“Fined $500 For Driving W/suspension. Am Now Late Paying Fine”

...what can I expect?

I had the $ together and was about to pay the fine when I got very quickly scheduled for surgery, surgery which was supposed to come with a short recovery period; I was completely out of it for two months, and missed the deadline, which was somewhere around November.

(I had the license suspended because I had a fender bender with a g1 license. This resulted in: a one-month license suspension, and fines. Apparently the rural court for my jurisdiction attached MORE fines, and then completely neglected to mail me anything about this. A common story in my backwater town, but I had no way of proving that I didn't get any notification... This happened several years ago, and while driving quite normally an OPP officer ran my plates, pulled me over, and, much to my surprise, informed me of all this. I paid to re-instate my license while waiting for the provincial offences court date.)

Do these things ever come with a warrant for one's arrest or anything along those lines? I have had some panic/anxiety issues since the surgery that have yet to go away and am in too much of worry to make phone calls or anything helpful like that; any insight here would be most appreciative. My plan is to go in and pay ASAP, but I'm wondering how many unpleasant surprises will be waiting for me. (I do know that my license is, again, suspended.)

Right away, the first thing that you need to do is either (1) pay ALL the fines in full, or (2) ask to meet with a JP in order to get an extension of time to pay them. This will stop you from getting any further suspensions.

Second thing you need to do, as soon as possible, is to decide what items you were not notified about and see if you can ask for either a re-opening or appeal against the charges or fines or penalties.

All these things need to be done as soon as you become aware of the issues.

Thanks. I have the ability to go and pay everything in full and am hoping to do so tomorrow.

I can't afford an attorney and was pretty much scoffed at by the judge re. the notice not arriving. Did I move? No. Well, your word against theirs, and... Yeah, mentioning it in court went absolutely nowhere. You'd think they'd use certified mail for "HEY YOUR LICENSE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED!" but apparently not. :-/ But I didn't know you could appeal these things, so thanks very much for giving me the idea (and for the rest of your response).

I don't blame the JP for not believing you. You're clearly doing your best to minimize any responsibility you have in this matter. If it is that transparent in a text post on the internet, no wonder they saw right through you.

...thanks, that's very helpful. I paid every fine stemming from the accident at the time right away, and, being a relatively new driver, was *extremely* surprised to find out *years* later that there was more to it; at the time I was of the understanding that the fines paid then and the one-month suspension were the end of it. I haven't moved in ten years, so how or why I didn't get the notification of the additional fine remains a mystery. When I had the fender-bender I got in touch with the police and the owner of the other car straight away.

(When I was told of the additional problems I was -- I noticed -- one of perhaps two people in a busy courtroom who had bothered to dress nicely out of respect for being in a courtroom, even though mine was the most mild offence I heard dealt with that morning...)

I offered the "did not receive any notice" by way of explanation but did not argue this; just said as much apologetically. I don't think there was much room for "disbelief" as I knew it was going to sound ridiculous that I didn't get the relevant bit of mail (though again, it turned out to be a common problem in my wee town when I asked around) and did not do anything beyond mention it; I did not suggest to the court that I was not guilty, knowing I had no way of making that provable, or even particularly believable.

I'm not sure why you think I might have spent several years driving with a suspended license which would have cost $500 to sort out had I known about it, and which now costs quite a lot more and got me into quite a bit more trouble than it would have if I'd known and been able to deal with it promptly?

If you want to clarify what part of "got in a bad situation, now trying to fix it, is there anything else I should know" looks like "doing your best to minimize any responsibility," do explain?

Just an additional comment...

My question would be, when was the last time you renewed your license (should be on your license)?

It would not have been renewed if it was suspended.

Good question; thanks for giving me something else to puzzle out here. It was renewed without difficulty for two yearsc. 2014; the fine dates to 2012.

(As a newish driver I made the mistake of thinking all driving-related everything was handled by one department/branch of gov't...)