I moved to new york over 5 years ago and since I did not have a car, I allowed my NC drivers license to expire without getting a NY drivers license . My Passport was recently stolen and I needed additional verification of my identification to satisfy the identification requirements to replace it so I requested a drivers abstract from the NC DMV. When I received the documentation it stated that my license had been suspended. I was puzzled as I had not driven in years, so I looked up the county of the violation and found out that it was Edison NJ. I had been pulled over on the night of my move after driving 13 hrs due to operating a truck in the wrong lane. I explained to the police officer that I was unfamiliar with the area and had been following the signs for the next exit I was to take so I would not miss it and get lost. I told him I had seen the signs that stated trucks should move to the other lane but it conflicted with the signs telling me to stay in the lane for the next exit and thought it must be referring to large trucks and not a 10 foot moving truck. He sympathized with me and in lieu of a ticket for driving in the wrong lane which he explained it would be an expensive fine and points against my license, he issued what I thought was a warning for failure to wear a seat belt ( I was wearing my seat belt). I had not signed a citation or at least I hadn't remembered signing a promise to appear and certainly would have just paid the fine if I it had been explained that I owed one. After riffling through old documents I found the the ticket and although I had not signed it and there was no fine amount listed, I had been mistaken and it was a citation. I called the number on the back of the ticket and left a message inquiring what I should do. I received no call back. What kind of trouble am I in and how much will this cost?
Jason T KomninosCriminal Defense AttorneyHackensack, NJNJ licensed ·
It sounds like there could a bench warrant issued. You will have to get in contact with the court to find out how much bail is required to the lift the warrant. Then you will get a new court date to answer for the ticket. A seat belt ticket does not carry serious penalties though. It might help to retain an attorney to assist you in resolving this case.
You can do this yourself, but you would need to visit the court to find out if any warrant was issued, pay the warrant and they may or may not accept payment for the ticket. If they do not accept payment of the ticket you will have to appear in court. If this is the case you should have a lawyer but chances are you can do this yourself and just pay the ticket plus a fine for the contempt of court for not paying the ticket when it was originally issued. If you feel that this is too complicated for you, you can hire one of us lawyers to do it for you, but it will cost several times the cost of the ticket. Unfortunately its against the rules of this site for us to quote you a fee.
The office is not required to tell you how to resolve your ticket. The ticket will say whether appearance is necessary or whether it can be paid on line. Seatbelt tickets do not carry points so the officer was cutting you a break.
There is no such requirement that you notify the court of your desire to appear. It is not a choice you have unless the ticket could have been paid online.
At this point you may be better off getting an attorney.
Mark M CheserDUI / DWI AttorneyUnion, NJNJ licensed ·
Use or attorney for fastest action or call yourself. Call the court. They will tell you the bail on the ticket. Edison is a rather easy going court. They may let you pay the fine but there is a contempt charge out there (the FTA warrant) and they may need to you answer that in court. The bail is normally the cost of the ticket. They will put it back on the docket and you can finish it up. You need to pay Jersey $100 to restore your license in Jersey. (they assigned a number to you for the computer). If they let you pay straight up make sure you get a receipt. You still have to pay that $100 to MVC. Thqat will free up jersy and then NC will free up etc.
There is probably a bench warrant issued. You will have to get in contact with the court to find out how much bail is required to the lift the warrant. If the Judge is angry he may not lift the warrant and may make u come in to get a new court date or to address the ticket that day Retain an attorney to assist you
