Back in Nov I got a speeding ticket while taking Dh2B's DD back home to Ky. I also got a second ticket for expired license. (which expired that week apparently).

Sooooooooo, I paid the speeding ticket and I sent proof to the court that the license was renewed. No problem. The expired license charge was dropped. Along with the speedig ticket that I paid online was a $10 court fee which I also paid.

Then I received another bill in the mail for an aditional $10 court fee for the license ticket. Couldn't pay it online because it was not a ticket it was a fee. Not a big deal. Stupid me, I write a check and stick it in the mail. I don't ever think to check and make sure it clears, I mean it is $10 afterall.

Today, I get a call from DH2B asking me why my license was suspended. HUH?!?!? Well, DMV just notified my insurance company to drop me from the policy because my license is suspened.

I call and finally get through to someone who tells me my license was suspended because I owed money to the court. Oh and it is going to cost me $145 to reinstate my license!

Called the court, Apparently, they never received the check. They only took the payment by phone when I explained that I could not legally drive the 4 hours to this county and pay my whole ten dollars.

Then I had to go to DH2B's work to pick up my receipt that the court faxed over because they would not post it to dmv for another 2-3 days. Then it was off to the bank to stop payment on the check that was mailed out back in Jan. And wouldn't you know the bank tried to charge me $25 to stop payment on my $10 check.

And then I got to spend an hour and a half waiting at DMV before they took the little bit of money that was in my checking account away from me.

ALL OF THIS... for a $10 court fee for a ticket that was dismissed and never went to court.

Here is what gets me... The court never sent me anything to let me know they would be revoking my license. And when I asked the teller at DMV why they never sent me anything, she says it's not thier policy to send out notifications for suspensions. To me, this says "Essentially there are only 3 ways you will find out it"; 1. Get into an accident and your insurance doesn't cover you because you had no valid license ($500 DMV fine) 2. Like me your insurance receives the notice and drops you immediately or 3. You get stopped for another offense such as speeding and the cop comes back and arrests you on diving on a susended license even though you may never know it was suspended to begin with.

This is my punishment for court going well yesterday.

my son did this. Massachusetts is very aggressive. He got a speeding ticket for going 3 miles over the speed limit on a major highway, and told the cop he couldnt afford to pay it till the first of the month when he got paid. He called when he was ready to pay to make sure where to send it, and "Janet Jones" said to be sure it was mailed out by the 5th. What she didnt say was that SHE must have it on HER desk and be handled by HER on the 5th. He mailed it on the 4th and it reached her on the 6th. she processed it on the 7th, and charged him a late fee. Never told him, or notified him of this fee.

Next time he drove thru Mass they pulled him over for ONE mile over the limit in a school zone, and told him he was not allowed to drive in their state till the fine was paid. It has been a year or so, and the fine keeps acruing penalties in Mass. it went from $10 to $247! He called me from the side of the road because they wouldnt let him drive any further on an expired license. I had to drive to Mass, pick him up, take him to the DMV where he paid the fine, got his receipt and we headed back to his truck to find they were about to TOW IT! We just made it back to the truck to save it from the hook, but had to pay the tow fee for them being called out, even if they had not touched the truck yet. Another $35. They also notified his insurance and he got a raise in rates. Took a year for them to lower it back to pre ticket rates.

Dont mess with the DMV.

So it's not just me! I was so miffed yesterday. It was an all day battle. All over $10. Its ridiculous!

I still can't believe they can suspend your license and not notify you. Can you imagine what would have happened had I gotten into an accident? ?

DH got a ticket in Atlantic City which he "forgot" to tell me about. It went unpaid. They sent a warrant for his arrest and told him to hand himself over to local authorities. He did and our town cops laughed at him and sent him home. He later got a notice to appear in court in Atlantic City. Like Arlo Guthrie's Thanksgiving song where the main character gets arrested for littering, he sat on a bench with "the mother rape-ers and the father rape-ers" and had a great time sharing his story. The judge he went before eventually told him get out of his court. I paid all the fine. The funny part also was later Atlantic City traced him to our new home years later 2 states away and sent another warrant for his arrest again. With one call, I fixed this error. He'll never not wear his seat belt and be ticketed again after this mess!! I framed his arrest warrant.

Let this be a lesson to all of us that if we pay a fine via mail, send it certified or something that states it has to be signed for! My accountant always tells me to do this when I owe money to the IRS. Never thought about it before, but yes....how would you know whether it got there or not? Are we paying that much attention to balancing our checkbook? I would probably think that a long lapse in depositing the check was just government slow pace!Apparently the bank shows your check as not cashed....otherwise they can give you a copy of the back side of the check for proof. Unfortunately I feel your check is sitting in someones "in box". When they find it and see how late it took them to process it....they will just shred it rather than try to recoup your loses.
I used to work for an insurance company and people would come in with copies of their cancelled checks proving they had paid their premiums....yep, our mistake! We would cancel their late fees and reimburse them for bank fees.
But in your case.....send the check certified mail next time and keep your post office receipt for record. The couple extra dollars to mail it that way is a lot cheaper than the alternative fees for "not getting there".
So sorry this happens to anyone. Good people who really did have "the check in the mail".

Guess what else may surprise you, legzz: if you owe $$$ to the court, it can come out of your state income tax return before you ever receive the check!!!

At least, that's how it works in Utah.

I work in the county Justice Court *ducks*, so think how embarrassing it is when I get a ticket, lol!!!

Our court makes a practice of mailing out delinquent notices (not required to do so) to people who have forgotten to pay their tickets, so they don't get an unpleasant (and expensive!) surprise like you did, Legzz.

At the beginning of March I got stopped for speeding. The officer then informed me that my license was suspended & they were impounding my hand controlled van. My wheelchair which is broken was in the back of the van & there was no way for me to get home. The cops did not care. I walked (stopped dozens of times) home which took OVER 2 HOURS!

I went to court last Thursday on the tickets (1 for speeding/ 1 for a suspended license). The prosecutor calls me outside & offers me a deal says if I don't take it I WILL BE ARRESTED because driving on a suspended license is a crime not a motor vehicle violation. I agree to the plea deal. But when I go before the judge he says that the suspension IS NOT from this court (Long Beach) it is from Hempstead. He gives me 24 hours to clear up the suspension or I will be arrested & then come back to Long Beach Court next Thursday on the 2 tickets just mentioned.

The prosecutor tells me to take the bus or train from Long Beach to the Hempstead Terminal & the court is not far from their. Well not only was the court far but it was hidden in a back alley behind other buildings. By the time I got there the court was closed for lunch had to wait over 1 hour for court to open.

Again I was offered a plea deal & told that if I wanted a copy of the ticket it would take hours which by that time the cashier would be closed & I only had 24 hours to clear up the suspension. So I paid $315 for a ticket I do not know what it is for.

I left there had to take my mom her taxes (she is in Rehab with back problems) and then came home. I got off the bus at the Long Beach Terminal & walked a very short distance to the car service I had been taking. No one likes to drive me because my walker is heavy & I have a small service dog. They kind of played a game among one another over who would take me - "Steve" was the winner. Steve DID NOT like having to put the walker in the back of his mini van & kind of threw it back there then SLAMMED THE HATCHBACK DOWN ON IT! He broke the welds off the basket (won't stay on anymore), & broke the hand brake that CANNOT BE REPAIRED worse than that the frame is bent & the walker does not steer straight. Filed a claim with the taxi company.

The NEXT DAY in the mail I get an envelope with no return address & my name & address handwritten on it. Inside the envelope was another envelope a letter that DMV mailed to me on JANUARY 21 telling me my license was being suspended for this unknown ticket but THEY MAILED IT TO MY OLD ADDRESS. Apparently it was RETURNED & that is why I DID NOT get it until April 15.

It gets better on JANUARY 24 3 days AFTER DMV issued the suspension I was at DMV. It was discovered by the mobility place that my license DID NOT have FULL HAND CONTROLS WRITTEN ON IT. DMV ran my license to see if I had FULL HAND CONTROLS on my license in the past which I did so they issued a new license since my license would have expired on my birthday 2011.

What I CANNOT UNDERSTAND is if I was at DMV 3 days AFTER THE SUSPENSION WAS ISSUED WHY WHEN DMV RAN MY LICENSE FOR THE HAND CONTROLS DIDN'T THEY SEE THE SUSPENSION THAT THEY ISSUED?

Now I get to go back to court next Thursday on the suspension & the speeding ticket. Who knows what this will cost me.

Wow peg, I thought I got shafted. That is ridiculous!! I cannot believe these people sometimes.