To pay Maine court fines, use the Maine Judicial Branch’s online portal that matches your county and case type, call 1-866-729-8499 for traffic tickets, mail a check to the Violations Bureau in Lewiston, or pay at any state courthouse clerk’s window. Act within 30 days of the decision in your case. Miss that window on a traffic fine and the court clerk automatically suspends your license; miss it on a criminal fine and the court can issue a warrant for your arrest.
Find Your Amount and Deadline First
Before you pay anything, confirm what you owe and when it’s due. The Maine Judicial Branch runs an online case search for statewide traffic violations and some electronically filed cases.1State of Maine Judicial Branch. Online Services Because many traffic tickets are handwritten, there is usually a processing delay of a few days before a citation appears in the system.2State of Maine Judicial Branch. Pay a Ticket
If your case isn’t searchable yet, call the Violations Bureau at (207) 783-5422 or the clerk’s office at the courthouse that issued the fine. The clerk can read you the current balance, confirm the surcharges already baked into the total, and give you the exact due date. Keep your citation number or case number in front of you when you call.
One timing detail matters for traffic tickets specifically: the scheduled fine amount on the citation only applies if you file a “Not Contested” response within 35 days. After that, the court sets the fine, and it can run higher.3State of Maine Judicial Branch. Schedule of Amounts Due
Pay Online
Maine splits online payment by county, and this is where most people get stuck. For criminal and civil violation fines in Androscoggin, Franklin, Oxford, Kennebec, and Somerset counties, pay through the Maine eCourts Fines portal. For every other county, use the InforME Court Fines portal. Traffic tickets statewide go through a separate system, Maine eCourts Traffic Pay. Oxford County adds one quirk: Unified Criminal Docket cases resolved in Bridgton use InforME, while cases resolved in South Paris use Maine eCourts.4State of Maine Judicial Branch. Pay a Court Fine
The traffic portal takes Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, with a 5% convenience fee (minimum $1).2State of Maine Judicial Branch. Pay a Ticket The InforME portal for non-traffic fines also accepts American Express.5Maine.gov. Court Fines and Fees
One carve-out: juvenile fines in Androscoggin, Franklin, Oxford, Kennebec, and Somerset counties cannot be paid online. Those have to go by mail or in person.4State of Maine Judicial Branch. Pay a Court Fine
Pay by Phone
For traffic tickets, call 1-866-729-8499, available 24 hours a day, with a Visa, Mastercard, or Discover card. The phone convenience fee is 2.89%, which comes in lower than the online rate.2State of Maine Judicial Branch. Pay a Ticket
Pay by Mail
Send a check or money order (no cash) made out to “Treasurer, State of Maine” and write your citation or case number on it. The address is:
Violations Bureau
P.O. Box 480
Lewiston, ME 04243-0480
There’s no convenience fee, but build in lead time. Payment has to be received by the due date, not just postmarked.2State of Maine Judicial Branch. Pay a Ticket
Pay in Person
Any Maine state courthouse clerk’s window will take payment, with no convenience fee.2State of Maine Judicial Branch. Pay a Ticket Call ahead to confirm hours and which payment methods that specific courthouse accepts.
If You Can’t Pay the Full Amount
Maine law starts from the position that fines are due immediately. If you can’t pay in full, you have to ask the court for an installment arrangement; it won’t be offered automatically.
For civil violations and traffic fines, the court will inquire into your finances when you claim inability to pay. If the judge finds you can pay something but that immediate full payment would cause severe and undue hardship for you and your dependents, the court can authorize installments with a specific deadline for paying the balance in full.6Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 14-3141 – Scope and Procedure
For criminal fines, when the judge sets the fine in the first place, the court weighs your present and future ability to pay and the burden on your dependents. The burden of proving hardship is on you, by a preponderance of the evidence.7Maine Legislature. Maine Code 17-A 1702 – Criteria for Imposing Sentencing Alternative That Includes Fine Judges can also impose community service in place of a fine for Class D and Class E crimes.
Here is the part people miss. If you are on a payment plan and you start to fall behind, you have a legal duty to file a motion with the court to modify your schedule before you actually default. The installment order itself warns you about this. Stop paying without going back to court, and you are treated the same as someone who ignored the fine from the start.6Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 14-3141 – Scope and Procedure
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
Consequences escalate quickly, and they differ by the type of fine.
Traffic Fines
If you don’t pay a traffic fine within 30 days of the date the decision is entered in your case, the court clerk suspends your driver’s license, your right to operate a motor vehicle in Maine, and your right to apply for a new license.8State of Maine Judicial Branch. Traffic Violations FAQ9Maine Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2608 – Suspension for Failure to Appear, Answer or Pay a Fine in a Traffic Infraction Offense This is not a judge’s discretionary call. The clerk does it automatically.
A $50 late fee is added for each violation.8State of Maine Judicial Branch. Traffic Violations FAQ The suspension stays in place until you pay the fine in full with late fees, plus a separate $50 reinstatement fee to the Secretary of State. Once both are paid, the court clerk rescinds the suspension and notifies the Secretary of State to clear it from your driving record.9Maine Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2608 – Suspension for Failure to Appear, Answer or Pay a Fine in a Traffic Infraction Offense
Criminal Fines
If you miss a criminal fine, you are required to return to court to explain the failure. Skip that hearing after proper notification, and the court can issue a bench warrant for your arrest.10Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 17-A 1711 – Default
At the default hearing, the burden is on you. Unless you can show by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure wasn’t intentional and that you made a good-faith effort to come up with the money, the court treats the default as unexcused. An unexcused default can mean commitment to the county jail until the fine is paid, revocation of probation if the fine was a probation condition, or both. The court can also order execution against your assets, meaning the state can pursue bank accounts and personal property to recover the debt.10Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 17-A 1711 – Default
Civil Violation Fines
For civil violation fines, including traffic fines where you appeared in court, if the court finds you can pay and you still refuse, you face civil contempt. Fail to appear as the fine order directs, and the court issues a civil order of arrest. For motor vehicle violations, the court suspends your license on the spot.6Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 14-3141 – Scope and Procedure
Protection If You Genuinely Cannot Pay
If you have truly made every reasonable effort and still cannot pay, the Constitution limits what the court can do. In Bearden v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a court cannot revoke probation or jail someone for failure to pay a fine without first determining whether the failure was willful. Jailing someone solely because of poverty, after genuine efforts to pay, violates the Fourteenth Amendment.11Justia. Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660 (1983)
The protection has a hard edge. If you have the money and willfully refuse, or you haven’t made a real effort to find it, incarceration is a valid sanction. The court must also consider alternatives like community service before jailing you.11Justia. Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660 (1983) In Maine, this standard runs through the default-hearing procedure, which asks whether the default was “intentional or knowing.”
What Paying Won’t Do, and What Bankruptcy Won’t Do
Two boundaries worth knowing before you plan around a court fine.
Bankruptcy will not erase it. Fines, penalties, and forfeitures payable to a government entity are specifically excluded from bankruptcy discharge under federal law, as long as the payment is punitive rather than compensation for actual loss. Traffic fines, criminal fines, and civil violation penalties all survive a Chapter 7 filing.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
Court fines paid to any government entity for violating a law are also not tax-deductible. Federal tax law prohibits deducting fines or similar penalties, and you cannot capitalize and depreciate them. A standard traffic or criminal fine does not qualify for any exception.
If you want to contest a ticket rather than pay it, follow the directions printed on the citation or look up your case online. All traffic trials in Maine are conducted remotely over Zoom, and if you don’t show up without a postponement, the court enters a default judgment and assesses a fine anyway.13State of Maine Judicial Branch. Traffic Violations Contest a Ticket Missing a trial date is worse than never contesting at all.