Q: I have a few 14 year old unpaid tickets. I lived out of state for 10 years and forgot. What options do I have?
A:
Hello Asker,
It is hard to say without having your driving record to review in front of me but what I can say is that there are generally two ways of resolving the tickets. For tickets this old that are causing license troubles, it is either because there is a failure to pay or failure to appear. If there is a failure to pay, you need only pay and there is little else to do. If there is a failure to appear (didn't' show up to court when required to), you have more options. At least in Illinois, it is possible to appear yourself or through an attorney if the offense allows it and vacate or remove the failure to appear. When proof of this reaches the secretary of state, they will lift the suspension of your privileges. Alternatively, you can pay any fines you were assessed in your absence on the ticket and be issued a notice of compliance to deliver to the secretary of state. Taking this strategy may cost you more and will require payment of a $70 reinstatement fee.
Unfortunately, this is the extent of detail I can provide as there is insufficient information here to give more advice. For example, an old unpaid ticket can either suspend a license or prevent renewal after expiration. Both of these are wholly unique problems with different solutions and for an attorney such as myself to give more accurate advice, we would need to at a minimum need to ask a few follow up questions.
Hope that helps and let me know if you have further questions!
Sincerely,
Jason A. Wilkins
Traffic Attorney
(630) 445-2293
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