profanity long enough to read I was not passing judgement on the nature of your support issues. I was talking about the fact you lied to Arizona about residing there to obtain a license and you violated California law by residing there and not obtaining a California license. You yourself claimed to break these laws on the advice of your counsel to duck the impact of the (rightly or wrongly owed) support arrearage.

But as I told you, there is NOTHING you are going to do at this point with the state of California to clear this OTHER THAN TO PAY THEM.
Absent showing (receipt, cancelled check or whatever) that you paid it AND that it wasn't attached for some other court ordered fee.

[DocHoof]

Again with the assumptions on your part. There is no deceit in using an address to a house I physically and solely own on an Indian reservation in a state I claim for income tax . Nor is it required in ANY state for members of active duty military to obtain a license in the state they are stationed in. There are still some of us people left in the world who hold our honor and integrity above all else and to have that called into question is usually construed as offensive.

[cdwjava]

Okay ... ARE you active duty military?

[antrc170]

You only have one hope for not paying the entire bill. You need to go to the courthouse and research your support documents. If the fine was applied to your support you should be able to find it. You can then present that to the clerk and see about erasing late fees, etc. It may take awhile so you'll have to weigh the trouble versus the cost. Good luck.

[flyingron]

Owning land is not the same as residing there. Fraudulently claiming such on taxes isn't any better than not doing the correct thing on your driver's license. No I am not assuming anything. In your original message you were clear that you MOVED well after claiming such residency.
If you want to sit here and make up more weasel things have at it.

Otherwise, listen to ANTRC. That's the only slight glimmer you have (though I'm not hopeful that even that is going to work).

[That Guy]

Knowing which county this was in might help us address some of the lingering issues better. Some counties have local procedures that do not apply in others, and some of us are more familiar with particular counties but not others.

Whether you can even begin to reasonably expect a reduction in the $5000 amount which is due, and since some fines are mandatory or statutory (cannot be reduced) and others have minimums and maximums, you would have to get a detailed accounting of the different (additional) fines, penalties and assessments that the added $3600 is made up of. You'll have to contact the court where this matter was originally heard and ask them about that.

You should keep in mind that the court is (obviously) not under any obligation to reduce the amount, and in cases like this where you are having difficulty getting a license renewed or issued, they know the ball is fully in their court. So while it is not a bad idea to try and mitigate the cost of resolving this, I agree with flyingron that at the end of the day, you may find yourself having no other option but to pay the full amount.

Lastly, and while I do not know all the details of your case, or whether you actually qualify for this or not, but when you contact the court to get a breakdown of all the fines/fees/penalties and assessments, you may want to ask them about the Amnesty Program for Traffic Tickets and whether your case qualifies or not.

Some of the details are:

Until June 30, 2012, certain unpaid traffic tickets are eligible for a 50 percent discount under a one-time amnesty program. To qualify for amnesty all the following conditions must be met:

• Your outstanding traffic debt was due to be paid in full before January 1, 2009;
• The last date you made a payment was on or before January 1, 2009;
• You either failed to appear in court or failed to pay in full;
• You do not owe restitution to a victim on any case within the county where the violation was filed; AND
• You have no outstanding misdemeanor or felony warrants within the county where the violation was filed.

That being said, and from what I *DO* know about your case, and since a "Wet & Reckless" charge is a misdemeanor, I would have assumed that the court would have issued a warrant as a result of the failure to appear (and a misdemeanor warrant would disqualify you from the amnesty program), and yet when a warrant is issued, there is no order for driver's license hold and you would not be having problems with a license in another state, so maybe you do qualify. Point is, call the court and ask!

Here is a list of Court locations and contact information. if for some reason you contact a court and you get an automated line (no live operators) I would try to get through to someone at the criminal clerk's office. Try and refrain fro calling actual courtrooms (unless specifically instructed to do so by someone from the court).