One of the first steps that you need to take if you are asked to serve on a jury is to find out if your home state requires community service as part of jury duty. This can vary greatly from one state to another. Many states only require that you take a specified number of hours before they will make any payment on your jury summons. You will want to make sure that you find out exactly what the requirement is in your particular state so that you will be able to plan your coursework accordingly.
If you are living in a state that does not require community service as part of their jury summons, you still need to make sure that you pay your jury fee on time. There are many different methods that this can be done. In many states, you will simply pay for your first week’s fees plus the remainder of your jury summons every month until you complete your required number of hours. However, in other states, you may have to send a payment plan proposed to your employer. This means that you will have to budget carefully each month in order to make sure that you will be able to afford your jury fee.
When you find out how much your fee will be, it will often be best if you budget the money you will be spending to pay your jury duty obligations in separate amounts. You will want to set aside about two weeks’ worth of pay in order to budget your money for any possible extra payments that will be due. You will also want to budget extra money to pay any additional fees that will be due. For example, if your work schedule requires that you be available to show up for jury duty eight hours a day, there may be times when you have to be ready to show up earlier than the set schedule. If you budget for extra hours, you will not have to worry about having to work during non-juror-intensive times.
One way to budget your jury fee is to only take the minimum amount of time that your jury summons specify. If your work schedule demands that you be available to serve on a night shift, choose to serve eight hours minimum. Or if your jury duty call will likely require you to be available for three or more nights, set yourself up with three nights of solid work. When you are planning your jury duty schedule, remember that some courts may be willing to extend your jury summons up to a maximum of fourteen days. In this case, your initial jury fee will be nearly covered by the additional cost of serving the additional jury days.
Keep in mind that your jury summons will specify the actual amount of time that you will be required to serve. Sometimes the actual number of days will be longer than the scheduled time and your jury fee will be more than the specified amount. If your work schedule or court’s rules do not allow for an extension, you will need to pay your jury fee and begin serving on a new day. This means that you will have to start your jury service as early as possible. If you can make it a point to start your jury service as early as possible, you will be able to reduce the costs associated with your jury summons.
A good way to budget the amount of money that you will spend on your jury fee is to only list the exact amount of your actual jury fee on your jury summons. This way, you will have a clear idea of whether or not you will be able to pay for the jury summons. If you find out that you will not be able to pay for the entire amount, you will not have wasted any time paying for your jury service. On the other hand, if you find out that you will be able to pay for the entire fee, you will know how much you will need to set aside in order to avoid late fees. This will help you budget the amount of money that you will need to budget for your jury fee.
Remember that there are many ways to reduce the costs associated with your jury summons. If you know the rules of your court, you will know how to schedule your jury so that you can always meet the deadline. If you know when your jury will be called, you will be better prepared to schedule your service around this time. If you have any special needs, you may want to consider taking a quick class to get an edge over the competition. By keeping a good attitude and following the instructions of the judge, you will be able to find out how much you will be expected to pay for your jury service.
