Lee County Clerk of Court, FL

When you pay your citation, you can elect to attend traffic school for an additional fee. Read the affidavit carefully. Within 30 calendar days of the date your citation was issued, complete the affidavit, have your signature notarized, and return it to the Clerk's office. If you reside outside of Lee County, contact your local Clerk's office, and you may make your election to attend driver improvement school by mail.

1. Pay your citation and elect school online
2. Visit the Clerk’s office at the Justice Center, 2075 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 1st Floor, Fort Myers or the Government Complex, 1039 SE 9^th Place, Cape Coral. For hours and directions, visit the Contact Us page.
3. Mail your election. Mail a check or money order made payable to Clerk of Courts, Traffic Office, P.O. Box 2507, Fort Myers, FL 33902. Include your civil citation payment, your notarized signed affidavit, and school election fee. Allow sufficient mail time to ensure your affidavit is received by the Clerk's office with the required 30 calendar days from the date your citation was issued. Be sure to check the appropriate box on your citation.

You must present proof of completion of driver improvement school to the Clerk's office within 60 calendar days of the date you elected to attend the course. If the date that the completion is due falls on a holiday or a weekend, the certificate must be received prior to that date. After completing the school, send the certificate of completion to the Clerk's office by one of the following options:

• Email to Courts@leeclerk.org
• Mail through USPS to the Clerk of Courts, Traffic Office, PO Box 2507, Fort Myers, Florida, 33902
• Overnight Mail to the Clerk of Courts, Traffic Office, 2075 Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard, 2nd floor, Fort Myers, Florida 33901
• Deliver in person to the Cape Coral Lee County Government Center, 1039 SE 9^th Place, 2^nd floor or to the 1st floor at 1700 Monroe St., Fort Myers. The Cape Coral branch is only open Tuesday through Thursday.

To locate a court case, visit the Court Records Search.
Choose either Criminal Traffic or Traffic Infraction. You can search by case number, name or attorney. For traffic tickets, you can also enter the citation number. When searching a name, both a first and last name are required. However, if you are only putting in partial information, you will need to enter an asterisk (*) after the name.

Yes, each type of citation carries a statutory fine and possible point assessment. You have 30 calendar days from the date you received your citation to select from one of three available options:

Option #1 - Pay your fine as indicated on the back of the citation. Paying the fine means you admit to the violation listed on your citation. Occasionally, the citation you receive has a printed fine amount, but the actual fine amount reflected by our record may be different, and in some cases higher. County governments may add surcharges to citations by ordinance that the law enforcement agency does not reflect when the citation is printed. Points may be assessed against your driving record if the violation is one that carries points. Pay your citation online.

Option #3 - Elect to attend a defensive driving course approved by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Adjudication shall be withheld and points will not be assessed: if you have not attended driving school in the last 12 months; and if you have not been to driving school more than five times in a lifetime and do not hold a class A, B, or C CDL License. The State of Florida monitors your driving record and periodically checks your record for point accumulation. An excessive number of points within a specific time period will result in action being taken against your driving privileges.

Florida law allows for 30 calendar days from the issue date of your citation to comply with one of these options. If you fail to select one within the 30 day compliance period, you are subject to late fees and possible suspension of your driver license. If you continue to drive on a suspended license, you may be arrested by any law enforcement agency. If you have any questions about your options, please call 239-533-5087 for assistance.

No.

The officer who issued the traffic infraction will be present as well as any other witnesses. You may have witnesses present to testify on your behalf. If you choose to subpoena witnesses on your behalf, it will be your responsibility for the preparation and costs, generally $40 per witness.

If you are found guilty of a civil traffic infraction, the court may assess fine and costs, order you to attend driver improvement school or impose other penalties. If you should fail to pay the fine and costs in the time allotted to you by the court, a suspension will be issued against your driver license and additional penalties will be imposed.

For driver license renewal or state ID requirements, please go to the FLDHSMV website. 

Yes. If you contact the Clerk's office before the 60 days required to attend the course, you can state that you no longer wish to attend driver improvement school. A fee will be assessed for changing the election, the case will be closed, and the points will be assessed to the license.  If you change your mind and elect not to attend the school, it'll still count as one of your five times in a lifetime elections.

If you elect to attend driver improvement school and do not provide proof of completion to the Clerk’s office, an additional delinquency fee will be owed, your driver license will be suspended, a fee to reinstate your driving privileges will be assessed, and a conviction of the violation will be reported on your driver history record.

You may elect the traffic school option once within a twelve (12) month period, and a total of five (5) times in your lifetime.  To see if you are eligible, you may check online at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.