I missed a court date in FL, and have been issued a bench warrant. Advice?

I got pulled over and ticketed for driving on a suspended license with knowledge and altered temp tag ( it was a day expired so i changed the date til I could get a new one). I thought my court date was today and called for the time, the told me it was last monday and that I have two bench warrants out, both of which require $250 bail. I don't really have $500 for bail now. A couple of questions. Will they mail me my bench warrant or serve it in person? If I turn myself in without bail money how long can I expect to be in jail for?I missed a court date in FL, and have been issued a bench warrant. Advice?
I have been a cop in Florida for 25 years, and here is what is happening:





You were nailed for DWLS, with knowledge, FSS 322.34 and Altered Temp Tag, FSS 320..131 OR 320.061... All of the above charges are criminal, misdemeanor charges.





Now that you have failed to go to court, you will have a warrant out for Failure To Appear. The warrant will be and has been listed in the FCIC (Florida Crime Information Center) data base. Any cop in the state that were to run your name, DL number or even any tag or VIN to a vehilce you own would find the warrant 'hit' in the results. You are then immediatly arrested and taken to jail.





You only have a few choices.





First, go turn yourself in to your local Sheriff's Office jail or to any police officer you see on the street. This will get you taken in, booked and you will go to court the next morning to appear before a judge. He can then require you to post bond, or release you with no bond and set you another court date. If bond is set or left at $500.00 than you need $50.00 and you pay that to a Bail Bond firm and they will bail you out.





Or.... You can hire an attorney to arrange for you to be turned in and booked. They can work to get your bond reduced or released with out bond.... But its going to be expensive.





Either way.... Any warrant in Florida requires you to be booked intoa local county jail. There is no way out of it.





They will not mail you a copy. They will most likely send your local Sheriff's Department Warrant Deputies out to find you. This warrant will not expire or go away until it is resolved, or 'served' as it is called.





This is your only correct answer by Florida law.





If you would like more information feel free to send me an email.I missed a court date in FL, and have been issued a bench warrant. Advice?
They're not going to send a SWAT team to your house to serve a bench warrant for failure to appear -- but, if you get pulled over for something else, they'll haul you in for that.





You can't fight the failure to appear, unless it was the court's fault. If, for example, the ticket said appear today, then you have a good case. If you just misread it or forgot, then you'll just have to pay the fine because you're guilty of the crime.
go to any police department or county jail in flordia annd turn yourself in- saves the embarrsement of being arrested in front of your friends and family and they will possibly go easy on you. this is a misdomeaner crime to miss required court appearance. the police serve arrest warrants in person.-you will get booked and held until the judge sees you. it can take anywhere from 5 minutes to five days. i also reccomend you get a lawyer to back you up. if you can't afford bail then get a bail bond.





best of luck to you.
Just ignore it and don't go back to Florida or you WILL do some jail time. If you still live in Florida they WILL pick you up...





You can expect to do 60 to 90 days jail time for those offenses because they were WILLFUL... so there was forethought and judges HATE that.
Go pay the fines all they want is the money. you may get booked but if you pay the fines you will get released.
Get a lawyer and resolve the situation. You can be put in jail and not have the opportunity to bail until you see a judge. That could take a week.
stop breaking the law.