CA peeps pls help: avoiding jury duty

[sunflower79]

I've had the misfortune of being summoned pretty much every year since I started voting 4+ years ago. Granted, I've never actually been selected to be on a jury, but with MS-2 coming up at a school out-of-state, I don't wanna take the chance or hassle of going through the process, so I'm trying to get out of it.

Looks like I have to do 2 things:
1. Cancel my CA voter registration -- easy enough.
2. Surrender my driver's license.

My questions:
Is there an easier way to get what I want?
What does surrendering my license cost me? (i.e. disadvantages of not having that CA license)

thanks,
sunflower

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[NateatUC]

My questions:
Is there an easier way to get what I want?
What does surrendering my license cost me? (i.e. disadvantages of not having that CA license)

I lived in CA most of my life until I moved to med school. If you go to school out of state, I don't really see a reason to keep your CA license. Its not like you can't drive in CA with an out of state license. As long as its valid, you can drive anywhere you want. Just get a license for the state you're in.

As for surrendering your CA license, the way it works is you go to the DMV in your new state, give them your CA license, take their written test, and they give you a license in their state (at least that's what they did here in OH). All it costs you is the fee to get the new license.

 

[dynx]

option 2...dont bother showing up. I've been summoned twice and never did anything about it...it just tends to go away. I've also been subpoenaed as a witness, didn't show...they call and ask you where the hell you are, then they let you on your merry way. They are far to busy to actually enforce this crap.

 

[Arginine]

1. When you receive a jury duty summons, there should be a page you can fill out, stating that you cannot serve jury duty in California because you currently do not live in California. (I got called for jury duty in San Francisco about 6 months after I moved to Los Angeles--I filled out the form with my new LA address as the reason I couldn't serve jury duty in SF and so far, no one has come to hunt me down)

2. At my med school, the Student Affairs Office has special forms for med students to fill out that somehow get us out of serving jury duty.

If either #1 or #2 works, you won't have to give up your California resident status.

 

[emogrrrrl]

I've had the misfortune of being summoned pretty much every year since I started voting 4+ years ago. Granted, I've never actually been selected to be on a jury, but with MS-2 coming up at a school out-of-state, I don't wanna take the chance or hassle of going through the process, so I'm trying to get out of it.

Looks like I have to do 2 things:
1. Cancel my CA voter registration -- easy enough.
2. Surrender my driver's license.

My questions:
Is there an easier way to get what I want?
What does surrendering my license cost me? (i.e. disadvantages of not having that CA license)

thanks,
sunflower

I thought that if you are a full time student, or just a student in general, you don't have to worry about jury duty. I'm pretty positive it applies in all states. I live in Texas and have been summoned for jury duty and just called them up and told them I was a student (even though school wasn't in session at the time) and that was the end of it. Check up on that before you decide to give up your license.

 

[MSHARO]

I grew up in CA and went to undergrad in Indiana and I was hounded for years about jury duty. My mom told them several times that I was out of state and was not available. They had the nerve to ask if I could fly back for jury duty!! I ended up getting called 3 times in the first 2 years. The first two my mom talked me out of it. The third time, I happened to be back in CA for a week before I started a summer internship. She talked me into just going.....spending my day in the waiting room and just getting it over with so they wouldn't call me again. Well.....that is not quite how it really worked out.

I soon ended up as juror #7 on a case that was suppossed to last 2-3 months with possible sequestration. I had to fill out all sorts of questionaires, be questioned by the lawyers and the judge, etc. It was kinda interesting. They told us that they didn't care about our work (or internship) obligations. That wouldn't get us out of it. So I told them I had to get back for summer school in a few days. They kinda bought that. The judge gave me a hard time, asking me when classes started, what classes I was planning to take etc., but the lawyers were cool and let me go. The judge was even going to call the school!

Shortly after that I registered to vote in Indiana, got an Indiana drivers license etc. However....that didn't even stop them! That was in 1996 or 1997 and I haven't lived there for longer than a month or so since 1994. Then just last summer my mom called me and told me that I was called for jury duty again!!!! CRAZY!!! Won't they ever go away?!

So I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that go ahead and change your license, register to vote, etc. But they'll keep hounding you. But at least at that point you can ignore them and not worry about it!

 

[Yogi Bear]

so does getting a license in a state = = becoming a resident of that state? i'm prob gonna get a car in a dealership near my out of state med school but would like to still keep my cali residency. how does that work?

 

[NateatUC]

so does getting a license in a state = = becoming a resident of that state? i'm prob gonna get a car in a dealership near my out of state med school but would like to still keep my cali residency. how does that work?

I don't think so, though I'm not really sure what benefit you'd get by maintaining CA residency when you live out of state. And some states even let you declare residnecy after a year or two and get the benefit of in-state tuition if you're at a state school.

There are a bunch of hoops you have to jump through to declare residency in another state - get a drivers license, register to vote, get whatever income tax deductions, if any, given to the new state. I'm sure there are a few more. Oh, and you can't be getting any major financial support from your old state (parents, etc.), which I think is the biggest obstacle.

Either way, my understanding is that unless you actively change your residency, regardless of if you buy a car, etc., I think you just keep whatever residency you have.

 

[MSHARO]

California schools are kinda picky about that crap. If you wanted to keep your CA residency, I think I'd keep the license from there. When I got my car in Indiana, if I wanted to be able to insure it there, I had to get an Indiana driver's license and plates. That made claiming CA residency a little tricky and they gave me a lot of grief about it when I was going back to grad school.

 

[Nickel]

I attend school in southern California and I've been summoned to jury duty once already.

All I did was, I handed my jury summons to the assistant dean of administrative affairs and she said, "We'll take care of it." Then, a few days later, I get something in the mail from the state that says I'm free of jury duty.

It wasn't much work at all. You should check with your deans to see if they do something similar. I found out through word of mouth from other students, so you might be surprised.