Legal Question in Traffic Law in Wisconsin

Lost Traffic Ticket--Where to Pay Fine

This is potentially a big problem, since there could be literally hundreds of different municipal courts in the general vicinity where you received the ticket (if you were in the greater Milwaukee area). Unfortunately, municipal courts generally do not have online access, unlike Circuit Courts (where your case status could easily be checked). An experienced traffic lawyer in that geographic area, however, might be able to track it down depending upon the type of road, the exact location, and the time of day. Otherwise, the folks at the Department of Motor Vehicles might be able to alert you once they receive the faxed dispositional report from the arresting agency (after you are found guilty by default). They will certainly notify you eventually by suspending your license. Reinstating it should be relatively simple via paying the fine and a $50.00 reinstatement fee, assuming that you don’t have other problems such as excessive demerit points or excessive violations (which might get you revoked by making you a habitual traffic offender). A good lawyer could probably even reopen the ticket even after that, although the expenses would be greater. The moral of the story: pay attention to the name of the arresting agency if you are poor at retrieving/retaining your paperwork. They could generally have provided assistance with nothing more than a phone call if you knew who they were.

Re: Lost Traffic Ticket

If you know the police jurisdiction that issued the ticket, you could contact them. Otherwise, you have to just keep checking back with the clerk of courts.