Delinquent Citations

General Information Warrants Holds Collection Agencies

General Information Failure to comply with the appearance date on the citation or to complete payments by the due date may result in the court issuing a warrant or placing a DMV hold on your driver's license and/or vehicle registration. Your case may also be referred to a collection agency, and additional fees may be added. A warrant or hold may be issued pursuant to the following codes: 40508(a) Vehicle Code warrant or hold for failure to appear on the citation 40508(b) Vehicle Code warrant or hold for failure to comply with a term or condition of the sentence 853.7 Penal Code for failure to appear on the citation on or before the appearance date on the citation or failure to comply with a term or condition of the sentence bench warrant for failure to comply with an order of the Court Attention: Failure to pay your fine may result in increased financial penalties and your driver's license being suspended. Warrants A warrant is a court order for an arrest. As long as a warrant remains outstanding, the individual named is subject to arrest. In some cases involving a Vehicle Code Section 40508(a) or (b) warrant, as displayed on the warrant notice, payment may be made by mail or through the telephone system (effective November 1998) without making a court appearance. Other warrants require a mandatory court appearance. In some limited cases, citations in a warrant status can receive an extension to pay the entire amount due. You will need to contact the Court to find out if a warrant issued against you is eligible for an extension to pay. Once the warrant is paid or a court appointment is reserved, the court will recall the warrant to avoid an arrest. If the court appointment is not kept then another arrest warrant, a bench warrant and/or a DMV "Hold" will be issued and additional fees imposed. There are three alternatives to determine your eligibility for a warrant extension or for prescheduling a court appointment: On this site. By telephone, click here In person at the court location marked on your citation Holds When a "hold" is issued, a notice is usually mailed to you. This notice informs you that additional fees were added to the original bail amount owed. Once the Court issues a "hold" on your citation, you must contact the Court's collection agency. Collection Agencies Citations with unpaid fines and fees may be referred to a collection agency. If a citation has not been resolved in a timely manner, the Court refers the ticket to a collection agency for all further action. When this happens, the Court will not schedule any court appearances, accept payments or process any correspondence related to the ticket. You will have to deal directly with the collection agency. GC Services receives cases when the ticket has not been paid, a court appearance date was missed, or a fine or restitution was not paid after an appearance in court. If you received a notice from GC Services, the matter must be handled with the collection agency, not the Clerk's Office. Normally, the Court will send a notice as a courtesy, as a reminder of the payment due. Once the case is referred to a collection agency, additional costs will be added. Please call (800) 352-3778 for English or call (800) 571-0734 for Spanish-speaking operators. Click here to go to the GC Services web site. If you received a notice from the Franchise Tax Board, please call (916) 845-7064 to make arrangements for payment.