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Warrants Issued in Central Texas

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Call 512-931-4586

Para Espanol 512-630-0910

Traffic Ticket Warrants or Failure to Appear (FTA) Warrants

Traffic Ticket Warrants are issued when someone fails to pay their ticket fines for traffic offenses.  There is often a license suspension associated with this situation as well.  These warrants are typically issued by the Court in order to get people to pay up. 
Most warrants that are put out on Central Texans are not for felony indictments. They are bench warrants, sometimes called a "failure to appear" (FTA). When you are issued a citation for speeding or other traffic infractions, the citation will have a date and time listed. You are legally required to appear in court on that date and that time.

However, people frequently miss the court date. They don't have the money to pay the ticket and they don't have a defense prepared. Or, they can't get off work or have another emergency and don't reschedule. Or, they simply forget.
When a person does not appear or otherwise resolve their citation, the judge issues a bench warrant. A judge may also issue a bench warrant if you are summoned to appear in court on any criminal matter and do not show up. The bench warrant is a command for police to arrest you wherever they find you.

Most often, that is when you are pulled over for a traffic stop. The police will check your name against a statewide database. If your name and information appears in the database, they will take you into custody, and you will be stuck in jail until you can be processed and pay a bond.

It is important to know that warrants from traffic tickets must be handled in the jurisdiction where you got the ticket.  If you have tickets with warrants in multiple counties, you will have to deal with each county individually to clear them.

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