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Hello and welcome to Éducaloi.tv, Educaloi's webcast about the legal rights and obligations
of Quebecers
No money to pay a fine
Let's talk about tickets.
Imagine you're driving down the highway a little too fast and you get a ticket, officially
called a "statement of offence". You want to pay the fine, but you don't have the money
to do it in the 30 days you've been given. What can you do?
Start by contacting the person at the Municipal Court or the courthouse who handles the payment
of fines -- called a "collection officer".
You can ask the officer for a few extra weeks to pay the fine, or for permission to pay
in several payments.
If you do end up going over the 30 days, or you don't follow the agreement you made with
the collection officer, the officer will notify the Société de l'assurance automobile du
Québec, which will automatically suspend your driver's licence. The collection officer
will also take steps to seize your personal belongings, such as your car, your salary
or, in extreme cases, your house.
If the collection officer sees that you don't have money to pay, or anything to seize, he
might suggest that you do "community service". This could be volunteering for a food bank
or a group helping the homeless, for example. Community service is a way to pay a fine "in
kind" instead of with money. The number of hours of service will depend on how much you
owe.
If you do agree to do community service, the collection officer will refer you to a special
agency that supervises this kind of work and reports back to the officer.
At any time, you can stop doing the community service and pay what you owe.
To learn more, visit the website of the Bureau des infractions et amendes or contact the
Court mentioned on your ticket.
So there you go! To learn more about tickets or your rights and obligations in general,
visit educaloi.qc.ca.