Did Not Receive Notice of Warrant and Now Need to Vacate

[jrjones]

My question involves an arrest warrant from the State of: New York.

I recently discovered that I have a warrant out for my arrest because I did not pay a fine for a minor violation. I know about it only because I found the unanswered summons and check in an envelope (which I intended to send but forgot) under an old stack of papers. Not wanting to risk anything, I immediately called the courthouse, who told me about the warrant for the first time and said I would need to come to the courthouse to vacate it.

I never received a notice of the warrant, presumably because the address on the summons was taken from my driver's license and I hadn't lived there for quite some time. The warrant is now more than a year old. Had I known about it earlier I would have addressed it ASAP, but I had no idea. Will the age of the warrant be problematic in trying to vacate it? I have no other criminal record save for a handful of speeding tickets.

I'm sorry if this is a duh duh question, but I'm not familiar with these processes.

[aardvarc]

Time frame won't be an issue - warrants don't expire.

If you haven't already, update your driver's license. In most states, you have a very SHORT time period where you are required BY LAW to keep that information updated (some states as short as 10 days, many up to 30 days) and can face additional fines for not doing so.

[jrjones]

Thank you. I went to court and had the matter cleared up. My warrant was vacated and I paid the original fine; seemed like a procedural matter. Will this go on my record?