Jury Duty Summons?

[lejohnson]

I was wondering if anyone else had ever been called to jury duty at your permanent address in the U.S. while living as a permatourist here?? My parents told me the other week that I had received a jury summons, but I'm not sure how to prove that I am living outside the U.S.?

Has anyone else dealt with this situation? I'd appreciate any advice or previous experience.

 

[lejohnson]

Well... I don't really want to just ignore it. I don't want anything to happen to my voting privileges in the U.S. and I also don't want any problems later on as I would like to move back eventually and plan to study law (i.e. take the bar exam and skipping a jury duty can get you into trouble).

On top of all those other reasons for not skipping jury duty without a notice or excuse, I can't just ignore it. It wouldn't feel right especially as someone interested in studying law.

I got a 90 day extension to give me more time to deal with it, but has anyone had to write an excuse letter or anything? What proof did you send? Were passport stamps enough or what else did you use?

 

[deeve007]

You simply say you're overseas. If they actually write back and ask for proof (unlikely) send them photocopy of your visa in passport. It's not difficult.

Ignoring will have the same net result. If they ask you later why you didn't respond you simply say you were overseas, and you can prove that via your passport.

All very simple.

 

[sesamosinsal]

Well... I don't really want to just ignore it. I don't want anything to happen to my voting privileges in the U.S. and I also don't want any problems later on as I would like to move back eventually and plan to study law (i.e. take the bar exam and skipping a jury duty can get you into trouble).

On top of all those other reasons for not skipping jury duty without a notice or excuse, I can't just ignore it. It wouldn't feel right especially as someone interested in studying law.

I got a 90 day extension to give me more time to deal with it, but has anyone had to write an excuse letter or anything? What proof did you send? Were passport stamps enough or what else did you use?

In my state and many others, it is illegal to ignore a jury duty summons. My advice would be just to write a letter and fax it to them explaining your situation. If they respond needing more proof, then fax the appropriate copies of your passport -- but I doubt they will.

 

[Empshel]

With your summons, you should have also received contact information for the clerk of court. People try/need to get out of jury duty all of the time, so there will be somebody there who can answer your questions. You may have already called, seeing as your date has been postponed. Anyway, with respect to what you will have to produce to prove your non-availability, find out from the relevant court, not an expat website. This is especially true because the rules change from state-to-state and sometimes even county-to-county. Any specific instructions you receive from here likely will be irrelevant to your situation.

You also should check the website for the court to which you have been summoned. Again, this happens all of the time, so there may very well be a FAQ section that will answer your questions.

Good luck.

 

[deeve007]

In my state and many others, it is illegal to ignore a jury duty summons.

So it's illegal to be overseas and not receive your jury duty summons because no one could get your mail to you?

 

[sesamosinsal]

So it's illegal to be overseas and not receive your jury duty summons because no one could get your mail to you?

Did I say that? I said that it is illegal to ignore a summons. Clearly, if you don't know that one exists in the first place because you're abroad, you can't be ignoring it. If you go back to the United States and see that you have a year-old jury duty summons, it might be a good idea to give the courthouse a call and explain the situation. It would really be a downer to find out you have a warrant for your arrest after being stopped for breaking the speed limit.

 

[deeve007]

Did I say that?

No, but the OP did:

I was wondering if anyone else had ever been called to jury duty at your permanent address in the U.S. while living as a permatourist here...

 

[sundae]

I had my parents respond to mine stating that I could not serve because I was out of the country. It didn't get me out of jury duty, but it did kick the can down the road.

(In FL there's a checklist and writing room for reasons why you can't serve - you fill it out and mail it back.)