If you have a court date coming up, then you want to make sure you do not miss that date or suffer the consequences. Some people are diligent about saving information as it pertains to their court dates, while others hire attorneys who are paid to constantly remind their client of their pending court date. But it does happen that a person forgets their court date and that is when it is time to rely on the online information offered by each court to find that date and be on time.
Find Your Case Number
Most jurisdictions send out multiple notices about a pending court case, and each of those notifications will have your case number on it. Some people might argue that the court documents they get also have their court date on them, but this is not true. The police report should have your case number on it and any correspondence you get from the court will have your case number but not necessarily your court date.
Find Out Which Court You Are Attending
One of the biggest misconceptions people have about court dates is that their court appearance will take place in the local court where they were arrested. This is only the case if their crime falls under the jurisdiction of the local authorities. If you are arrested on federal charges, then your case could take place in any federal court in the area.
An appeals case is heard in an appeals court, a personal injury or civil case is heard in a civil court and a criminal case is heard in a criminal court. In some areas, felony criminal charges are adjudicated in different courts than misdemeanors. You will have to determine what type of court your case is being heard in before you can start looking for your court date.
A quick way of finding out what type of court you need to contact is to call your local police department and give them your case number. They should be able to let you know what type of court you are to attend.
Looking It Up Online
Once you have all of your information, you can go to the court’s website and look for your court date online. The simplest way is to look for the “Court Date Lookup” feature, or something similar. Every court tries to make it easier for people to find their court dates to make sure that the court’s schedule is not bogged down with trying to reschedule dates.
If you do not remember your court date, then it is not the court’s responsibility to constantly remind you. There are resources you can use to make sure that you get to your court date on time and participate in the due process.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!