Free Arrest Warrant Search - Have I Got Active Arrest Warrants?

Do you think that you might have an arrest warrant?

Are you looking for a free arrest warrant search because you think that there might be an active arrest warrant issued for you? Do you think that you have done something wrong or are you worried that you might have a warrant through no fault of your own?

If you know that you've committed a crime then you know that there is a good chance that a warrant has been issued on you. If this is the case then your best course of action is to get a lawyer and hand yourself in. If you don't then you are going to have to live the life of an outlaw.

You might have a warrant for silly reasons, like forgetting to turn up in court or failing to pay a fine for something. If this happens then you most likely have collected a Bench Warrant. It's the same as an arrest warrant as far as you are concerned, it will get you arrested just the same.

You can end up with a warrant even when you haven't done anything wrong. The police only have to think that you are involved in a crime and they can get a warrant for you. Someone might even be impersonating you when they committed the crime and the police have details of your identity instead of the criminals.

Do nothing and get a free arrest warrant search

You could just ignore the fact that you might have an arrest warrant. Sooner or later you will get stopped for some minor traffic offence or routine inspection. When this happens the police will reward you by doing a free warrant search for you. If they find that you have a warrant they will most likely arrest you right there.

You don't have to wait to be stopped by the police. You could just go to them and ask if you have any warrants. They will do a warrant search for free but again, they are likely to arrest you if the search finds an active warrant.

Free warrant searches at the courthouse

Do you know which county your warrants were issued in? You should know this if you forgot to turn up in court for instance. If so then you can go to the county courthouse and ask. This should be free in most cases and it won't get you arrested unless the warrant is for something very serious. You have to go to the right courthouse for this to work though. They will probably not be able to search other county records for you.

If you aren't sure which county the warrant is in then you could try state records. Most counties feed their records up to the state but the process can be slow and sometimes not very reliable. To be on the safe side you should check warrant records at the county and state level.

Search for free arrest warrants in public records

Arrest warrants are public records and there are some web sites that are making it their business to collect all publicly available records from across the nation into a huge database. They then organize the data and make it all available to you for easy searching nationwide.

These public records web sites are very effective at finding information about people fast and it's not just arrest warrants either. You can search for criminal records and all sorts of background information. You can also do the search on anyone you want to, not just yourself.

Depending on which public records web site you use, you can either pay a small fee for each search that you do or, you can pay a small monthly subscription and do as many free arrest warrant searches as you want to. You can search nationwide and background check practically anyone.

Garnishments Are Alive and Well in Texas

While Texas doesn't allow a judgment creditor to garnish your wages directly from your employer, Texas law does allow your bank accounts to be garnished. So, once you deposit your earnings into a bank account, that account may be frozen if your judgment creditor applies to the court for a writ of garnishment of your accounts. In fact, your judgment creditor can reach your bank deposits regardless of the name on the account if the funds in the account are owed to you. Frankfurt's Texas Investment Corp. v. Trinity Savings & Loan Ass'n, 414 S.W.2d 190, 195 (Tex. Civ. App. - Dallas 1967, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

Your judgment creditor can also reach your bank account even if community property funds are in the account. Tatum State Bank v. Gibson, 24 S.W.2d 506, 507 (Tex. Civ. App.-Texarkana 1930, no writ); Brooks v. Sherry Lane National Bank, 788 S.W.2d 874, 876 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1990, no writ). But, bank accounts are not the only assets you may have that are subject to garnishment. Other commonly garnished assets are:

a. Safe-deposit boxes

Your judgment creditor can reach the contents of your safe-deposit box even if your bank doesn't know what's in the box. Blanks v. Radford, 188 S.W.2d 879, 886 (Tex. Civ. App.-Eastland 1945, writ ref'd w.o.m.).

b. Stock

Any stock you own is expressly subject to garnishment under Tex. R. Civ. P. 669.

c. Promissory note

If someone is paying you money on a promissory note to you, that note can be garnished. Thompson v. Gainesville National Bank, 18 S.W. 350 (Tex. 1886); Davis v. First National Bank, 135 S.W.2d 259, 261 (Tex. Civ. App.-Waco 1939, no writ). In other words, your debtor on the note will have to make the payments to your judgment creditor.

d. A Trust fund to which you are a beneficiary

Assets in a trust fund and the revenue from trust funds can be garnished. The only exception is when the trust fund is a spend-thrift trust. Nunn v. Titche-Goettinger Co., 245 S.W. 421, 422-23 (Tex. Comm'n App. 1922, judgm't adopted); Bank of Dallas v. Republic National Bank of Dallas, 540 S.W.2d 499, 501-02 (Tex. Civ. App.-Waco 1976, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

e. Judgments You Own

If you're a judgment creditor in another matter, that judgment can be garnished. Industrial Indemnity Co. v. Texas American Bank - Riverside, 784 S.W.2d 114, 119-120 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1990, no writ). In other words, your judgment debtor in that case will pay your judgment creditor in the case in which you are the judgment debtor.

So, just because Texas doesn't allow your wages to be garnished to collect a judgment, don't think you're completely immune to other forms of garnishment. An aggressive judgment creditor still has plenty of options available to enforce a judgment against you.