PAY MY TRAFFIC TICKET WITHOUT GOING TO COURT

There are three (3) ways to pay your traffic ticket: At the Courthouse with cash, money order, cashier or certified funds and/or credit card; By Mail with a money order, cashier or certified funds (No Personal or Business Checks accepted); and Online with a credit card.

CAN ALL TICKETS BE PAID ONLINE OR BY MAIL?

No, the traffic citation payment system will allow you to pay online only if your ticket is a payable offense which does not require a court appearance. Examples of payable offenses are speeding, running a red light, failure to signal, failure to yield, most equipment violations, etc.
Tickets Not in System:Our Court cannot accept payments for ticket(s) that are currently not in our system. The issuing agency typically submits traffic tickets within 10 working days from issuance.
Tickets Not Available for Online Payment:Tickets with violations that require a court appearance, include but are not limited to:

• Speeding in Construction or School Zone;
• Driving under Suspension; Failure to Secure a Driver’s license; Expired Driver’s license;
• Hit & Run; Reckless Operation and some tickets involving crashes;
• Loud Music
• OWI and accompanying tickets
• Tickets where the court apearance date has passed;
• Tickets designated Appearance Mandatory by Court Rule;
• Juvenile traffic tickets, regardless of offense, require an appearance in Court and CANNOT be paid online.

Timeliness of Payment

To avoid appearing in Court, Payment must be made prior to your scheduled Court date.

Court Date

Payment must be made prior to the date shown on the Notice of Arraignment that you receive from our Court. This date is usually 45 to 60 days after the date of issuance. If you fail to make payment by that date, you must then appear at your arraignment. Failure to appear or to pay timely could result in the issuance of a warrant for your arrest, withdrawal of your driving privileges, and the assessment of additional penalty fees.

Submitting payment constitutes a Guilty/No Contest Plea

By submitting payment online for your traffic ticket, you are pleading guilty/no contest to your original charge and will stand convicted of that offense. In addition, by paying online and not personally appearing in court, you are waiving your right to formal arraignment; appointment of an attorney; trial and appeal. This conviction will be reported to the Office of Motor Vehicles and could have an effect on your driving record.

If I pay online, can I still get this ticket off of my record?

You may be eligible to have the ticket removed by attending a driver improvement school. If you are interested in attending a driver improvement school, you should come to the Courthouse within 30 days of your online payment to schedule the program. Failure to timely schedule a driver program will prevent you from being able to remove the ticket from your record. Note, removal of a traffic ticket from your record can occur only once every two (2) years.

Non-Refundable Processing Fee to use the online ticket payment service

There is a 5% processing fee assessed to all online payments. This fee is non-refundable; If you do not wish to pay this processing fee, you may pay your ticket in person at the Courthouse during normal business hours or mail you payment c/o City Court of Lafayette, LA, Traffic Violation Bureau, Post Office Box 2086, Lafayette, LA 70502-2086. Payment by mail must be made by money order, cashier or certified check. Our court does not accept personal or business checks. DO NOT MAIL currency (cash/coin).

Responsibility for Error, Incorrect or Untimely Payment

You are responsible to verify every detail of your ticket to assure that your payment is timely and accurately applied to the ticket issued to you. It is your responsibility to timely pay the correct amount, for the correct charge, whether online or in person at the courthouse. Our court will not be responsible for any additional fees or penalties resulting from user error, incorrect or untimely payments.
Any payment made by user via this online payment system is NON-REFUNDABLE, in whole or in part, once the payment has been submitted, confirmed and accepted by the Court. If the submission is not accepted by the Court, refund will be made in a form determined by the Court.
ALL PROCESSING FEES ASSOCIATED WITH A TRANSACTION ARE NON-REFUNDABLE, regardless if the payment was made in error or in an incorrect amount.

Questions:

If you are unable to complete your online transaction, please refer to frequently asked questions (FAQ), or call the City Court Traffic Violation Bureau at 337- 291-8736.

To pay your citation through the Online Traffic Citation Payment System you will need the following:

• Traffic Citation Number
• Court Summons showing Docket Number
• Offender’s Name as shown on the Citation, including Birth Date
• Credit Card (MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express)
• Printer to print your confirmation (transaction ID) page for your records and/or e-mail address for additional confirmation (transaction ID)

Note: A non-refundable 5% convenience fee is added to all credit card payments.