I owe $2ooo in fines, how many days in jail will that be in Montgomery, Tx?

Montgomery, Texas: You ask how long you would be in jail to "sit out" $2,000 in fines in Montgomery, Texas. It's such a simple question, you'd think there would be a simple answer, but that's generally not how the law works. In Texas, you are entitled to AT LEAST $50 a day credit toward your fine and court costs. Many counties credit at greater amounts (Dallas county is $150 a day). If you do labor while incarcerated, you are entitled to at least another $50 a day credit. That can be more as well. But sometimes there are more inmates than there are jobs to do, so you can't find work to do, and sometimes your prior criminal history (primarily escape charges and crimes of violence) disqualifies you from doing labor while in custody. If you establish yourself to be indigent in the court (i.e - dead broke with no ability to pay), you cannot be ordered to jail to serve out your fines and / or court costs. The United States has banned "debtor's prisons" for decades... In most cases, you are entitled to the minimum credit for each case in which you were fined. So if the $2,000 fine were for one case, the maximum jail time to sit it our would be 40 days ($50 x 40), or 20 days if you perform labor while incarcerated. If the $2,000 total represented TWO $1,000 fines, as opposed to one $2,000 fine, you should be credited for $50 a day toward EACH case, so the longest you would spend in jail would be 20 days (20 x $50 = $1,000), or 10 days if you performed labor. And this is not to mention that the court can allow or order you to do community service rather than sit out your fines and costs. So the true answer is that nobody knows for sure when you would get out, but it can't be more than 40 days, unless the jail screws up your paperwork, which opens a whole new can of worms. One time I had a client assessed a sentence of 10 days, but it was entered on the computer as TEN YEARS. It took a few days to clear that up.... Did you think it was easy giving accurate legal advice? Welcome to our world! Best of luck to you!

Quite frankly, you should consider borrowing the money (selling the car, possessions, etc.) and paying the court the $2,000. Many of my clients can not stand the torment of being in jail. Due to the variances of local and state laws, you should contact a qualified Texas DUI lawyer for a consultation before you decide to serve the time in jail to get credit for the $2,000.

If the fine is a term of your probation then you might be in violation of your probation and subject to a revocation or modification on your probation, which could subject you to up to 180 days in jail (not that I think that's likely). You need to discuss what you can do with your probation officer and if he/she isn't helpful, you should contact the attorney that represented you on the case.

In general, the answer to that question depends on how much time you have left on probation. Georgia has a provision that allows the Judge to convert fines owed to community service hours. I am not sure if Texas has a similar law. You should contact a qualified Texas DUI lawyer for a consultation. Most lawyers will give you a free telephone consultation regarding such questions.