If you are given probation, you will have very important obligations to the court that you must fulfill. It is extremely important that at the time of your sentencing, you fully understand any conditions that have been placed on you for your probation. If you do not understand any condition of probation, make sure that you ask your attorney to further explain the requirement to you.

Typical conditions of probation are reporting to your probation officer, paying court costs, doing community service, paying restitution, attending drug and alcohol counseling, and submitting to drug screening to determine if you are drinking alcohol or taking drugs.

Many of the most common violations of probation are easily avoided. One of the most common violations of probation is not reporting to your probation officer. It is extremely important that you keep your appointments with your probation officer and stay in contact by phone with him or her. If you are given community service, you must try and do that on a regular monthly basis. It is also very important that you comply with all other conditions of your probation, including paying court costs, fines, restitution, and probation fees. Ask to set up a payment plan with the Court Clerk.

If you successfully complete all the conditions of probation, your case will ultimately be concluded. However, if you do not successfully complete all of the conditions of probation, the state may ask the judge to revoke your probation. That means to remove you from probation and require you to serve your complete sentence in jail. In Sessions Court, that means usually 11 months and 29 days in jail. In Criminal Court, you will have to serve the duration of your sentence.

If the judge issues a warrant for your arrest based on the state's application to revoke your probation, you will be taken into custody on that warrant. Usually, you will be held without bond and your case will be set the next time the judge is sitting in the division of court where you received your sentence, in other words, maybe 5 weeks from the time of your arrest.

Usually, there is very little an attorney can do to get your case before the judge quicker than the date assigned by the judge. Additionally, it is the rare case where a bond is set on a revocation of probation case.

Significant work must be performed to get you ready for your revocation of probation hearing. Unfortunately, this office very seldom receives notification that a client of ours has been arrested on a revocation of probation warrant. Often times, the first time we know that you are in custody is when you appear in court. Obviously, with no forewarning we have not prepared for your hearing. While we are working on ways to receive notice of your arrest and incarceration on your revocation of probation warrant, you could help the process tremendously by notifying us or by having a family member notify us of your arrest.