Disposition Entry

Disposition Entry is where you enter all court records for a case, including pleas, judgments, payments, and other actions on the case.

Most of the work done in Disposition Entry is done via Action Codes. Action Codes write history records of the specific actions the court takes. Action Codes can also issue warrants and bonds, charge fees, print forms, suspend licenses, and more. SimpleCity® includes standard Action Codes, however you may have unique ones set up for your court. This guide will review a few of the most commonly used Actions Codes, but this is not a complete list. Furthermore, because Action Codes are user-defined, your city might use a different abbreviation for the code. You can do a Numeric Lookup (F9) from the Action field for a complete listing of available Action Codes.

Disposition Pre-Entry

1. Select Entry | Disposition Entry. On the Disposition Pre-Entry window, enter the Posting Date. This is the date that will appear in the Case History.
   
2. Select Yes in the Defendants Appeared in Court? field. If the defendants appeared in court for the majority of the cases for which you are entering dispositions. This field only sets a default on the next window. You will be able to make changes for each case as needed.
   

Entering in Pleas and Judgments

3. On the Disposition Entry window, enter the Case #.
   
4. Enter the plea and judgment. SimpleCity will default the appropriate fines, court costs, and fees. You can make changes if needed. Valid options are:
   

*In Missouri G is used for Guilty at Court **Missouri Use Only ***Kansas Use Only 

+ Any letter can follow the D Dismissed Judgment to indicate why dismissed.

Entering in Payments

You can enter payments on a case at the same time as entering the plea and judgment. You can also enter the payment as a separate step if the defendant doesn’t pay at the time of the judgment.

5. On the Disposition Entry window, enter the Case #.
   
6. Enter the Payment and the Amount Rcvd. The Amount Rcvd is only used to calculate change if the defendant pays in cash. If the defendant pays the exact amount, the Payment and Amount Rcvd should be the same.
   

Amending an Offense

7. On the Disposition Entry window, enter A in the Action field.
   

8. The Amend Offenses window will open. Enter the amended offense code in the Amend To field.
   

Note: You can amend a case after you have entered a judgement on a case. However, it will not change the fines charged. If you want to change the fines, you can manually change them.

Failure to Appear

In the instance that a defendant fails to appear in court, you can issue a failure to appear. SimpleCity has the ability to set the next court date, charge a fee, and print a failure to appear notice.

9. On the Disposition Entry window, enter FTA in the Action field.
   

Issuing a Warrant

10. On the Disposition Entry window, enter a W in the Action field. SimpleCity will charge a fee if you charge a warrant fee and can set a bond. SimpleCity will default the bond amount to the total of the warrant fee, and any fines, fees, and court costs associated with the offense(s).
    

Waiving Fines

You can waive any fines, fees, or court cost. However, those fines, fees, and court costs must first be assessed on the case. This means that a judgment of guilty must first be on the case to assess those costs before they can be waived.

You cannot waive fines, fees, or court costs that have already been paid. You should always waive any costs before applying payments to the case. If the judge waives those costs after they have been paid, you must first reverse the original payment, then waive the costs, and then reapply the payment.

11. On the Disposition Entry window, enter the WV in the Action field.
    

12. The Waive Fines, Court Costs and Fees dialogue box will popup. Enter the amount you would like waived. If you are not waiving the exact amount of any fine, court cost, or fee, you can specify which costs you are waiving.