How To Take Care Of A Bench Warrant
A bench warrant is typically issued in the case of a failure to appear for trial sometimes abbreviated fta the bench is the traditional term for the judge s seat.
How to take care of a bench warrant. A bench warrant is generally issued because a person failed to appear in court violated probation failed to pay a court ordered fine or failed to complete community service or pay child support. A bench warrant is issued by a judge and directs the police to take the person who is named in the warrant into custody and before the court. You want to clear up a bench warrant before it compounds your problems making a small infraction into a bigger matter requiring more time and money than the original ticket or other minor incident.
The clerk will lay out your options. He or she can contact the court and ask for a hearing before a judge. Jail sentence and fines.
This is generally accomplished by filing a motion to quash bench warrant. Ok i have a bench warrant from 2016 its a failure to appear and its 250 00 yes i was stupidly stole some money from the place i worked i take care of my dad because of his health he is 87 years old and is very bad shape week after i got in trouble my mother fell and was hurt really badly had to have 2 surgeries all that going my court date was 3 months later i didn t go it was only 250 and i. How to remove a bench warrant the main way that a bench warrant may be cleared or removed is by your personal appearance in court by your attorney s appearance on your behalf or by appearing with your attorney.
Call the local court house or county court house where the warrant was issued and speak with the clerk of courts. If the warrant concerns a felony your personal appearance to clear or remove it is required. As described above a bench warrant directs law enforcement to take you into custody and bring you before the court to address your failure to appear.
The easiest way to get rid of a bench warrant is to have your attorney do it for you. Advise l the clerk that you would like to voluntarily come in and take care of the warrant. In serious criminal cases a failure to appear will most likely lead to a regular arrest warrant which would spur immediate attempts to find and jail the defendant.
Find out whether there is a bench warrant out for you. It can hurt you in unintended ways like influencing the judge s sentencing if they think you are not respecting court orders or not taking the process seriously. See if you can schedule a hearing to take care of the matter.
If you were supposed to appear for a traffic ticket ask if you can reschedule or simply pay the fines.
