The bills start piling in

And many are completely unjustified. Sure everyone knows a DUI is going to cost you a bundle, but you might be surprised at how many different people have their hand out simply because you f*cked up. They know that you just want to make this go away so you can get back on with life. They also know exactly how much they can get away with charging you if you are employed, a home owner, married, etc. In every aspect of dealing with this it has always been apparent that the only thing anyone cares about is getting money. The court even had a mandatory financial profile sheet that I had to fill out that included income, debts and assets. It wasn't very specific requiring financiers or account numbers so it was pretty easy to pad it in the red as far as debt to income, which isn't that far from fact in my case, but I highly doubted it would be checked nor make any difference in my fees. I'm sure I was being charged the maximum allowable fees for the offense. While most of the fees might be standardized by law, spreading the wealth is not, and there is a plethora of 3rd parties that they can order you to pay. Like drug testing companies (owned by people with ties to the court), counseling, community service (yes even this costs money) and court rehabilitation programs (founded by a judge).

The first bill I got in the mail was from the police station for $450. Talk about unjustified! This is a tax-payer funded public police department, how can they bill me directly? They called it a Cost Recovery Invoice and clearly stated that "this invoice is in addition to all court costs and fines". They are charging me for pulling me over and incarcerating me?... as I double checked the envelope looking for a packet of anal lubricant! I even tried to fight this fee by asking what the Cost Recovery fee is for a speeding violation, "there is none", well that's what I was pulled over for so I shouldn't be charged this fee. I was talking to a brick wall.

The next one came from the state and was poetically named Driver Responsibility Fee with some law codes so you knew there was no getting out of it and that some governor signed this into law at some point. This one is for $500, again over and above any other fines levied for the offense. Where does this money go?  And something that they don't immediately specify on the bill is that this is 1/2 of the total fee, they bill you again 6 months later for another $500. I'm helping somebody enjoy their yacht no doubt. They do allow a payment plan if you call, and they are quite friendly about it. I used that to reduce the shock of this expense to $100 per month.

At this point I cringed every time I checked the mail. What's next? Well there's a Drivers License Reinstatement fee of $125, to be paid to the Secretary of State at the end of the license restriction, which in my case was 3 months.

A couple local DUI lawyers sent me some ads in the mail, which was disturbing. I guess this is all public record now, but I didn't realize that it would be that public. I worried what else I would get.

Costs:

Bond	$100
Vehicle Release	$20
Towing	$85
Lawyer	$1500
Police Dept Cost Recovery Fee	$450
State 1/2 of Driver Responsibility Fee	$500
SOS License Reinstatement Fee	$125
Total	$2780