Will the warrant be dismissed if I pay the fine? 50 Answers as of January 03, 2012

If the warrant is active, the police will make an arrest and you need to appear in court.

Go the the issuing court. Pay the fine and they should cancel the warrant.

Usually, no. If you hire a good lawyer he can sometimes get the warrant withdrawn if it has not been too long, otherwise you must be served (arrested) and appear on your court date and explain you paid the amount due.

No. A warrant means that a court date was missed or that there is probable cause to believe some new crime has been committed. A court appearance would be required in most situations. You should consult with an experienced criminal defense lawyer.

Maybe yes, maybe no. Sometimes if you go to court to pay the fine, the clerk says, oh, you missed your court date. You cannot pay this now. You have to go before the judge. Getting ready to pay the fine is a good start, but it may not be enough.

I assume the fine is to a court. If there is no probation, just a warrant, then very possibly. Call the Court clerk and explain situation. Ask them that question. Pay the fine for sure. If the court clerk cannot answer the question, send a letter to the court indicating that you have paid the fine and ask for the warrant to be vacated. Check back with the clerk after a few days.

Usually, yes. You should not have received a warrant unless you missed a court date. You will have to go to court to make sure there is a record that your fine has been paid. If you pay the fine before going to court, get a receipt and bring that to court. The judge that issued the warrant should then state on the record that they are quashing and recalling the warrant. You should then make sure you receive a copy of that quash and recall order to prove the warrant has been recalled. You should keep that on your person in case you get stopped by police and they still have a record of the warrant being active. If there were other conditions that you were supposed to satisfy in addition to a fine, then you may still have more to do.

If the warrant is simply for the nonpayment of a fine, then probably the warrant will be recalled. Another factor to consider though is whether or not a court hearing date has been scheduled on this case. If so, you may be required to go to the hearing before the warrant is recalled. You may also have to pay a warrant fee. It is generally about $50.00.

Depending on the court you may have to go into the court room and show proof to the judge to get the warrant recalled.

Yes, I would confirm with the court what the total fine is for your file, there is usually an additional sum placed on your file when a warrant is issued, and you must pay the new total, not just the original fine to have the warrant dismissed.

It is not necessarily. The warrant is probably because you failed to appear in Court. This may require a hearing to resolve.

Typically, yes. Contact the agency that is charged with collection of the fine, or have a 3rd party do so on your behalf, and confirm this. However, in certain circumstances, failure to timely pay a fine that is due can result in the Court ordering the requirement of a personal appearance.

If the warrant was for your arrest and you paid the fine the warrant should be recalled. If the warrant was for failure to appear in court when you were supposed to you will have to appear in court and tell the judge why you didn't appear. He probably will recall the warrant.

If you are referring to a bench warrant for failure to appear on a traffic citation - yes. But when you say fine, I am assuming you know that there are two fines now, one for the traffic violation and a second for failure to appear. You have to pay both to clear the warrant.

Yes, if that's the only problem.

The warrant was issued when you failed to comply and is a separate and additional offense. Likely have to hire a warrant to avoid jail or turn your self in and plan on spending a couple of days in custody before you can get the matter resolved.

You will need to have court clear to warrant. So yes ultimately it will be dismissed, but you may have to turn yourself in to clear the problem.

It depends what the fine is for. Paying the fine will not automatically dismiss the warrant.

The warrant will be vacated upon your return to court. Paying the fine will help convince the judge that no additional punishment is necessary. You may want to consider having an attorney present to arrange your surrender/return to court.

If the warrant was only because of unpaid fines, then yes it should be dismissed.

If you have a warrant for your arrest you cannot just pay the fine. Any money you pay would be treated as bail until you went back to court. At that time the judge may impose additional penalties, or may just let you apply the bail to your fines.

In that situation the bail amount attached to the warrant is usually the amount of the unpaid fine. If that is the case, and the fine is then paid, the warrant is usually quashed. However if the warrant is signed for a "body only" hold, then an appearance before the court must be made before the warrant is quashed.

Not necessarily. For minor traffic infractions the answer is usually yes.

Depends on which court you are in, call and ask. Usually a city court will drop the warrant when you pay.

In all likelihood not. If the case is a shoplifting case the law in Georgia allows for the collection of a civil penalty against the person charged. This is not the same as paying a fine. The local prosecutor can still press charges and usually does. If this is not your situation, I don't know how a fine can be levied without formal charges being brought. The warrant is not a formal charge, an indictment or an accusation is.

You have to go to a bail bondsman and pay them. Then the warrant can get lifted.

No. The only way to have a warrant quashed is to appear before the court that issued the warrant. I do however suggest that you pay the fine before appearing before the court. Given Murphy's law, I would also be sure that I wasn't holding drugs or weapons when I went to court because the judge might get a wild hair and book you.

It should be but this needs to be heard and presented to a judge to recall the warrant.

The answer is no. A warrant can only be dismissed by a judge after you've been arraigned on the warrant or upon a motion to quash the warrant before the judge. Depending on what type of fine the warrant is for, if you have paid the fine, the judge might very well dismiss the matter after that has occurred. But anything can happen and it will depend a lot on how long the warrant has been outstanding, who the judge is, the reason why you didn't pay, etc. I would suggest speaking with a lawyer before proceeding.

Maybe. But the right thing to do would be to take care of the warrant first.

That depends on the type if warrant you had. If it was an arrest warrant and you appear in court and resolve the case then the warrant will no longer be active. If it was a bench warrant for your failure to appear it will stay on your NYSID computer record and will influence what bail amount is set for future arrests.

What you propose is not a given. You must involve all the relevant parties to clear the warrant, pay the fine, and not inadvertently plead guilty by doing that due to the collateral consequences.

Once you go to Court it will. It's not automatic. Some Judges assess a warrant fee.

No necessarily. The warrant is a separate offense.

No unless the warrant contains such a provision.

There could be other consequences for your failure to appear. The failure to appear could trigger contempt citations as well as B an entirely new charge. Get a lawyer.

No! Once the court has issued a bench warrant for your arrest, the case is on bench warrant status and paying the fine will not resolve the bench warrant. It is necessary to file a Motion to Recall Bench Warrant. The court will set a hearing and - if there is a reasonable explanation why you missed the court date - recall the bench warrant. Depending on what the underlying charges are, the court will then usually set a new hearing to resolve the matter or give you some time to pay the fine. Depending on how long ago the fine was imposed, it is possible that the fine has been referred to a collection agency.

While paying the fine will most likely assisting in having the warrant "quashed," a personal appearance in front of the judge may still be required, esp. if this is a criminal case vs. only a civil infraction. Also note, a driver license privilege to drive can, and frequently is, suspended and would need to be reinstated for some failure to appear or comply situations. Check with the court for walk in day or hours and consult with a local attorney regarding your particular situation.

A judge issued the warrant, so only a judge can recall the warrant. You (or your attorney) may have to appear in court to get the warrant recalled. Having the full amount of the fine ready to pay will certainly help your position, but it depends on how long you have ignored the fine, any other problems with your case history, etc.

You'll have to go to court and ask a judge to recall the warrant.