Jury Duty Summons

[free2wander]

My wife and I are new to full timing. This week she received a notice to report for Jury duty. The problem is, we don't live there any more. Our daughter forwards mail to us and we use her address to be able to vote in our old area.
We would like to know how others handle this challenge.

[dons2346]

Call the court clerk and explain the issue. Very simple

[texnet]

It may not be as simple as calling the county clerk....... If you are a registered voter and you have a physical address to send mail to in a city/county then they consider that you live there and will send you a summons for jury duty.

We are not full time but gone several months at a time. We do not have our mail forwarded as we don't receive bills via mail and nothing else of value, so my 80+ year old Mom and Dad pick up our mail. Last time I had jury duty I asked them what would happen if we were out of town and did not respond to the jury summons. Answer: You will be fined $200.00 and a warrant will be issued for you. My wife received a summons a little over a month ago, so we returned home last night for her to report this AM. She was there about 2 hours and they never called her name so she was dismissed and came back home.

[edj]

It is simple to postpone the jury duty. But, most likely they will require you to show up for jury duty at some point. Perhaps you can arrange to go on jury duty at a specified time period when you will be in the area. Or, you can move your 'resident' address to another city/state.

This is what a friend of mine did. After the court clerk said no more postponements, he "moved" to another city in the state. No more jury duty....

[jabfado]

If you are over 70 years of age you are not required to serve on Jury Duty any more and if so notify the Court of your age. If younger the best you can do is get an extension.

[GMRHost]

I've simply mailed the summons back, with an attached signed note that explains that I lived on the road, and jury duty would present too great a hardship. They've never said another thing about it.

[mahon1993]

I am self employed and the sole provider for my family. I just attach a note to the summons and send it back. Never had a problem. Just be sure you respond with a valid reason why you can't be there.

[LadyFitz...]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edj It is simple to postpone the jury duty...

Not always. It depends on the jurisdiction. The City of Tempe does not grant excuses or postponements by mail or over the phone. You actually have to appear to get the excuse or postponement.

[LadyFitz...]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabfado If you are over 70 years of age you are not required to serve on Jury Duty any more and if so notify the Court of your age. If younger the best you can do is get an extension.

Not necessarily. My Daddy got a jury summons when he was in his seventies and Mama had to to get a letter from his doctor to get him excused because of his dementia (he wasn't even registered to vote anymore). After jumping through numerous hoops, she finally got him excused...for six months! Fortunately, he was never called again.

I don't remember the court but they lived in Phoenix, AZ at the time.

[dandandan]

I would explain that you are out of state on the road.

Technically you are out of the jurisdiction of the court when on the road, but within their jurisdiction when back home. You should contact a lawyer, but my understanding is a local judges subpena is enforceable through out the state. I would not point out the jurisdiction issue to them as there is no reason to start a debate. They should recognize this fact on their own. Subpenas are constantly ordered for witnesses that live or move out of state and the court knows they are unenforceable.

[Elkhartjim]

I received a jury summons this summer apparently just days after we left for a 9 week trip. My "small town" post office holds my mail as most of what we get is junk, therefore I didn't know about the summons for over two months. A few weeks later I ran into a district judge I know and asked her what happens in these situations. "Nothing!" She said the county would need another 3-4 deputies to "round up" the no-shows. She also commented, "unless we send the summons by certified mail, we can't prove you received the summons". Interestingly, I occasionally get a jury summons for my late wife; she's been deceased for over 6 years. They've never come looking for her nor has she received any fines. BTW, this is Texas and other states may be different.

[paz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by free2wander My wife and I are new to full timing. This week she received a notice to report for Jury duty. The problem is, we don't live there any more. Our daughter forwards mail to us and we use her address to be able to vote in our old area. We would like to know how others handle this challenge.

Many places will allow you to reschedule, but they will expect you to eventually report. Jury duty is usually controlled by the counties, and they all set their own rules. Where we used to live in PA, you could ask to be rescheduled once, but you had to give them several ranges of alternate dates. When they sent you a new notice for one of the dates you picked, you HAD to report. There was no getting out of it a second time.

There is an advantage to having your legal domicile in a location that is familiar with full-time RVers. I got a notice from the county where we are domiciled in SD. When I called, they said to just write "full-time RVer" on the notice and send it back. I was excused. From what I understand, Livingston, TX (location of the Escapees mail forwarding service) is also fairly lenient.

[bldrbob]

My fatherinlaw got jury duty six months after he had died.I called and got it dismissed. The next year he got another notice. I called and explained as far as we know he is still dead but we would check.

[ralphie]

This is yet another reason I usually post on residence/domicile related questions. While there's nothing wrong with legally changing one's domicile or residency, one should also expect to have attachments to that new location, and serving on jury duty is one that occasionally pops up. But, depending on the various state laws, getting out of jury duty may be very simple as other posters have indicated, or one may just have to show up at some point to serve. If one happens to serve on jury duty, let's say in Podunk, that would seem to me to be a piece of evidence to show, let's say MA, that you are not really a tax paying resident of MA. Get my drift?