Municipal Court

Court Payments

REQUIRES PAYMENT IN FULL BEFORE  YOUR COURT DATE

Subject to the following, under Mississippi law, you have the option to pay certain citations online via credit card before your court date. Citations that may be paid online are those that do not have time in jail as a possible punishment and include but are not limited to, TRAFFIC and PARKING citations.

Additional charges may apply should you opt to pay your citation online via credit card.

The option to pay a citation online is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Payments online will be processed by the court within 24 hours during normal business days or within 72 hours when payment is made online over the weekend or on holidays.

Payments may be made by Master Card, Discover, American Express, or Visa. Both credit and debit are accepted. You will be required to provide one of the following to look up your citation:

• Citation number and date of birth, or
• Driver’s license number and date of birth, or
• Vehicle License Plate Number and Registration State, or
• Social Security number and date of birth

Notice

By paying your citation online, you will be entering a GUILTY plea and waiving your rights to a trial before a Municipal Judge. If required by state law, your violation will be recorded as a conviction and reported to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. If you wish to plead NOT GUILTY or NO CONTEST (“Nolo Contendre”), you MUST appear in court on the date noted on your citation.

Waiver of Defendant’s Rights

I understand that by paying a citation in full online, I am pleading GUILTY to the charge set forth in the citation and that I give up the following rights:

By paying a citation online, I declare that my decision to plead GUILTY to the charge set forth in the citation is FREELY, KNOWINGLY, VOLUNTARILY, AND INTELLIGENTLY made, and no promise or suggestion of lenience has been made to me nor has any duress or coercion been applied toward me to induce me to plead GUILTY. I further understand that if I wish to plead NOT GUILTY or NO CONTEST (Nolo Contendre), that I MUST appear for court on the date noted on the citation.

The City of Gulfport makes no guarantees, promises, or warranties regarding the accuracy of information provided on this site. Further, there is no guarantee that this online payment service will show all of your unpaid tickets. Use of this service to submit payment constitutes acknowledgment that the City of Gulfport and the processor of electronic payments assume no responsibility for data entered by the service users.

What to Expect at Court

In Municipal Court, your first appearance is referred to as an Arraignment.  At this time, you will be called upon to enter a plea (or answer) to the charge (Traffic or Misdemeanor) preferred against you. The court will not continue an Arraignment date. Court is considered a priority over other activities and you are expected to appear at your scheduled court date. (Click to view the Court Schedule)

• You may plead Guilty, indicating that you admit you committed the offense and wish to waive your right to a trial; or
• No Contest indicating that you do not admit the charge but do not wish to contest the charge; or
• Not Guilty indicates to the court that you wish to contest the charge and are exercising your right to a trial. 
• Should you plead Guilty or No Contest, the case will proceed immediately to sentencing and you will receive your final judgment. 
• Should you plead Not Guilty, you will receive a trial date; depending upon the charge, your trial will be scheduled for 60 – 90 days from your arraignment date. 

Please be prepared to pay your obligations in full on the day of your sentencing. A payment agreement is a possibility in some circumstances; however, you will be required to complete a financial affidavit and appear for regularly scheduled collection review dockets. Failure to appear for these court event(s) will result in a contempt of court charge, and a warrant may be issued for your arrest.

Failure to appear for your Arraignment may result in the issuance of a warrant for your arrest.  For traffic offenses, notice may be sent to the DPS requesting suspension of your Driver’s License. An option for you to remedy your failure to appear is to attend court any Thursday at 12:30 p.m. for an open court docket. 

Should you fail to appear for your trial, the case may be tried in your absence (TIA). If you are found guilty in your absence, a warrant may be issued for your arrest. Your judgment and a TIA letter will be mailed to the address in your court record, and collection efforts will proceed.

Payment of parking and traffic tickets

Mississippi law allows for the prepayment of most traffic tickets prior to the court date. Please refer to the back of your uniform traffic citation for more information. Should you receive a payable infraction citation and pay in full on or before the court date provided, you need not appear in court.

Payment is due in full on or before the date provided for all parking citations. If you dispute this citation, please appear on the court date provided. Failure to timely respond or appear for these payable infractions will result in a trial in your absence (TIA) and collection efforts will proceed by the court or collection agency.