PT1M44S
“do you have to go to court um the short answer is yes you have to go to court if you are summoned if you're arrested if you have a court date of any kind set you should go to that court date now i guess you could decide not to go and then deal with the award that's put out for your arrest but yes you have to go to court if you are told to be at court on a certain date and time”
“now there are ways that you do not have to appear if you have an attorney or if you're doing things pro se or in other words without an attorney if you know how to file the appropriate motions and can get them granted by a judge then you may not have to appear but generally speaking you have to appear at court”
“now the ways that you don't appear at court is number one if you're sick or if you're out of the state or if there's something going on like you have a funeral or something that you have to attend at the same time that the court date is scheduled you can ask your attorney to file a motion to waive your appearance you can ask your attorney to ask for a continuance of the court date in other words reschedule the court date or you can ask your attorney to allow a virtual appearance”
“now post covet it's great because you can do webex appearances if you're out of state if the judge allows but the big thing to keep in mind is the only way that you don't have to appear at court is if you have an attorney going for you and has already cleared it or if you're filing the appropriate motions otherwise if you have a court date and don't show up a warrant will enter for your arrest saying hey this person we call it a failed to appear it's fta you may hear that term thrown around they failed to appear we have an fta they're going to get arrested the next time law enforcement has any contact with them”
“so generally speaking yes you have to go to court if for some reason you don't want to go to court give us a call right law group let us know how we can help you we can file those motions for you or direct you to someone in your area that can help you with that”
“the big thing to keep in mind is the only way that you don't have to appear at court is if you have an attorney going for you and has already cleared it or if you're filing the appropriate motions”
“otherwise if you have a court date and don't show up a warrant will enter for your arrest saying hey this person we call it a failed to appear it's fta”
“yes you have to go to court if you are summoned if you're arrested if you have a court date of any kind set you should go to that court date”