Iowans now have four ways to pay outstanding court fines and fees while following social distancing and self-isolation restrictions. All fines and fees can be mailed to the appropriate clerk of court office. The Iowa Judicial Branch offers a pay online option. People with multiple fines or fees on multiple cases can pay with a single payment using the shopping cart feature on Iowa Courts Online. And, the newest option, now available, is a single statewide number to pay by phone.
The “Pay a Fine or Court Fee” page on the Iowa Judicial Branch website (https://www.iowacourts.gov/for-the-public/pay-a-fine/) is the fastest way to pay a traffic ticket or outstanding court debt any time of the day or night using a major credit card. The payer must know the type of case, the county in which the charge or citation was issued, the case number, or the name of the person charged. The page includes the answers to more than 20 commonly asked questions about paying court fines and fees.
Using the shopping cart feature to pay multiple fines and fees is similar to making multiple online purchases using an e-commerce shopping website. A person can pay court costs, fines, surcharges, and other court-related debt using the Trial Court Case Search on Iowa Courts Online (https://www.iowacourts.state.ia.us/ESAWebApp//SelectFrame) by typing the full name of a party to the case into the search fields.
If unsuccessful trying all the above options, the new statewide pay by phone number is 515-348-4788. Previously, people with court debt were asked to call the clerk of court in the county where the citation was issued or fine was ordered. Now, the single number will be answered by a clerk from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday.
“Multiple, convenient payments options for Iowans to use from their homes is particularly important now during the statewide effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” State Court Administrator Todd Nuccio said. “With reduced staff in all of our clerk of court offices, the multiple payment options also helps the judicial branch do its part to slow the spread of the virus by distributing the incoming calls to multiple clerks offices and to clerk staff working from home.”
For More Information:
Steve Davis
Communications Director
Iowa Judicial Branch
[email protected]