What are 405095 Holds?
In California, failure to make a court appearance or pay a fine can result in the suspension of the offender’s driver’s license. The suspension happens in response to a document sent from the court to the Department of Motor Vehicles called a VC405509.5, so licenses suspended in this way are known as 405095 holds.
If This Happens to You
What happens after this varies from one court to another. A failure to appear (FTA) offense may result in an arrest warrant, and some courts will add a failure to appear charge to the original charges. This will probably result in an additional fine.
At this point, the case is turned over to a private collection agency who will attempt to retrieve the required fines from the license holder. In California, such collection cases are handled by a company called GC Services. Their representatives are not qualified to give legal advice, so the license holder should seek a qualified attorney.
Why Use an Attorney?
From here, the course may appear straightforward: Pay the fines and the license will be restored. However, the action of a legal firm with experience in 405095 holds can help the inexperienced navigate the system with the least amount of difficulty and expense.
The court is mainly interested in getting a court date set. Even after 405095 holds have been issued, the license holder usually has a right to a court date and will receive one when proper procedure is followed. This involves the license holder going to the courthouse with his lawyer and asking the court clerk to set a court date, after which the lawyer can request that the hold on the driver’s license be lifted.
In rare cases, the court clerk may refuse the request. If this happens, the license holder must wait until the court date, make the required appearance and ask the judge to lift the hold. This request is usually granted.
With the hold lifted, the license holder must go the Department of Motor Vehicles and pay a fee to have the license reinstated.
Many people attempt this process alone, but using a law firm can often save fine money and will almost certainly get quicker results. An experienced attorney can often get 405095 holds lifted in a few days, and the legal fee can be considerably less than the fine would have been.
