First, if you haven’t read our article on why your license is still suspended after going to court, this is a companion piece to that article. It is worth a read if you are attempting to reverse your suspension yourself. It also has information about where these documents should be filed. This article will center on the types of forms used by the DMV to update records and feature a bonus form that can help you get a refund if applicable. Read on to find out more…
Why Does the Record Need to be Updated?
Unfortunately, traffic tickets can cause problems for drivers. Sometimes they suspend driving privileges. Sometimes they affect insurance rates. Reversing these requires giving updated information to the Secretary of State. Updating records often requires special forms produced by the court by state law (625 ILCS 5/6-204). Therefore, you will need to use these forms to update your record. No other form will be accepted. There are two main categories of forms used to update the Secretary of State:
- Dispositions
- Report of Court Disposition
- Report of Court Supervision
- Notice of Compliance
- Failure to Pay Receipt
- Dormant Judgment Certification
- Non Disposition Documents
- SR-22 Insurance
- Dormant Judgment Certifications
- Settlement Agreements and Bankruptcies
This article will focus on Reports of Court Dispositions, Reports of Court Supervision, and Notices of Compliance (the forms most commonly used when reversing license suspensions). For information about other documents processed by the DMV, stay tuned for more information.
What Types of Dispositions are There?
When it comes to Traffic court judgments, they are recorded on court dispositions. These forms often have raised seals and cannot be altered without voiding them. DuPage County is different because many of these don’t have raised seals. Each form is used to report a single ticket. They can be retrieved at the Circuit Court Clerk’s office of that county. While they are usually free, a fee sometimes applies (Cook County charges $6 each for instance). If you reversed a judgment, this is used as evidence of your hard work. Therefore, it is important to make sure you get the correct form so the DMV can update the record.
Report of Court Disposition
First is the Report of Court Disposition. It is used to record the following:
- Convictions
- Dismissals
- Vacating of Judgments (this is when a judgment is undone or reversed but no new judgment replaces the old one)
It will look more or less like this picture here. Exact appearances will vary from county to county. You should take pause if the clerk gives you this form. If you were granted court supervision, you should NOT receive this form for that ticket. Generally, if you receive this form for cleaning up your record, it is not the correct form unless one of the following is true:
- You reversed a judgment and have a future court date
- Your ticket was dismissed
- Your ticket was changed to a non-moving violation
Report of Court Supervision
First, these documents are used exclusively for reporting court supervision orders. Therefore, if you received court supervision and your document does not look like this, you most likely have been given the wrong document.
Second, this document is used to report court supervision. It can override a previous conviction so long as the date of court supervision is AFTER the date of conviction. If you haven’t read about court supervision, we have a great article about why it is helpful for drivers. For our CDL and professional drivers, we recommend reading about how supervision may not always solve your problems. For these driver’s particularly, we highly recommend speaking to an attorney. We are happy to help and available for a free consultation at (630) 303-3936.
Notice of Compliance
If the DMV (Secretary of State) says you have a suspension for failure to appear, the above forms will not fix your suspension even if you dismiss the ticket. The notice of Compliance is a document used to report successful compliance with a court order. To resolve the issue, a driver may pay the ticket (if no court appearance was required) or request a court date. WARNING – if you are paying a ticket, it will be recorded as a conviction which can cause a different suspension. Consulting a lawyer before payment is the best solution. We happily offer free consultations at (630) 303-3936.
If you choose to pay the ticket, you will still need to pay a reinstatement fee of $70 to the DMV (Secretary of State). By contrast, reinstatement fees can be avoided by attending court to suspensions using any of these forms. If you have already paid them when you think you shouldn’t have, consider submitting a consideration for refund request form.
How We Can Help Update Your Driving Record?
As a traffic law firm, we routinely send documents to the Secretary of State for our clients. We work to process documents quickly and can do so for you to. For our process we:
- Retrieve the document for you and check it for errors
- Send via UPS air mail to our courier
- Have our courier hand walk the document(s) into Springfield for immediate processing
- Update you via text as soon as your documents are processed and your license is valid
If you wish to have us handle the your license suspension for you, we are happy to at an affordable rate.
If you would like representation or your documents processed quickly, call us to request a quote!
