Las Vegas Traffic Ticket Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ Index
Can I Just Mail The Amount Stated On The Traffic Citation To The Court?
What Will Happen If I Ignore The Traffic Citation?
Can't I Deal With My Las Vegas Traffic Citation By Personally Appearing In Court?
How Much Time Should I Expect To Spend If I Decide To Appear For Myself?
Aside From Saving Me Time, What Other Conveniences Do Your Services Provide?
Do You "FIX" Traffic Citations?
What Happens After A Traffic Citation Has Been Adjudicated?
Do Your Fees Include Any Court Imposed Fines, Cost Of Traffic School Or Movie, Or Other Costs?
What If I Live Outside Nevada, How Do I Satisfy Court Requirements That I Attend Traffic School Or Movie?
What Services Will You Provide Me When Representing Me With My Traffic Citation?
What Happens After You Accept Me As A Client, You Contact The Court And The Court Assigns A Date Different Than The Date That Appears On The Traffic Citation?
What Happens When You Investigate Whether My Traffic Citation Is Assigned To A Court?
Can I Just Mail The Amount Stated On The Traffic Citation To The Court?
You can, but the courts take your paying the amount on the Traffic Citation, without appearing in court, as a GUILTY PLEA. The result is that any negative remarks associated with your Traffic Citation will be reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles of your state. Then, when your insurance company finds out about the negative remarks, your auto insurance will likely increase. The length of the time and the amount your insurance will be increased depends upon your insurance company and the type of citations. At this stage of your obligation to the court, we can appear for you and prevent the court from assuming you are GUILTY.
What Will Happen If I Ignore The Traffic Citation?
Whether you are from Nevada or from another state in the U.S., a warrant will be issued for your arrest. If you are a Nevada Resident and are stopped before your driver's license is renewed, you may be arrested and your vehicle impounded. If you are never stopped before your driver’s license renewal date, the Department of Motor Vehicles will not allow you to renew your license before dealing with your Traffic Citation.
Can't I Deal With My Las Vegas Traffic Citation By Personally Appearing In Court?
You are always welcome to appear on your own behalf. The whole point of this website however, is to save you time and provide convenience. If your Traffic Citation is one that we can help you with, we will appear for you and obtain a hearing date. Then we will appear on your Traffic Citation. After appearing for you, we will then follow-up with a letter to you inform you of the results.
How Much Time Should I Expect To Spend If I Decide To Appear For Myself?
Depending upon the court before which you are required to appear, you will probably spend 3-4 hours on one day, or 4-6 hours over two days (this is an estimate of time while you are at the court).
Most courts allow you to deal with your Traffic Citation on one day, while others require two days. If the court in which you must appear allows you to deal with your matter on one day, be prepared to spend a minimum of 3-4 hours total traveling to and from court, waiting to see the court clerk, and then waiting to appear before the judge. For the courts that require you to appear over two days, be prepared to spend 4-6 hours over the two days. On the first day, you will spend time traveling to and from court, appear, wait and meet only with the court clerk to schedule your hearing at a latter date before the judge. You must then return to the court and wait another hour or two to appear before the judge.
Remember court hours are generally between 7:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday (except holidays). Some courts are on closed on Mondays and others are closed on Fridays.
Aside From Saving Me Time, What Other Conveniences Do Your Services Provide?
WE KNOW WHEN TO APPEAR. Most people believe that the date on which the Traffic Citation states you must appear is the only date you are allowed to appear. That is not true. In many courts you may appear before the date stated on the Traffic Citation. However, appearing before the date stated on your Traffic Citation, you should understand the time it takes for your Traffic Citation to get from the police officer to the court clerk. If you appear too early, you may waste your time waiting only to find out from the court clerk that your Traffic Citation has not yet been received from the police officer. THE PRACTICAL EFFECT UPON YOU IS TO CAUSE THE DATE ON THE TRAFFIC CITATION BY WHICH YOU MUST APPEAR TO BECOME A CONTROLLING EVENT, AROUND WHICH YOUR LIFE MUST REVOLVE FOR THAT DAY. In other words, on the date of appearance stated on your Traffic Citation, you will have to forget about work for a few hours, or worry about getting the kids to or from daycare early or late, or missing other important events.
Let us take the responsibility of knowing when to appear.
AVOID PARKING PROBLEMS. Although Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and surrounding municipalities have relatively easy parking compared to other cities of similar size, parking is becoming more and more of a hassle and is costly (up to $2 per half hour in downtown Las Vegas). Many times parking meters in downtown Las Vegas on the street limit you to a maximum of two pre-paid hours. Hotel parking, although free for 2-3 hours becomes very expensive thereafter. While free parking on the street still exists in downtown Las Vegas, it is generally found several blocks from the court house. Free parking can be found in Henderson and North Las Vegas. In any case, let us worry about the parking.
AVOID THE CROWDS. With few exceptions, if you decide to deal with your traffic citation on your own, you will experience a crowd of people doing the same thing--dealing with their Traffic Citation. While seating in the court clerk’s office in the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas has been expanded to more than what existed a few years ago, you will likely end up standing, leaning against walls or poles, etc.
WE KNOW THE LOCATION OF THE COURTS. In Clark County, Nevada, there are over 10 courts (each differently located) that adjudicate Traffic Citations. If you received a Traffic Citation, you will be required to deal with one of them in order to resolve your legal obligation. Although every Traffic Citation clearly states the court in which you must appear, inevitably some people still get confused. People have been known to appear in one court clerk's office, wait in line for a while only to find out that they are at the wrong court. To add salt to the wound, the person then finds out they do not have sufficient time during business hours to travel to and wait at the correct court. Thus he or she is late. This is a critical mistake that could have been avoided, but for appearing in the wrong court. Despite your intentions, the court to which you should have timely appeared will still issue a warrant for your arrest.
Let us worry about finding the proper court and then timely appearing on your behalf.
Do You "FIX" Traffic Citations?
WE DO NOT "FIX" TRAFFIC CITATIONS IF YOU THINK "FIX" MEANS USING PERSONAL CONTACTS WITHIN THE COURT SYSTEM TO MAKE THE TRAFFIC CITATION GO AWAY AS THOUGH IT WAS NEVER ISSUED TO YOU! We do however, assist you with your Traffic Citation by using court-established methods and procedures. Although we may know a judge from previous appearances and may have contributed money to a campaign committee supporting a judge in an election, we are always prepared on all matters.
What Happens After A Traffic Citation Has Been Adjudicated?
Although many times routine, the results (findings and decisions) of Traffic Citations are different, and depend upon various facts and circumstances, therefore, a specific answer cannot be given to this question. However, the results are generally three types. The Court may rule you guilty as charged in the Traffic Citation, guilty of a reduced offense from that stated in the Traffic Citation, or dismiss the Traffic Citation. If a court rules you guilty of any citation or offense, it most likely will impose a fine on you that you are required to pay within a certain time (many times within 30 days) from the hearing date. Sometimes the court allows payments over a few months if the imposed fine is sufficiently large. The court, depending upon your traffic citation, may also, in addition to any imposed fines, require you to attend driving school or a movie (at additional costs). Once all court requirements are completed, the court may dismiss the traffic citation or reduce the traffic citation to a lesser offense. Finally, there are rare occasions when a court may impose public service upon a traffic offender.
If we represent you in the matter, after your hearing, we will timely contact you in writing to inform you of the court's decision to allow you to comply with its requirements. In the writing, we will tell you of the imposed fine, where and by when to pay the fine, and any other requirements the court may impose.
Do Your Fees Include Any Court Imposed Fines, Cost Of Traffic School Or Movie, Or Other Court Costs?
The amount you pay us is for our fees to represent you. You are still responsible for any imposed fines, court costs, costs of traffic school or movie, or other costs to complete the requirements of the court. While we generally know the fines courts will likely assess and are happy to discuss them with you, you still just pay us for the services we provide you. Any fines the court may assess you after our appearance you pay directly to the court, NOT US. See how this differs from other traffic citation assistance services.
Note: while talking to other traffic citation services about their assistance, ask them specific questions about their fee structure. Ours is simple--we tell you up front our fees to assist you. Because Nevada law allows owners to hide behind a corporate veil, some other traffic citation services are not 100% owned and controlled by an attorney. The result is to cause rates of return to be higher to pay non attorney owners and as such the fees charged are higher. Watch out for a pricing structure as follows: Initial fee is $75.00-$100.00. You then discuss the specifics of each Violation. You are then told that the fine will be $250.00 for say a speeding violation. You are then asked to pay $335.00 ($85.00+$250.00) for help. The service will then pay the court for you in order to keep the fees hidden. Here is the hidden fee unnecessarily paid on one (1) violation and which can be saved if ETrafficCitation.com helps you: For example, the actual fine the court assesses for the speeding violation is $197.00. So the excess fee paid the service that you did not know is $53.00 ($250.00-197.00). Your total fee paid the service is $138.00 ($85.00+$53.00). Fees unnecessarily paid are $93.00 ($138.00-$45.00- our standard fee for one violation). Now multiply the hidden fees by the number of violations in excess of one. You can do the math. No hidden fees at ETrafficCitation.com! If you cannot trust a service to be upfront with you at the beginning, can you trust it to represent your best interest in court before a judge, a city or county attorney?
What If I Live Outside Of Nevada, How Do I Satisfy Court Requirements That I Attend Traffic School Or A Movie?
Generally, courts allow you to attend traffic school or a movie in your hometown so long as the traffic school or movie discusses safe and defensive driving and has equivalent time and educational content to those the school and movie presented in Nevada. We have no opinion on whether school via correspondence or over the Internet is sufficient.
What Services Will You Provide Me When Representing Me With My Traffic Citation?
When we accept you as a client, we will obtain a hearing date on your Traffic Citation, and then appear in court and plead it. After the court has adjudicated your Traffic Citation, we will inform you of any imposed fines, other court imposed requirements, the time in which to complete all requirements, and where to send payment of your fine and proof of compliance. Once we have sent you this information, our representation is completed. We owe no further responsibilities to you.
What Happens After You Accept Me As A Client And You Contact The Court And The Court Assigns A Date Different Than The Date That Appears On The Traffic Citation?
The date on the Traffic Citation issued to you is the latest point in time in the future that you or your attorney are required to contact the court. Once we contact the court for a date we are to appear on your Traffic Citation, the date we receive will likely differ from the date stated thereon. The date received could be before or after the date described on the Traffic Citation. Once we receive a date from the court, that date will control, not the date printed on your Traffic Citation or other dates the court may have assigned to your specific Traffic Citation. NO BENCH WARRANT WILL BE ISSUED FOR YOUR ARREST, NOR WILL YOUR DRIVING RECORD OR INSURANCE BE AFFECTED simply as a result of change of date on your matter. The court WILL NOT consider your matter late. Our knowledgeable staff knows the procedures or each court to ensure that you will not be considered late.
If you do not contact the court by that date stated on the Traffic Citation, a Failure-to-Appear Warrant will likely be issued for your arrest. Don’t worry we can still help you. We will then have to quash the warrant for you.
What Happens When You Investigate To Determine Whether My Traffic Citation Is Assigned To A Court?
If you contact us and do not have the issued Traffic Citation and therefore do not know the Court to which you are to appear, or the date of appearance, in order for us to help you we will have to investigate to determine which court is assigned to your Traffic Citation. We know this causes more time than you expect. When we first started helping people, we would investigate court for potential clients for free. We ended up spending a disproportionate amount of time providing a free service and ignoring our paying clients. We decided very early that we would give our full attention to our paying clients. While we will ask you the location of where you received the Traffic Citation in order to narrow the courts we are to call, we will likely have to contact at least two (2) courts to discover which one we are to help you with (see immediately below for explanation). Whether we discover the court or not, the fee is nonrefundable. If we discover by chance the court assigned to your matter with our first call, and if we ultimately assist you with your Traffic Citation, we will give you a credit of $10.00 off our fees to help you resolve your matter. In order to obtain the $10.00 credit we must advise you of the credit, you must request our assistance on resolving your Traffic Citation, and we must accept you as a client when we call to inform you that we discovered the court. You will just have to trust us that we discovered the court on our first call.
The reason why we generally have to investigate at a minimum two court is as follows. When people call us to request help, they usually do not remember the exact location of the Traffic Stop when they received the Traffic Citation. For example a street may run through the jurisdictions of a city and a county. Even the side of the street you are stopped could determine which court will be assigned to your matter. Thus two courts are usually in play, a municipal court and a county court (commonly known as Justice Court for the township of “City Name”). Depending upon where the person was stopped will determine the court assigned to the matter. Since jurisdictional lines between a city and a county zig-zag, we can only generally predict which court will have jurisdiction.
One reason why we may not discover the court in which you are to appear is that when you request our assistance, and we contact the court that is ultimately assigned to your matter, your Traffic Citation may not have arrived in the court from the issuing officer. So when we call the court to inquire about your Traffic Citation, the court may not have your Traffic Citation in its records. If this is so, we will then receive a false negative answer to our inquiry. Our fees are not refundable despite receiving a false negative. We will try to estimate based upon what you tell us during your initial contact with us the time your Traffic Citation takes to get from the issuing officer to the court. We do not guarantee estimates.
