All about Court Fines
how you get them, How to pay them, Enforcement action, Your rights
If you’ve got a Court fine, it won’t go away until you pay it.
So deal with it before it costs you a lot more.
There are two ways you can get a court fine:
From a Judge
A Judge may fine you for an offence you’ve committed such as drink-driving, disorderly behaviour, or breaking commercial laws.
The fine may be your whole sentence or just part of it. In some cases, the Judge will instruct you to pay the fine immediately or in instalments.
If you’re in Court when the Judge gives you a fine, you may be asked to discuss paying it before you leave the courthouse.
(If you wish to appeal a fine given in Court, you must file an appeal at the Court you were sentenced within 28 days of the day you were sentenced. Contact the Court for the correct form).
Unpaid Tickets
If you don’t pay the infringement tickets you’ve received from the police or a local authority, they will file the tickets with the Court to enforce payment. You can get infringement tickets for minor offences like speeding, illegal parking, not registering your car or your dog etc.
Now the ticket has become a fine. A filing fee is added to the amount of your ticket and the Court sends you a Notice of Fine for the total amount.
(Note: If you dispute an infringement ticket, you must apply in writing to the Police or the correct local authority for a hearing before it becomes overdue and is lodged with the Court).
You have 28 days to deal with your fine before it costs you even more.
Within the 28 days you must either:
- Pay the total amount of the fine, or
- Apply to the court for more time to pay.
Extra time to pay is only granted in special circumstances. You will be asked to provide details of your financial situation so that Court staff can assess whether you need this extra time. It is the Court—not you—who will decide if you can pay over a longer period of time and the amount that you should pay in each instalment.
The Court may require an initial payment. If you are granted extra time to pay, regular deductions may be taken from your wages, salary, benefit or bank account. If you default on your time payment arrangement, the Court can take enforcement action.
After 21 days, if you haven’t paid your fine or made time payment arrangements, you’ll be sent a Final Notice of Fine. This will remind you that in a few days the fine will be overdue.
After that...$100 extra
...if you still haven’t paid your fine or made arrangements to pay with the Court, the fine will be overdue. The Court will then add a $100 enforcement fee to the total amount and take enforcement action.
Enforcement
There are many different ways the Court can make people pay overdue fines:
- It can order the fine to be deducted directly from wages, salary, benefit or other income.
- It can send a Collections Officer or Bailiff to seize property. e.g. TV, car, furniture, and sell these things to pay the fine.
- It can clamp a wheel of a vehicle so that it cannot be moved until payment is made.
- It can issue a Deduction Notice to take money directly from a person’s bank account.
- It can put a Charging Order over property (eg: house, land) owned by a person. A charging order prevents the sale of the property until the fine has been paid.
- It can summon a person to appear before a Judge.
- It can have a person arrested and brought to Court.
The Ministry of Justice also has powers to find people who have not paid fines, including:
- Matching its records with records from other approved agencies, including the Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue, to get information on the whereabouts of people with overdue fines.
- Publishing the names of fines defaulters in local and national newspapers.
So, remember...
If you deal with your fine immediately, you save yourself extra costs and avoid inconvenience.
There are a number of ways you can pay – by cheque, cash, and credit card or, in some courts, by EFTPOS. You can pay at your local court or by mail, or at any NZ Post Shop. See your Notice of Fine for details of all payment options.
If you fine is overdue or about to become overdue, you can call the Ministry of Justice toll-free on 0800 408 409 and arrange payment by credit card or discuss other options for payment.
If you’re not sure what to do about a fine, talk to the fines collections staff at you nearest District Court.
Your rights
If the procedures for giving you a fine, notifying you of a fine, or notifying you of an earlier hearing were not followed properly, you have the right to apply to the Court to correct those procedures. You should contact your nearest District Court for advice on how to make the application. This is known as ‘correcting an irregularity’.
You will probably be asked to make a Statutory Declaration about the irregularity you believe has occurred eg: that you did not receive any notification of the fine (or the hearing), or that you have already paid the full amount of a ticket that has been lodged with the Court.
A Statutory Declaration is a formal document, which must be witnessed by a Justice of the Peace or other authorised person. Please note that ‘not remembering’ if you received a notice of the fine or the hearing is not sufficient grounds for an application. You may be asked to provide the Court with some evidence of why you did not receive any notices eg: that you were overseas at the time, or that your had changed address (although people are expected to make a reasonable effort to have their mail redirected).
If your application to correct an irregularity is accepted by the Court, you may be granted a hearing or rehearing. As a result, the original infringement ticket or Court fine would be withdrawn or could be re-issued minus any enforcement fees which have been added. If an infringement ticket is re-issued, you have the right to dispute the original infringement offence but this must be done in writing to the correct prosecuting agency (eg: Police or Local Authority) before the new due date.
Selling your car?
Make sure both you and the buyer complete all that is required to change the registered ownership, otherwise you may still be liable for future fines on the vehicle.
Now pay your fine online!
If you have a credit card, it’s easy and convenient to pay your fine online at www.fines.govt.nz
Information and advice provided in this leaflet is for general reference only. It is recommended that people receiving tickets or fines refer to the information on the back of their Notice of Fine, and they may wish to seek independent legal advice.
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