Ticket Help Texas: Resolve Your Unpaid Fines and Restore Your Driver’s License

If you have an old ticket that you still can’t pay, set up a time to talk to the judge. When you get to court, explain to the judge that you cannot pay the fine but want to resolve what you owe. The judge can only consider your ability to pay at the present time.

Even if you have outstanding warrants related to these tickets or other tickets for fine-only offenses, you should not be arrested or jailed if you voluntarily show up in court to try to resolve what you owe.

Read Have an Old Ticket You Can’t Pay? - Ticket Help Texas .

It’s not uncommon for the court to require you to show proof of auto insurance in order to enter into a deferred disposition. The court can require you to purchase car insurance as part of the deferred disposition agreement, even if you cannot afford it. Unlike fines and court costs, there’s no legal right to have this requirement waived even if you're unable to afford it.

You may also be required to purchase insurance in order to reinstate your driver’s license after your second conviction for No Insurance (known as Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility). You will have to obtain an “SR-22,” which is basically a certification that you have the minimum liability insurance required by state law. Your insurance company can provide the SR-22.

There are low-cost options available for car insurance, so don’t automatically assume you can’t afford it until you’ve actually priced it for yourself.

• Texas only requires drivers to have “liability coverage,” which pays for damage to another driver’s vehicle and any of their medical expenses.
• You’re not legally required to have “collision coverage,” which would pay for repairing your own vehicle in the event of a crash.
• Ideally, you would have both, but if you cannot afford both, ask auto insurance companies to give you quotes for the minimum liability coverage required by Texas law.
• The minimum amount of coverage required by law is available here.
• You may also be eligible for discounts if you’re a veteran or a student, or bundle your car insurance with other types of insurance from the same company like homeowners insurance.
• Keep in mind that the court will not order you to purchase insurance as part of a sentence after conviction, but only if you as a condition of a deferred disposition to get the charge dismissed. So if you absolutely cannot purchase insurance, you can be either plead Not Guilty and ask for a trial, or plead Guilty or Not Guilty and be sentenced. As part of your sentence, you will only be ordered to pay fines or court costs, not pay for insurance.

There are two types of warrants that may be issued in a fine-only case: Failure to Appear (also called a “FTA” or “Alias”), and Capias Pro Fine Warrants.

Before issuing either type of warrant, the court is required by state law to take certain steps.

If a warrant has already been issued for your arrest, contact the court. If you do not have a lawyer, follow the instructions in A Warrant Has Been Issued for My Arrest - Ticket Help Texas.

What is an Occupational Driver's License (ODL)?
A type of driver’s license ordered and overseen by a judge, where the court orders DPS to issue a license so you can drive for certain limited purposes only, like work, school, or essential household duties.

Who is eligible for an ODL?
If the reason you cannot drive is due to OmniBase holds for unresolved tickets and you don't have other suspensions, you are probably eligible for an ODL.

You are not eligible for an ODL if

• You lost your license because of a mental or physical disability or medical condition;
• You lost your license due to failure to pay child support;
• You want to drive a commercial motor vehicle, not just drive for personal reasons;
• You have received two ODLs in the past 10 years after criminal convictions; or
• You have a “hard suspension” waiting period due to a DWI arrest or other conviction.

How do I get an occupational driver's license?
You will need to apply to a court for an order granting you an ODL. To apply, follow the steps and use the forms available here.If the judge grants the order, you take it to DPS, which will issue the ODL.

The Scofflaw Program can prevent you from renewing vehicle registration for not paying fines or failing to appear in court. In order to renew your registration, you will have to resolve the fines that are leading to the Scofflaw hold.

Contact the Texas DMV explaining:

1. that there is a hold on your registration,
2. that you believe the hold is under the Scofflaw Program,
3. that you need contact information for the county with jurisdiction that placed the hold on your registration.

If you can pay the fine, visit that county’s Scofflaw webpage to pay the corresponding fine.

The fine must be paid to the court that issued the hold; only resolving the underlying offense will clear the hold.

If you cannot pay your fine, you will need to contact the court that placed the hold on your registration and ask for a time to speak to the judge about alternative sentences.

• There are usually several courts within each county that may have placed the hold. If you are unsure which court to contact, contact the county that placed the hold with the information provided by the Texas DMV (see above). 
• The rest of this guide provides information about alternatives that are available to you if you are unable to pay.
• After you have resolved the fines and costs owed, the judge will lift the hold. There is a $20 Scofflaw fee charged when the judge lifts the hold. Ask the judge to waive the $20 Scofflaw fee given your inability to pay the fines and costs in your case.

Texas Appleseed and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid produced a series of “Youth in Court” videos to explain the court process for children under 17 and how to defend against common Class C misdemeanor charges.

Note that the videos were produced in 2014 and “Failure to Attend School” (commonly referred to as truancy) is no longer a criminal charge. While you may still be referred to a justice of municipal court for Failure to Attend School, your case should not involve fines or a criminal conviction.

If you are under 17 and charged with a fine-only offense, you can ask for alternative sentences like tutoring, counseling, mentoring, job training, community service, or alcohol or drug abuse rehabilitation instead of paying the fine. Courts may also offer deferred dispositions to people younger than 17, where if the conditions imposed by the court are completed, the charge will be dismissed.

Some courts have "teen court" options where defendants can have their cases heard by their peers and receive penalties in the form of community service or educational programs. Juvenile case managers may be employed to check in on those given alternative sentences. Finally, as a juvenile, you have the right to have your record expunged if you were only convicted of one fine-only offense when you turn 17.

See I'm Under 17—Do I Have Any Special Rights?at TicketHelpTexas.org. 

You may, in certain circumstances, have your criminal record in a fine-only case “expunged,” meaning the record ceases to exist and you do not have to report it on most applications for employment, college, professional licenses, student loans, etc.

If you were charged as an adult (17 or older in Texas), you are eligible for expunction if:

1. you were acquitted (meaning you were found to be innocent);
2. the charges were dropped; OR
3. you successfully completed a deferred disposition as ordered by the court.

You have special rights to have your record expunged if you were under 17 when you were charged with a fine-only misdemeanor. Even if you were convicted, you have the right to have your record expunged when you turn 17 if you were only convicted of one fine-only offense.

An expunction is not automatic. To obtain an expunction, you’ll need to file a petition with the court. There are time limits after being arrested before you can file a petition for expunction. Check with the court before filing a petition.

Where do you file the petition?

• If a justice court handled your fine-only case, you can file an expunction petition in that justice court or in a municipal court of record in the same county.
• If your fine-only case was handled by a municipal court of record (most municipal courts in large cities are “courts of record”), you can file an expunction petition there. Ask the clerk to tell you if the municipal court is a court of record.
• If your fine-only case was handled by a municipal court that is not a court of record, you must file a petition for expunction in the district court for the county in which you were arrested or received the ticket.
• Some courts will provide you with a form you can use if you ask the clerk. If not, a sample petition is available here.
• You’ll need to pay a fee with the petition, usually around $30. The fee can be waived if you cannot afford it. Ask the clerk for a Statement of Inability to Pay Court Costs that can be submitted alongside the petition.

Even if you’re not eligible for expunction, you may be eligible for nondisclosure. This means that even though the record of conviction is not erased, most people, except for law enforcement and a few other agencies, cannot view it, so they won't know about it.

To see if you may be eligible for an expunction or nondisclosure, use the Fresh Start App. It will ask you questions and tell you which option might be right for you.