Felony Guide

Failure to Appear Warrants

When a person is obligated to appear in court (for any reason) and they do not, the judge can choose to issue a warrant for their arrest - this is known as a "Failure to Appear Warrant," or "FTA."

The most common FTA's in the US occur when people neglect to show up in court regarding traffic tickets. Of course, anybody committed of any crime which requires a hearing is subject to receiving a failure to appear warrant. You can also receive a warrant for not showing up for jury duty when you are assigned to appear or not showing up for a civil lawsuit hearing.

In some states FTA's are actually treated as misdemeanors - this means that you can actually receive more charges for not bothering to show up for a hearing. Since most misdemeanors carry a maximum jail sentence of one year obviously this is something you should take very seriously.

How long do Failure to Appear Warrants last?
There is not statute of limitations on failure to appear warrants. If you have an outstanding warrant from decades ago don't assume that the warrant is no longer standing. States will rarely extradite for failure to appear (but often will if the original charges are more serious).

How do you get rid of a Failure to Appear Warrant?
Of course the details of your situation are unique and you should contact an attorney if you have a failure to appear warrant. The attorney will probably contact the court or police department (depending on your jurisdiction) to give an explanation for your failure to appear. In general, when you show up for the court appearance the warrant will be dropped.

If your failure to appear is a result of not showing up for jury duty then you may be subject to more jury duty assignments. The judge can also issue a bench warrant (but in practice this is rare). Also, you may have to pay the court a fine.

What if I'm innocent?
Remember, a FTA warrant has nothing to do with the details of your case. Even if you are found not guilty or the case is thrown out for a lack of evidence you are still expected to show up for any and all hearings related to your case. Even though your original case may be dismissed the FTA charges may remain.

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What happens when a judge issues fta and you are in jail, the jail fail to transport you to court and another warrant was issued.Can these be legal warrants?

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Shirley Hoffmann
Saturday, May 12, 2012

my girlfriend has had a attorney since day 1 of her cause. The state filed a petition that was granted saying she missed a court date. Will she get bond back?

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ben
Thursday, May 10, 2012

i had a court date on 4/30 in Superior court the day before i tried to comet suicide and was admitted to the hosptail that night and i was under a magersite custody hold by the hospital and they wouldn't let me leave but did fax informaton to the DA but i stilll got a warrent how can i get it droped and a new court DATE AND ITS A OFA not FTA......

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lamont
Tuesday, May 8, 2012

how can you get a failed to appear warrant if you are already in prison


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ssnj
Sunday, May 6, 2012

If I have two failure to appear charges how much time am I facing??

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sheema
Wednesday, May 2, 2012

So how much time can I get for grand theft and its my first time and a v.o.p

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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

i have 3 felony ftas. these were issued 14 years ago without my knowledge. what should i do? i found out through a criminal background check for employment.

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emma green
Friday, April 27, 2012

I know fta means failure to appear but what does the abbreviation fta@eq ct cont cash mean?

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erika
Thursday, April 26, 2012

from what that sounds like is that if you are picked up on a failure to appear, release is contingent on a cash only bond. That is my best guess anyways. I was recently arrested due to an unpaid fine from almost 10 years ago that I had no idea about and I was only able to get out of jail by posting a cash only bond. I did not have the option to use a bondsman. Like I said that is my best guess, I could be wrong but that seems to be what it sounds like.

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JJ
Thursday, May 10, 2012

nOT SURE WHERE YOUR GETTING THE ABBREVIATIONS BUT IF YOU DONT KNOW YET, IT PROBABLY HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE CHARGE HE FAILED TO APPEAR FOR. WHY FAIL TO APPEAR OR WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THIS? THEN WE CAN HELP.

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guy
Thursday, April 26, 2012

well im 14 i have a warrant every since jun 3 last year can i still go to jail if the police run my name....through the computer????

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james
Monday, April 23, 2012

Dude your 14 years old. Unless you really messed up (felony C or up), you sont have to worry about it. Because youve had an active warrant for almost a year go take care of it. proably just a fine. unless its a drug charge which case it maybe still in the lab pending results. Are you RPAW? if so my case took over a year to get through the labs they are so backed up.

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some guy
Thursday, April 26, 2012

on a fta warrant you get arrested and then can you bond out or do you have to stay in jail until your court date? And he has 2 capias for child support fta so can he bond out

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trina
Monday, April 16, 2012

doubt it, they probably wont let him bond out considering the money he would be using for bond legally belongs to his babies or babies mothers.

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guy
Thursday, April 26, 2012

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