If you have outstanding traffic tickets or other citations in warrant, you may still be able to avoid humiliation and hassle being arrested in front of your children, co-workers, or colleagues by posting bond. (If you don’t know whether or not you have warrants in your name, you can check your status at a number of official city websites. The one for Fort Worth is here.)

Posting bond is not complicated, and the process can spare you the time, hassle and embarrassment of being forced to deal with the outstanding tickets behind bars. You can find more information about what type of warrants are bondable here . It is better to make a bond and get a plea bargain for deferred adjudication in order to avoid the increase in points on your driver record that results from a conviction. Besides increasing the cost of your insurance premium, too many points can also result in the revocation of your license for a period of time.

So, please, reduce your risk of arrest leading to possible conviction and loss of your license by getting your warrants bonded before it’s too late!

The information presented above is solely the expressed opinion of attorney Clifford M. Womack, and not intended to substitute for obtaining professional legal advice or counsel. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of service to you on this or any other legal matter.

What the law says is that you must have an essential need that requires transportation and that no public transportation is reasonably available. Thus, if you need to transport your children to school or to afterschool activities then you may be eligible for an occupational license even if you are unemployed. The law also takes into account other “essential needs” such as medical treatment, education, and grocery shopping.

A lot of folks call this a hardship license and this is probably an easier way to understand what is a valid purpose for seeking this type of drivers license. Someone who has their license suspended for having too many points for speeding tickets or for a DWI and is working is most often the person who needs a hardship license.

So, what’s the catch?

First of all, occupational licenses do not grant the ability to drive a commercial vehicle. So if you are, for example, a bus or freight driver, you will not be able to use your occupational license for this job-related purpose.

Frequently Texas judges also put additional restrictions and requirements on an occupational license which may include, but is not limited to, attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, installation of an interlock device, submission to any request by law enforcement for a breath test, and/or avoidance of further traffic violations for a specific period of time.

One should be aware that there are limits on the number of occupational licenses an individual can obtain in a five year period; generally the limit is two. Refusal or failure of a breath test can result in your need for multiple occupational licenses for just one DWI arrest. This happens because our Metroplex area courts have both a county criminal court which has jurisdiction over the criminal portion of the offense and a county court at law which has jurisdiction over the failure of the breath test itself. Although failure of a breathalyzer test can result in license suspension, the penalty for failure is civil—and not criminal—in nature. This is an important limitation if one is involved in a second DWI arrest or has a previous DWI arrest.

In the state of Texas, obtaining an occupational license requires two steps:

1) You go before a judge who may grant an occupational license. (This is the step that as a lawyer I could help you with.) Given that the license is granted, the court order itself will serve as a temporary 30 day license. Licenses may not be granted for more than two years at a time.

2) Within this 30 day time frame, you must submit several documents to the Texas Department of Motor vehicles which will issue the actual occupational license. Documents you must submit include the certified copy of the petition, the certified court order granting the occupational license, and an original pink SR-22 certificate of insurance. You must also include payment toward the occupational license fee for a one-year license or less. Others may need to include a statutory reinstatement fee for Safety Responsibility suspension, Driver Improvement suspension, and/or Administrative License Revocation (ALR) as well.

As you can see, the process of obtaining an occupational license can take some time, effort, and money. But if you have committed an offense that would normally result in the loss of your license, there are legal remedies available which can protect your economic and personal autonomy.

 
The information presented above is solely the expressed opinion of attorney Clifford M. Womack, and not intended to substitute for obtaining professional legal advice or counsel. Please do not hesitate to http://attorneywomack.com/?p=1544 Every year across the great state of Texas in March there is a two-month long “great warrant roundup,” during which cities across the state actively pursue outstanding warrants for traffic violations other unpaid Class C misdemeanors. These roundups serve as an import source of revenue for the county, generating millions of dollars for their respective cities. And in these budget-strapped times, cities are undoubtedly eager to take advantage of the extra income. Most of the municipalities in Tarrant County participate in this annual affair. According to an article in last Friday’s Fort Worth Star Telegram the roundup starts On March 5th, 2011. Apparently the city of Arlington has already posted a list of persons with outstanding warrants. (If you want to check to see if you are in Warrant in Fort Worth, go to Fort Worth’s Online Warrant Database.) I also noticed Haltom City has a large billboard on freeway 121 giving notice of their participation in the roundup.

For those who know that they have outstanding traffic tickets, there is still time to avoid a potentially embarrassing trip to jail by posting bond for them before the roundup begins next week. Particular note should be taken by college students at TCU and the University of Texas in Arlington who may be traveling across the state for their spring break festivities—because no matter where you are in the state, authorities will be on active lookout and have full authority to arrest you without regard to the original jurisdiction of your violation. It would be advisable to make your bond on any sort of speeding ticket that is in warrant before you leave town.

Posting bond is not difficult, and certainly less humiliating than having the cops pay a surprise visit to your place of work. You can find more information about what type of warrants are bondable here . It is better to make a bond and get a plea bargain for deferred adjudication in order to avoid the increase in points on your driver record that results from a conviction. Besides increasing the cost of your insurance premium, too many points can also result in the loss of your license for a period of time.

So, please, spare yourself the hassle and embarrassment of a trip Downtown or risk of conviction and loss of your license. This is one obligation that you cannot afford to put off any longer.

The information presented above is solely the expressed opinion of attorney Clifford M. Womack, and not intended to substitute for obtaining professional legal advice or counsel. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of service to you on this or any other legal matter.