If you have been arrested for a civil or criminal offense in Tennessee, learn about the consequences for missing court dates .

Prevention is the best course of action and if you know you won’t be able to make your scheduled court appearance, contact the Court Clerk to discuss alternate dates for court. Typically, you should provide valid reasons for missing court dates and the clerk can help walk you through that process.

If you’ve missed your court appearance for a non-criminal offense or misdemeanor, the judge may simply issue a default guilty judgment against you. This is a result of not appearing in court.

In this case, especially in traffic court, a default guilty verdict means that a letter will be mailed to the Motor Vehicle Department for suspension of your driver’s license. Reinstatement of your driver’s license cannot be completed until the citation is paid in full.

If you choose not to attend court and decide to pay the citation instead, a common occurrence for minor traffic violations, you can pay in person with cash, check or credit card. You can also pay citations on-line or by mail. In Montgomery and Robertson counties, you cannot pay for a citation over the phone.

A bench warrant may be issued by a judge when you miss a court date. It means that if you should get pulled over for another traffic violation or any kind of a background check is run, this outstanding warrant will show up on your record. Depending on the offense, you will be taken into custody to pay the outstanding citation amount, pay for other outstanding fines or detained at the county jail.

A bench warrant is the most common type of warrant issued for non-criminal or misdemeanor offenses such as traffic violations. In Tennessee, the statute of limitations for misdemeanors states https://legalbeagle.com/8390399-statute-limitations-outstanding-warrants-tennessee.html that if a bench warrant has not been served, returned or otherwise resolved within 5 years, it expires automatically and is deleted from court records.

For more serious criminal offenses, other types of warrants are issued with a longer statute of limitations for the state of Tennessee to bring formal charges against you https://www.tncourts.gov/rules/rules-criminal-procedure/4 .

BAIL BONDS NEAR ME (Serving Montgomery and Robertson Counties )

The services of a bail bondsman are very beneficial to you should you miss a scheduled court appearance. Even if you contact an attorney to discuss your options after missing a court date, a bail bondsman can provide the emergency funds to post bail if needed.

The services of a bail bondsman don’t stop there. A bail bond agent can walk you through your options so you can make an informed decision about how to proceed. Before retaining an attorney, it may make more sense for your first phone call to be to a bail bondsman.

Whether you’re from out of town or a local resident, missing court dates sometimes happens, due to emergencies, illness or other scheduling conflicts. If you know you won’t be able to make your court date and you have a bondsman be sure to call them first. If you do not have a bondsman call the Court Clerk as soon as possible. By explaining your circumstances, it may be possible to re-schedule another court date over the phone.

If this isn’t possible and you miss your court date, a solid plan B is to contact a local bail bondsman for assistance and peace of mind. For court appearances in Montgomery and Robertson County Tennessee, Fizer Bonding Company has bond agents ready to assist you 24/7 every day of the year. In Montgomery County TN call (931) 449-9351 and in Robertson County TN call (615) 667-1109.  If you have additional questions about how bail works, see our web page on Bail Process.  

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