Can the OWI put a warrant out for my arrest? 10 Answers as of July 19, 2012

The court can issue a default judgment/bench warrant against you if you owe court costs, but costs associated with the State of Michigan (i.e. driver responsibility fees) will generally not trigger the issuance of a warrant. You will not be able to restore your license or registration until all state costs are paid however. If you have taken care of all of your court costs and fines, then I suspect no warrant will issue.

Payment, or non-payment of the Driver Responsibility Fees are separate and apart from the criminal drunk driving case, the judge cannot take any action against you for non-payment and doesn't care whether you ever pay them or not. The State of Michigan cannot put out a warrant for you for non-payment, that is not an option for them, they will pursue collection remedies, take your State income tax refunds, ruin your credit record, and suspend your driving privileges if you don't pay or make a payment plan and keep it up.

(1) The OWI is not going to put a warrant out on you . . . it's the JUDGE that'll put the warrant out. (2) If you PAID everything and did "your time" then you should be OK. (3) Was the $1000 part of your probation costs/fines OR was it the Michigan State "Driver's Responsibility FEE?" (4) If part of your probation costs/fees then YES they can/will issue a warrant for you.

You are concerned with $1,000 owed to the State of Michigan. However, there are different concerns based on what this is owed for. If owed to the Court for State Costs and Fees, then the answer is "yes" a warrant can be issued for contempt of a Judgement/sentencing. However, if owed to the secretary of State as a Financial Responsibility Fee, then a warrant would not be issued. Instead, you would be denied renewal of your driver's license, and your license would be suspended for non-payment. I hope that this was helpful.

The driver responsibilty fines must be paid or your license will be suspended.