When you receive a traffic ticket, you might wonder if it’s possible to change or reschedule your court date. The answer is yes, but there are specific conditions you need to meet. Communication with the court is crucial when you cannot make your scheduled court date. This means acting promptly to inform the court of any issues.
You must notify the court immediately once you realize you can’t attend the scheduled court date. Courts schedule witnesses, police officers, and reserve time for your trial. The closer it gets to the court date, the harder it is to change it.
If an emergency, like needing urgent surgery, arises, you may receive sympathy and a new court date. Missing the court date because of negligence will likely result in your request being denied.
When you receive a summons, it usually includes a specific court date. This summons requires either your presence or that of your legal representative (lawyer or paralegal).
Steps to Take if You Need to Reschedule
- Immediate Notification: Contact the court using the provided phone number or email.
- Provide Proof: Share any documents that explain your reason for rescheduling, such as a medical notice.
- Consult a Professional: If uncertain about procedures, consult a paralegal for help.
- Follow Up: Ensure your request is being processed and stay informed about any new dates provided.
Valid Reasons and Supporting Documents
Common valid reasons to reschedule include medical emergencies, pre-planned vacations, or unavoidable conflicts. Always support your request with evidence like doctor’s notes or proof of travel.
Video Transcription:
Can you change or reschedule a court date for a traffic ticket? That is a qualified yes. You can, however, there are conditions in which that can happen, and they’re important to know those. Therefore, let me start this by saying, if you’re in a position where you can’t make a court date, or something that’s happened, you have a significant obligation to act.
It is not a passive thing. So, you get into situations where you have a timeline. You’ve, you’ve got to notify the court as quickly as you can of the problem. For example, if a court date is scheduled and they’ve scheduled witnesses in. And they’re bringing in police officers or civilians. They’ve reserved court time for that particular trial date.
The closer you get to that trial date, the less likely you’re going to be able to convince a judge to change that trial date. They’re going to demand that you attend. They’re always going to consider what the excuse is. For example, if all of that happened and you found out the day before that you are in need of open heart surgery, well, it’s logical to believe that you’re going to invoke compassion from the courtroom and they’re going to scramble to get you a date that is going to work better and that is much safer for you to be attending.
However, if you’re negligent, and getting to that immediately, well, those requests would be denied. Now, in a situation, if you’ve been served a summons at the roadside, so, what would happen if you’d be stopped, and you would be issued a yellow sheet of paper, and it would say right on it, “summons to defendant”. It will give you a court date. It will command your attendance in person or through your agent. So your paralegal or lawyer can attend with you or for you. In most cases, that attendance can be made in your absence and once that starts happening, you can now have control of when your new court date would be. So you can dovetail it into your calendar so that you don’t get into the position where you need to change your particular court date.
Any time a court date is changed, whether it’s the prosecution changing a court date or, in our case, a defense lawyer or a defense paralegal is trying to change a court date, the reason for the adjournment carries weight.
For example, I’m being extreme. If you needed a haircut so you don’t want her to go to court, well, it’s very unlikely that you could file any paperwork and convince anyone that you’re going to be able to change your court date. They don’t care about your hair. All right? They do care about making sure that justice is done in a reasonable fashion and within a reasonable period of time.
I would suggest if you’re not sure, you’ve got options. I mean, you can search the internet for these answers. I suppose you could consider going through a free consultation, something that we provide. There are others that do that type of thing, lawyers and other paralegals in the community. In any event, the answer is a qualified one.
You can change your court date in certain conditions, it is a common occurrence, but it is viewed you’ll be able to change it possibly once, sometimes twice, but the reality is the court is under extreme pressure to move the matter along, have it completed, have a result, whether it’s dismissed, or whether you’re convicted, they want that happening in a very reasonable period of time.
