Postponing a court appearance?

**The Pastor** · 25th May 2009, 09:25

mate of mine is going to court over a minor traffic speeding ticket.

He has his prelim court hearing (the very first one where you plead guilty or in his case not guilty) on the 6th of june,

which is fine, how ever on the 10th of june he is overseas untill mid December (maybe even till feb?) is there a way to get the case prosponed until feburary? hes not wanting to skip out of a ticket, but wants it sorted quickly as soon as he gets back.

Cheers

Rm

**p.dath** · 25th May 2009, 12:39

I don't think the court will accept that your friend is going on holiday as satisfactory.
Even if your sick you need to turn up unless you have a medical certificate.

Your friend's best bet would be to start by ringing the court registrar. If they say no way then don't go further. I'd probably make up a story about it being non-refundable and causing financial hardship. If there is some movement, then they'll need to write to the court registrar and request a new date.

Perhaps your friend could say that he is pleading not-guilty, and wants a fixture date to defend the case.

But as I said, I don't think they'll be very lenient if it is a Holiday that is preventing them from appearing (otherwise everyone would do this to avoid going to court!).

**fatzx10r** · 25th May 2009, 12:43

he could just plead guilty and pay the fine

**Scouse** · 25th May 2009, 12:48

What is propsponing ?

**YellowDog** · 25th May 2009, 12:54

So long as you give plenty of notice and give a reasonabe excuse, the rescheduling the case should not be a major issue. "regrettably I shall of out of the country for the scheduled court date and respectfully request that you re-schedule this hearing for a date no less than 'x' days later"

**The Pastor** · 25th May 2009, 12:54

its not really avoiding. lawyers do it all the time depending on their workload.

**slofox** · 25th May 2009, 13:32

Originally Posted by YellowDog

So long as you give plenty of notice and give a reasonabe excuse, the rescheduling the case should not be a major issue. "regrettably I shall of out of the country for the scheduled court date and respectfully request that you re-schedule this hearing for a date no less than 'x' days later"

where "x" = 10,000

**YellowDog** · 25th May 2009, 13:38

Originally Posted by slofox

where "x" = 10,000

So you don't work for Westpac then

**Finn** · 25th May 2009, 14:02

Originally Posted by Scouse

What is propsponing ?

A very dangerous water sport?

**pritch** · 25th May 2009, 14:35

Originally Posted by renegade master

its not really avoiding. lawyers do it all the time depending on their workload.

There's one rule for lawyers and another for the proles.

Tell him to plead insanity.

**vifferman** · 25th May 2009, 14:48

Originally Posted by Scouse

What is propsponing ?

Apart from indicative/symptomatic?

**Patrick** · 25th May 2009, 17:07

Pay the fine now, and its all sorted... He won't get stopped at the air port by the she male with the shoulder length rubber gloves.

**scumdog** · 25th May 2009, 19:02

Originally Posted by renegade master

mate of mine is going to court over a minor traffic speeding ticket.

He has his prelim court hearing (the very first one where you plead guilty or in his case not guilty) on the 6th of june,

which is fine, how ever on the 10th of june he is overseas untill mid December (maybe even till feb?) is there a way to get the case prosponed until feburary? hes not wanting to skip out of a ticket, but wants it sorted quickly as soon as he gets back.

Cheers

Rm

If he gets to leave in the first place...

**Kemet** · 25th May 2009, 19:19

Like Scummmy said..

Isn't there some restriction on leaving the country if you have unpaid fines??

Something to google or check this page about fines (don't know if the answer is there or not, but there should be something.....)

**YellowDog** · 25th May 2009, 20:55

Originally Posted by Kemet

Like Scummmy said..

Isn't there some restriction on leaving the country if you have unpaid fines??

Something to google or check this page about fines (don't know if the answer is there or not, but there should be something.....)

If the hearing hasn't happened yet, the there cannot yet be a fine for the alledged and not proven offence.