Will I need to go to court after receiving a traffic ticket in Florida?
Answer: Florida has two types of suspended licenses. They have a statute, which says driving while license suspended without knowledge is a civil infraction. A civil infraction in Florida would be equivalent to a speeding ticket, stop sign, red light ticket. Unfortunately, if you just pay that ticket and don’t execute any options other than paying, you will end up with three points on a driving while license suspended citation. If you receive three driving on a suspended citation convictions within a five-year period, then that could be a combination of with or without knowledge. If it is a conviction, you will end up losing your license for five years. So, that’s often a slippery slope for individuals when they get this driving while license suspended ticket because of a lapse in insurance or something like that and they just end up paying the ticket; then they accumulate two more within that five-year period, and next thing you know they lose their license for five years.
The second type of driving on a suspended license requires a mandatory court appearance that’s driving while license suspended with knowledge. Usually a misdemeanor, although it could be a felony depending on your record. And in that situation you would have to face the judge. The basis or the reason for your suspended license often will dictate what sort of offer is conveyed to us by the prosecutor and whether or not you have any priors. But they could send you to jail, depending on the facts of the case and your record.
