Thursday, June 15, 2006

The first appearance date and suspensions

Somewhere I mentioned that the date on the ticket isn't really a hard date. I was at a seminar yesterday and we were told that the real date is 60 days after that. Once that 60 days runs, the court can (but doesn't have to) contact DMV to initiate a suspension. When DMV issues the suspension notice to you (and hopefully they have your correct address or you have mail forwarding), it gives you another 30 days to appear.

One local court is now sending out warning notices after about 20 days, indicating that they will send the suspension notice out in 10 days if the person doesn't appear. This is inaccurate because, of course, they can't send the notice until 60 days have run.

But it probably doesn't hurt to remind people that their ticket is due to be dealt with and maybe prevent extra paperwork that goes with the suspension notice.

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