Tarrant County · TDLR CP018
Defensive driving for a Fort Worth ticket. Six hours, online, TDLR-approved.
Cited in Fort Worth? Our course is approved by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for use anywhere in Texas. What changes from city to city is the court, so this page is about Fort Worth Municipal Court and what it asks for.
What Fort Worth Municipal Court asks for
Verified against the court's own page on . Courts change their procedures, so confirm anything below with the clerk before you rely on it.
| Deadline to ask | Within 21 days of the citation being issued. Fort Worth states that traffic and general citations require a response within 21 days, and asking for the driving safety course is one of those responses. |
|---|---|
| Where | 1000 Throckmorton Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102 |
| Phone | 817-392-6700 |
What to submit
- Your plea of guilty or no contest with the driving safety course option selected on the back of the citation, or, if you have lost the citation, in writing
- A copy of your valid Texas driver license
- A copy of your proof of current personal liability insurance or other evidence of financial responsibility
Does Fort Worth want your driving record?
Plan on yes. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 45A.356(a) has you present both (a)(1) your certificate of completion and (a)(2) your Department of Public Safety driving record. Fort Worth Municipal Court does not spell the record out in the requirements we could verify from its own page, but the statute is not specific to a city. The statute qualifies the record with "if any", and a judge may instead proceed under art. 45A.359, in which case the court will not ask you for one. Your court clerk is the authority on your own case.
Worth knowing about Fort Worth specifically
Do not send any money with your request. Fort Worth states plainly that once the request is approved it will send a notice telling you how to proceed and how much to pay. That is the opposite of Dallas, which wants the fees up front.
By mail you send COPIES of the license and insurance and no money at all. In person you bring the ORIGINALS and are told to be ready to pay the cost that day. Same court, two different requirements, and the page lists them as separate procedures.
The plea and the driving safety course choice are made by marking the BACK of the citation. If the citation is lost, Fort Worth accepts the plea and the request in writing instead.
Source: Fort Worth Municipal Court.
If your citation was written outside the Fort Worth city limits, it will be heard by a Tarrant County justice of the peace rather than the municipal court. See Tarrant County's justice courts. The procedure is the same statute either way.
You need two documents, not one
The court asks for your certificate of completion and a certified Type 3A driving record. We can send you both, in one order.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 45A.356(a) names them together: (a)(1) your uniform certificate of completion, and (a)(2) a copy of your driving record showing you have not completed a driving safety course for dismissal in the previous 12 months. They are consecutive items in the same subsection.
- Document 1 Certificate of completion Issued the moment you finish the six-hour course, with nothing extra to pay for it. Comes with the course
- Document 2 Certified Type 3A driving record We place the order with DPS for you after checkout, and Type 3A is the only record type DPS allows for a driving safety course. Added to your order
Buy the course on its own and the clerk can still send you back for the record. Ordering both now means there is no second order to place later.
The statute qualifies the record with "if any", and a judge may instead proceed under art. 45A.359, in which case the court will not ask you for one. Your court clerk is the authority on your own case.
Course + Type 3A driving record
Both documents in one order for your Fort Worth citation: the six-hour approved course and the certified DPS record you have to file with it.
Course only
The approved six-hour course on its own, only if you already hold your Type 3A record.
Driving record only
The certified Type 3A record, ordered from DPS on your behalf.
How it works, wherever you were cited
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Ask the court first
Enter a plea of no contest or guilty by the date on your citation and request a driving safety course. Taking the course before the court grants it does not qualify you.
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Complete the six hours
Online, at your own pace, on any device. Six hours is the TDLR minimum, so no approved provider can offer shorter.
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Order your Type 3A record
The certified DPS record is the second document the court needs. It is the only record type DPS permits for a driving safety course.
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File both with the court in time
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 45A.352 allows a 90-day period, but your court sets your actual date, so get it from the clerk in writing.
Dismissal is the court's decision, not ours. We are accountable for a TDLR-approved course and a valid certificate on time. Source: Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 45A.352.