How To Get Your Kansas Driver's License Back

This Driver's License Renewal Fact Sheet is a one page downloadable PDF.  It provides links to key documents you may need--depending on whether your traffic ticket was issued by a Wichita Police Officer or a Sedgwick County Deputy Sheriff.    

Feel free to print as many copies as you want.   However, please take time to read and follow the instructions on the rest of this webpage so you know which forms you are required to file with which Court to get your driver's license back ASAP.

 The Sedgwick County Traffic Division Court Clerk can be reached at (316)660-5670. 

Download the Manifest Hardship Motion and Community Service PDF documents below if you received a traffic ticket from a Sedgwick County Sheriff's Deputy and have had your driver’s license suspended for non-payment of your County traffic fine(s).

To find out if you have an outstanding "Failure to Appear" warrant for your arrest, go to: 

https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/warrantsearch/.

If you do, you may ask the Traffic Court Judge to withdraw your arrest warrant by appearing on the Walk-In Docket.

You are eligible for the Walk-In Docket if:

• You missed your court date and know or fear you may have an arrest warrant.
• You want to change an upcoming court date, provide proof of community service work, or otherwise take action on your case(s).
• You do not have an attorney but want to speak with a prosecutor or the judge regarding your court case.

The Walk-In Docket is held Monday through Friday on the 1st Floor of the Sedgwick County Court House at 525 N. Main starting at 8:30am until 10am each week day (except Legal Holidays).  An afternoon walk-in docket is also available Monday through Wednesday from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm.  Sign-up for this docket is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Before you file your Manifest Hardship Motion and attend the Court hearing, if you need to do Community Service to pay your fines, download the list of approved Agencies below so you can tell the Traffic Court District Attorney to which locations you can find a ride or connect with public transportation.  Make sure to tell the DA why you need to work off your fines and fees at $15 per hour served rather than pay the full amount owed with cash which you do not have.  

Complete your “Manifest Hardship Motion” to ask the Traffic Judge to reduce your fines and fees for County tickets back to the Original unpaid ticket--before your license was suspended. It is a two-page document. Only write on the first page. Leave the second page blank. 

In your Motion, write down what your monthly income and expenses are, plus the traffic fine payments you have already made and/or the Community Service hours you able to work. Also, request in your written Motion and during your hearing a realistic amount which allows you to pay ALL of the fines, court costs plus the $100 reinstatement fee you owe within 24 months after you receive your Restricted License.   But, if you have NO income, put that in your Motion.   SB500 allows the Judge to eliminate ALL of your traffic fines and fees and reissue your license.

This is important!! If the Judges' agreed amount is not paid by then, SB500 allows the Court to rule that you are in “Substantial Compliance” and may order the DMV to reinstate your Regular License.  So, make sure that you ask the municipal and/or district Traffic Judge wherever else you have unpaid tickets to also lower your fines so you are in compliance on ALL of your traffic fines in Kansas and any other state. 

Then, until October 2024, take your Motion to the 7th floor or mail both pages to the Sedgwick County Traffic Court Clerk, 525 N. Main, Rm. 714, Wichita, KS 67202.  Or, once remodeling in done, you may turn your Motion into the Traffic Court Clerk at their new Pay Window on the 1st floor.

They will set a Friday Court date and let you know when you are to appear while you are in the Clerk's office or by return mail. The Judge will hear your Motion approximately four weeks later on a Friday docket which starts at 10am. 

While you are in the Clerk's office or when you mail your Motion, make sure that you also pay at least $20 toward the amount you owe. This will show the Judge that you are serious about complying with paying the final amount which he or she approves. 

If the judge decides to lower the total of your fines, court costs and the $100 reinstatement fee to an amount which you can realistically pay in 24 monthly installments, go to the Court Clerk's Pay Station Window on the South side of the 1st Floor of the Sedgwick County Courthouse at 525 N. Main to set up an installment Payment Plan to pay every month on the reduced amount the Court has ordered.  

Before you agree to the payment plan, make sure that you and the Pay Window Clerk divide the full reduced amount the Judge has ordered by 24 months.  If there is no possible way that you can pay that amount by cash and/or doing Community Service, then go back to the Judge and ask for a further reduction.

If you decide that you can realistically pay the total amount in 24 months, then sign your Payment Agreement and make at least a $20 payment on what you owe while you are at the Traffic Court Pay Window on the 1st floor of the Courthouse. 

The rest of your payments may be paid online.  

When you open the webpage, search by your name, citation number, case number or driver’s license number. Then you may pay on any ticket you have with a Kansas District Court.  However, this payment site is NOT for municipal court traffic tickets.

You may also take or mail payments--every month--to the same Traffic Court Clerk's Pay Station on the South side of the Court House at 525 N. Main, 67202.   Or, you may mail your check or money order payments to the: 

Centralized Court Payment Center, P.O. Box 750200, Topeka, KS 66675-0200

Make sure to write your NAME, CASE NUMBER AND SEDGWICK COUNTY on your check or money order. It should be made payable to: Clerk of the Sedgwick County Court.  Do NOT MAIL CASH and keep track of the date and amount of each payment you make!!

To assist in satisfying the fines owed, you may bring completed Community Service Verification Forms (see below) signed by the administrator where you worked to a walk-in docket or otherwise mail them to the Traffic Court Clerk on the 1st Floor once the remodeling is completed.  Make a copy of every time sheet you mail.  

Once reviewed and approved by the District Attorney’s Office and the Judge, a Court Order will be prepared to award credit towards your assessed fines at the rate of $15 per hour. 

You may verify the amount which the Court has recorded plus the Community Service hours credited and how much more you still owe by calling the Traffic Court Clerk at (316)660-5670. You may also phone the Centralized Payment Center at (785)260-6105 and select Option 5 to ask a Clerk in Topeka to verify that all of your payments and Community Service have been credited and how much you still owe.  

Make sure that the amount they claim is the same as what you have written down and kept track of.  If these two amounts are not the same, then take your totals to the 1st Floor Pay Window and ask the Clerk to correct the balance owed.

Hopefully, after all of your hard work--you will finally have your driver's License reinstated so you can DRIVE AGAIN LEGALLY!!

The Municipal Court Clerk's phone # is: (316)268-4611. They are on the 2nd floor of the Wichita City Hall at 455 N. Main. 

Their website address where you may:    

• Review details on your existing court cases
• Enter Guilty or No Contest pleas
• Make payments
• Request payment extensions is:
  
  https://www.wichita.gov/319/Municipal-Court

To find out if you have an outstanding "Failure to Appear" warrant for your arrest, go to: 

 https://webcourts.wichita.gov/CaseLists.aspx?queryid=4663
 

You may ask a Judge to withdraw your arrest warrant by appearing on the Walk-In Docket.  Please check in at the Municipal Court Clerk's Office on the 2nd floor of City Hall, between 7:00am and 7:30am. 

You are eligible for the Walk-In Docket if:

• You missed your court date and have an arrest warrant for failure to appear.
• You want to change your court date.​
• You need to speak with a judge or city attorney regarding your court case.

The Walk-In Docket is held Monday through Friday at 8:00am (except on the first Friday of the month and Legal Holidays). Sign-up for this docket is on a first-come, first-served basis. Only the first ten (10) people to sign up are allowed to attend on that day.

If your court date has been set, it can only be changed by a judge. Court dates cannot be changed over the phone. If you need to change your court date, you may appear on the Walk-In Docket.​

If your license has been suspended because you still have one or more unpaid WPD traffic ticket, download and complete the PDF below of the MANIFEST HARDSHIP MOTION in English or Spanish. It will take some time to find all of the information they are requesting. 

However, the Municipal Court will NOT consider your Motion if (1) your license is Revoked, (2) you are asking to reduce the amount owed on a new traffic ticket or (3) you have already paid the ticket. 

 
In your Motion, write down what your monthly income is, the payments you have already made on your traffic fines, the amount you pay for housing, food and utilities, the number of dependents you have and/or the number of Community Service hours you are able to work. 

It is important to request in your written Motion and during your hearing a realistic TOTAL amount of monthly installments and/or Community Service which will allow you to pay the remaining balance of what the Judge orders within 24 months after you receive your Restricted License. 

This will allow the Judge to lower your fines so if you are consistent in making your monthly payments and/or community service, the Judge will see that you are in "Substantial Compliance" on paying all of your traffic fines within 24 months.   Then, under Section 2(D) of SB 500, the Judge may order the DMV in Topeka to remove the Suspension and reissue your Regular drivers license plus forgive your remaining fines, court costs and the $100 reinstatement fee if you have filed a Manifest Hardship Motion.  

So, once you have filled in the information requested, hand deliver your Manifest Hardship Motion to the Municipal Court Traffic Clerk on the 2nd floor of City Hall to file it if you want to personally have a hearing on your Motion. If you do, ask the Clerk to set a court date for you to stand before a Wichita Municipal Court judge to ask them to reduce your fines and fees to an amount  which you can realistically pay within 24 months or less. 

OR, you may mail your written Motion to the Court and let a judge make their decision about reducing the total amount you owe based on the information you provided on the form which you download below without coming back to Court. Their mailing address is:

Wichita Municipal Court
City Hall
455​ N Main, 2nd Floor
Wichita, KS 67202​ 

When you file your Manifest Hardship Motion, pay at least $20 or more on your traffic tickets to show the Judge that you are serious about complying with what you owe.  In your written Motion and during your hearing, make sure that you tell the Judge about the payments you have already made on your fines plus the Community Service hours you are able to work.  

The Court will make a ruling on your Motion to reduce or eliminate what you owe during your hearing or mail their decision to you if you choose not to attend. So make sure that you provide the Court Clerk with an accurate mailing address, phone number and email address if you have one.

Then, after the Judge has ruled on your Motion to reduce your fines and fees and you know the total amount you owe, download the Payment Plan PDF below. Read it carefully. 

Take this installment payment contract to the 2nd floor in the Wichita City Hall. While you are there, sign the Contract agreeing to make installment payments on your traffic fines and fees online, by mail or in person. 

The City has a webpage at  https://www.wichita.gov/442/Payment-Options  with various payment options. Write down and keep track of the amount of each payment you make and which day you made it!! 

Here are the various ways to pay your Wichita traffic tickets:

1. To pay on-line, go to https://online.wichita.gov/WebCourtsV2.  An additional $1.00 convenience fee is added per transaction. 

2. To pay by telephone, call (316) 268-4611.

           -Use automated phone system anytime, an additional $1.00 convenience fee is added per transaction.

           -Customer Service Clerks are available by phone Monday – Friday 08:00 am to 05:00 pm, excluding holidays.

3. To pay by mail, send your check or money order to the City Hall address above. Do NOT enclose cash.

4. A Drop box on the 1st Floor of City Hall is also available. Do NOT pay with cash.  Instead bring a check or money order.

5. To pay in person please come to the Municipal Court Clerk's Office on the 2nd Floor of City Hall, Monday – Friday 07:30 am to 05:00 pm, excluding holidays. 

If you need to earn $10 per hour to completely pay the total amount which the Judge says you owe within 24 months after you receive your Restricted License, then download the Community Service form below.  

While you are with the Court Clerk, they will add one of these approved nonprofit agencies to your Payment Agreement.  Make sure that it is a location where you can get to by bus or with a friend driving if your license is suspended.  

But it is up to you to contact that agency, get on their schedule, do the work their supervisor assigns, keep track of the days and hours you worked,  then have their supervisor sign the form to verify your timesheet.  To recive credit, you must then deliver your timesheet to a Court Clerk on the 2nd Floor of City Hall no later than the 1st of each month.

Make sure that you keep your Payment Agreement with the Court and finish paying all of your fines, fees and court costs. If you don’t, your license may be Suspended again if you do not make payments for 90 days!!