City of Knoxville - City Court Payment Plan

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Contact Info: citycourt@cityofknoxville.org

PAYMENT PLAN

If you choose to pay-off your total balance due to City Court in monthly payments, please note the following

1. To start a payment plan, simply make your first payment!

Go to CITATION FINE AMOUNTS to find the amount due per violation.

City Court will accept the following forms of payment:

-	Cash (Rolled coins only)
-	Personal Checks (unless your Driver License is suspended or pending suspension; also, no 3rd party checks - Check MUST be made out to "City Court")
-	Money Orders & Cashier Checks
-	Master Card / VISA Credit Cards (Card-holder must be present)

Make payment in person @ City Court Service Counter or mail to City Court at
City Court
P.O. Box 2749
Knoxville, TN 37901

Note: City Court will not accept "credit card partial payments by telephone", except when a Citation that is suspending (or about to suspend) a driver license is to be paid-in-full.

2. First payment is officially due by your scheduled Court Date!

"10-Day Grace Period" - The Court will accept and consider your payment as being on time as long as the Court receives it no later than 10 business days after the scheduled Court Date.

Follow-up, future payments are officially due "30 days" after the scheduled Court Date, unless stated otherwise by City Court.

3. $50/Month "Standard Minimum Payment"

$50/month based on total balance due of less than $1,000.

If total balance due is $1,000 to $1,499... Pay $100/month.

If total balance due is $1,500 to $1,999... Pay $150/month.

If total balance due is $2,000 to $2,999... Pay $200/month.

If total balance due is greater than $3,000... Pay $250/month.

City Court will accept any reasonable payment amount, regardless of the "Standard Minimum Payment" amount noted above. Generally, the more you pay the better, and a small payment is by and large better than no payment.

4. $5/Month "Partial Payment Fee"

A $5 per month partial payment fee will be added to your total balance due anytime you do not payoff the total balance due.

5. Being on a payment plan does not prevent a DL Suspension

A Citation must be paid in full within 5 months from the issue date or it is subject to being reported to the State to begin the suspension process on your driver license.

Being on a payment plan won't stop a DL Suspension, but it will delay a suspension. That is because if you do not begin making payments as scheduled, your "ticket" may be reported "sooner than later" to begin the license suspension process.

If the payment amount is less than the "required minimum," it will hold off the suspension process for the maximum period, same as the "required amount."

That is why it is important to make certain that if you are making payments, that your payments are "sizeable" enough to do the job...

Example: If your violations total $300, and your ticket was issued 3 months ago, then you have 2 months to pay $300. That divides out to $150 per month. So in this example, if you pay just $50/month, your DL will probably get suspended or come very close to getting suspended.

6. Payment of "Standard Minimum Payment" Guarantees No Warrant Will Be Written

While you are paying a monthly payment of at least the "Standard Minimum Payment" amount (based on your Total Balance Due to City Court), you are guaranteed that no City Court warrant will be written against you!

If the payment amount is less than the "required minimum," it will not prevent a City Court warrant from being issued if KPD requests one. However, KPD does not request very many warrants.

As long as you are making regular payments, even if less than the "required minimum," it is unlikely City Court will issue a warrant. (If you are not making regular payments, the odds start to work against you that a warrant may be issued.)

7. "Credit Time-Period Extension"

With each monthly payment received by the Court, you will receive an additional month to show "proof of (Equipment Repair; Insurance; DL; and/or Registration)" and receive credit in the Court. The maximum time extension for this is 5 months from the Citation issue date.

8. Payments received by the Court will be applied first to oldest Citations

Payments received be applied first to oldest Citations unless otherwise requested in writing to the Court by the defendant.

9. Payment Plan may be denied or rescinded

Offer of this Payment Plan may be denied or rescinded at any time by City Court to any person for any reason.

HARD TIMES?

If you are experiencing especially difficult times, you may find the following "tips" helpful:

Making regular monthly payments in some amount is better than nothing! For one thing, it will help establish a "record of responsibility" that may come in handy later, whether speaking with the Judge or someone else.

Also, missing a payment, being a little late on a payment, or coming up a bit "short" on a payment will rarely result in an immediate warrant.

"Indigency" - If you would like to file for Indigency, you must complete an Indigency form and present your case to the Judge in Court. Indigency basically means you claim to be too poor to pay your Court fines. A lot of people are quick to say they cannot afford to pay what they owe the Court. But getting the Judge to agree is what counts.

People who have faired best in this area, besides being low to no income, have presented a case to the Judge featuring mainly older tickets and some pattern of starting to ‘turn things around’. That pattern of ‘turning things around’ may be nothing more than a history of a few months with the Court of making regular payments, and possibly no new tickets in many months. (The Judge is loath to ‘write-off’ someone’s new tickets because he believes it sends out the wrong message.)

If interested, come to Court and ask a Clerk for the Indigency form. You will most likely be the last person the Judge will see in Court that day. So, if you come on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, come around 11:30 AM or 12 noon, and you won’t have to wait as long. On Tuesday / Thursday (Night Court), try coming around 7 PM.

When you see the Judge, there is no guarantee that he will reduce the amount you owe the Court at all. It all depends on the strength of your case for "your inability to pay."