Pay your traffic ticket online? Or make an online request to lower the amount? You can do that!
The state Judicial Council developed an online option for people struggling with court debt from eligible infraction violations so a personal appearance in court is not necessary.
The “MyCitations” tool, live in Santa Cruz County as of Feb. 18, lets people look up their citation, answer a series of simple questions and submit a request to the court for a possible reduction in the amount owed.
People can request a payment plan, more time to pay, or community service.
This new option saves the public and the courts significant time and resources, according to the announcement posted at https://www.santacruz.courts.ca.gov/
There’s a 4-minute video to show how this works. The software asks for the citation number, whether you receive public benefits or not, and how much money you take home each month and your estimated monthly expenses for rent/mortgage, utilities, phone, food, insurance, child/spousal support, transportation and any financial hardships and a response is emailed to the email address submitted.
The court started a pilot project in eight counties on “ability to pay” in 2018.
With the passage of Assembly Bill 143, each of the 58 trial courts in California will offer online ability-to-pay determinations using MyCitations by June 30, 2024.