------- CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO ------
0:00 - Your best case scenario
0:40 - Find out how much you owe and to which courts.
1:11 - Make a judgement call. Can you afford to pay the fines?
1:46 - Enter into a payment plan with each court
2:19 - Here's what you need to pay to get approved
2:49 - Here's what to do if you can't afford 15% to 20%
3:27 - Here's what to pay if you owe fines to multiple courts
4:29 - Don't miss your payment plan commitment
4:50 - Even after you get your driver’s licence back, you may be suspended again
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If you are not in a financial position to pay your fines in full, you still may get your driver's license back if you enter into a payment plan with the court. Here's how to do it.
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1/ Find out how much you owe and to which courts.
- You should contact the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, known as the MTO, to get a list of all your fines and in which courts those fines are due.
- This is an important step because you may have outstanding fines that you did not know about or fines that you've completely forgotten.
- So get a complete list of your fines.
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2/ Make a judgement call. Can you afford to pay the fines?
- The fastest and surest way to get your driver's license back is to pay your fines in full and pay the reinstatement fee.
- So, once you get the list of fines, make a judgement call. Can you pay all your fines in full? If you can, do it.
- But, if you can't pay in full, then you would need to enter into a payment plan with the court to get your driver’s license back. Here's how to do that.
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3/ Enter into a payment plan with each court
- You need to enter into a payment plan with each court your fines are in.
- So if your fines are in one court, contact that one court to enter into a payment plan.
- But, if your fines are in multiple courts, you have to contact each court and enter into a payment plan with each court.
- Yes, this may be a lot of work, but there is no way of getting around it.
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4/ Here's what you need to pay to get approved
- The court will need to approve your payment plan before you can get your driver's license back.
- While there is no hard-fast rule, generally, if you pay about 15-20% of the fine that's owed, the court will approve your payment plan.
- So, for example, if you owe $1,000 to a court, if you pay $150 to $200 as a start, the court will likely accept your payment plan.
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5/ Here's what to do if you can't afford 15% to 20%
- If you can't afford to pay 15% to 20% as your first payment, pay what you can and then apply again after having more money.
- So, for example, if you have a $1,000 fine owed to the court and you only have $75, then pay that $75 and get a receipt of your payment.
- When you have additional funds, go back to the court, pay those extra funds and again, apply for the payment plan. Once you hit a certain threshold of payments - usually 15% to 20% of what's owed -- the court will likely approve your payment plan.
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6/ Here's what to pay if you owe fines to multiple courts
- It's very common to owe fines to multiple courts.
- And, if you need to pay 15% to 20% as a down payment against your fines, it's important to allocate your money pro-rata. Here's what that means.
- For example, let's say you owe $3,000 to 3 different courts, and you have $300 to pay as a first payment.
- If your $3,000 total fines come from 3 different fines of $1,000 each, then with your $300, you should pay $100 to each court.
- However, if your $3000 fines come from 3 different fines, but one fine is $1500, and the other two fines are smaller, say $750 each, in this case, you should pay ½ of your first $300 payment, i.e., $150, against the $1500 fine. And pay $75 to each court with the smaller fines.
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7/ Don't miss your payment plan commitment
- If the court approves you for a payment plan, it's very important not to miss any of the payments you've committed to making.
- If you miss a payment, the court will likely suspend your driver's license.
- And in that case, it may be very difficult to enter into another payment plan agreement.
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8/ Even after you get your driver’s licence back, you may be suspended again
- After you get your driver’s license reinstated by the MTO, it's very important to get a confirmation in writing that your driver’s license is valid.
- This is important because you may have some other issue suspending your license other than outstanding fines.
- So, make sure you get written confirmation you're okay to drive before you drive.
