Night court on a Tuesday, no prosecutor in the room, and a 48-hour clock.
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Send Us the Citation
The agency on your citation decides which court hears your case and what night you would otherwise be driving to Covington. Pick it below, send a photo of the ticket, and you get a call back with the court, the date, and the fee.
Attorney William Young appears in your place. A Tipton County citation is a flat $500, and the firm has to be hired at least 48 hours before the court date.
Your citation is in. Somebody will call you with the court it is set in, the date, and the fee, usually the same business day. If your court date is inside 48 hours, call (901) 578-1515 rather than waiting on the callback. Weekends included.
Start Here
Traffic court in Tipton County sits on Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Justice Center in Covington. The judge campaigned on it. The idea was that handling a speeding ticket should not cost somebody a day of work.
Evening dockets are rare in West Tennessee, and the people who built this one meant well. It still leaves you driving to Covington on a Tuesday night.
The District Attorney's office does not participate in night traffic court. There is no prosecutor in the room to negotiate with. The judge runs the docket himself.
That is worth understanding before you decide to walk in and handle it yourself, because the usual picture of traffic court, where you talk to a prosecutor in the hallway and work something out, does not describe this room.
The Part That Catches People
The firm has to be hired at least 48 hours before your court date for this to work. That is the practical cutoff.
Court is Tuesday evening. Call on Monday and you have already missed it for that week.
Most people find the citation in a glovebox on the weekend before. That is not too late. Attorney William Young takes calls on Saturdays and Sundays, and the retainer can be paid on this site, so a Sunday afternoon phone call still puts somebody in Covington on Tuesday.
Your Appearance
Generally you will not have to appear. How serious the violation is decides it, and that is a conversation to have before the court date rather than after.
Attorney William Young tells you which one yours is when he reviews the citation. If the answer is that you do need to be present, you hear it with enough time to arrange a Tuesday evening rather than finding out from a letter.
Tipton County does not offer Zoom for traffic matters. Somebody has to be physically in the room in Covington, which is the whole argument for sending an attorney rather than taking the drive yourself.
Covington is about forty minutes north of Memphis on Highway 51, and that is before the evening leaves you driving home at eight o'clock.
Practical
Check who wrote it first. Night traffic court is county business. A Tipton County Sheriff or Tennessee Highway Patrol citation goes there. A city police citation does not.
Five towns in Tipton County run their own police department and their own city court: Covington, Atoka, Munford, Brighton and Mason. Each sits on its own schedule, and none of those is Tuesday evening. Everywhere else in the county is patrolled by the Sheriff, which puts those citations back in night court.
Where your case is heard turns on the agency printed on your citation, not on where you were driving.
| Who wrote the citation | Where the case is heard |
|---|---|
| Tipton County Sheriff | Night traffic court, Covington, Tuesday 5:30–7:30 p.m. |
| Tennessee Highway Patrol | Night traffic court, Covington, Tuesday 5:30–7:30 p.m. |
| Covington Police | Covington city court |
| Atoka Police | Atoka town court |
| Munford Police | Munford city court |
| Brighton Police | Brighton city court |
| Mason Police | Mason city court |
The practical version: if a trooper or a deputy stopped you, your date is a Tuesday evening in Covington. If a city officer stopped you, it is not, and showing up on a Tuesday night will not help you.
If your citation came from a department other than Covington, call before you plan anything around a Tuesday. It takes one phone call to find out where yours is actually set, and guessing wrong costs you a judgment.
Ripley and Lauderdale County → · Fayette County → · Memphis and Shelby County →
Before You Pay It
It arrives looking like a bill. It is a plea, and it is final the moment you send it.
A judgment is entered against you, it lands on your driving record with points, and your insurer can reprice the policy at renewal and keep it there long after you have forgotten the ticket.
What It Costs
Most firms will not publish this.
A commercial license is a different matter entirely and is quoted separately. So is a DUI or a criminal charge in Tipton County.
Your Attorney
William Young · Traffic & Criminal Defense
Attorney William Young handles traffic citations and criminal matters in Tipton County, along with Lauderdale County, Fayette County and the Shelby County municipalities. Driving to these courts is part of the job, which is the point of hiring somebody to do it.
He has tried a case to a Tipton County jury and won it. Tipton County criminal defense →
Common Questions
Generally no. Attorney William Young appears in your place at night traffic court in Covington. Whether you need to be there at all depends on how serious the violation is, and he tells you which it is before the date rather than after. The firm has to be hired at least 48 hours before the court date for that to work.
Tipton County holds traffic court on Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Justice Center in Covington. The judge campaigned on the idea, which was that people should not have to give up a day of work to deal with a citation. Evening traffic dockets are rare in West Tennessee.
No. The District Attorney's office does not participate in night traffic court. That is unusual and it changes how the room works, because there is no prosecutor to negotiate with and the judge runs the docket himself.
At least 48 hours. That is the practical cutoff for handling a Tipton County citation without you appearing. Night traffic court sits on Tuesday evenings, so a Monday phone call is already too late for that week. A weekend call is not. Attorney William Young takes calls on Saturdays and Sundays and the retainer can be paid on this site, so a Sunday still works for a Tuesday setting.
No. Tipton County does not offer a video appearance for traffic matters. Somebody has to be in the room in Covington, which is the reason to send an attorney instead of driving up yourself.
Night traffic court is county business. A Tipton County Sheriff or Tennessee Highway Patrol citation is heard there, Tuesday evenings in Covington. A city police citation is not. Five towns run their own police department and their own city court on their own schedules, none of them Tuesday evening: Covington, Atoka, Munford, Brighton and Mason. Everywhere else in the county is patrolled by the Sheriff, which puts those citations back in night court. Look at the agency printed on your citation, because that decides which court has your case, not where you happened to be driving.
$500. Court costs run about $130 and are set by the court, separate from the attorney fee.
Paying is pleading guilty. A judgment is entered against you, it goes on your driving record with points, and your insurer could raise your rate at renewal. It is also the only option you cannot undo.
Generally not. The schedule assumes you live in Tipton County and can make a Tuesday evening, which is no help at all if you were passing through on Highway 51. Hiring someone local to stand in for you is the whole point, and it needs to happen at least 48 hours out.
Call before you pay it. We appear for you.