Driving With Suspended License: How To Get Your License Back (with Unpaid Fines)

------ CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO ----- 0:00 - Your best case scenario 0:40 - Find out how much you owe and to which courts. 1:11 - Make a judgement call. Can you afford to pay the fines? 1:46 - Enter into a payment plan with each court 2:19 - Here's what you need to pay to get approved 2:49 - Here's what to do if you can't afford 15% to 20% 3:27 - Here's what to pay if you owe fines to multiple courts 4:29 - Don't miss your payment plan commitment 4:50 - Even after you get your driver’s licence back, you may be suspended again ---------------------------------------------------------- If you are not in a financial position to pay your fines in full, you still may get your driver's license back if you enter into a payment plan with the court. Here's how to do it. ___________ ✅ Take our free Drive Suspend Penalty Test https://suspension.nextlaw.ca ___________ 1/ Find out how much you owe and to which courts. You should contact the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, known as the MTO, to get a list of all your fines and in which courts those fines are due. This is an important step because you may have outstanding fines that you did not know about or fines that you've completely forgotten. So get a complete list of your fines. ___________ 2/ Make a judgement call. Can you afford to pay the fines? The fastest and surest way to get your driver's license back is to pay your fines in full and pay the reinstatement fee. So, once you get the list of fines, make a judgement call. Can you pay all your fines in full? If you can, do it. But, if you can't pay in full, then you would need to enter into a payment plan with the court to get your driver’s license back. Here's how to do that. ___________ 3/ Enter into a payment plan with each court You need to enter into a payment plan with each court your fines are in. So if your fines are in one court, contact that one court to enter into a payment plan. But, if your fines are in multiple courts, you have to contact each court and enter into a payment plan with each court. Yes, this may be a lot of work, but there is no way of getting around it. ___________ 4/ Here's what you need to pay to get approved The court will need to approve your payment plan before you can get your driver's license back. While there is no hard-fast rule, generally, if you pay about 15-20% of the fine that's owed, the court will approve your payment plan. So, for example, if you owe $1,000 to a court, if you pay $150 to $200 as a start, the court will likely accept your payment plan. ___________ 5/ Here's what to do if you can't afford 15% to 20% If you can't afford to pay 15% to 20% as your first payment, pay what you can and then apply again after having more money. So, for example, if you have a $1,000 fine owed to the court and you only have $75, then pay that $75 and get a receipt of your payment. When you have additional funds, go back to the court, pay those extra funds and again, apply for the payment plan. Once you hit a certain threshold of payments - usually 15% to 20% of what's owed -- the court will likely approve your payment plan. ___________ 6/ Here's what to pay if you owe fines to multiple courts It's very common to owe fines to multiple courts. And, if you need to pay 15% to 20% as a down payment against your fines, it's important to allocate your money pro-rata. Here's what that means. For example, let's say you owe $3,000 to 3 different courts, and you have $300 to pay as a first payment. If your $3,000 total fines come from 3 different fines of $1,000 each, then with your $300, you should pay $100 to each court. However, if your $3000 fines come from 3 different fines, but one fine is $1500, and the other two fines are smaller, say $750 each, in this case, you should pay ½ of your first $300 payment, i.e., $150, against the $1500 fine. And pay $75 to each court with the smaller fines. ___________ 7/ Don't miss your payment plan commitment If the court approves you for a payment plan, it's very important not to miss any of the payments you've committed to making. If you miss a payment, the court will likely suspend your driver's license. And in that case, it may be very difficult to enter into another payment plan agreement. ___________ 8/ Even after you get your driver’s licence back, you may be suspended again After you get your driver’s license reinstated by the MTO, it's very important to get a confirmation in writing that your driver’s license is valid. This is important because you may have some other issue suspending your license other than outstanding fines. So, make sure you get written confirmation you're okay to drive before you drive.