In any state, you have until the court date to pay the fine. If you donu2019t, you are expected to appear on the court date.If you do not appear in court and the fine is not paid, you will have a bench warrant issued within 24 hours and an additional charge added to your docket, Failure to Appear.The citation is your promise to either pay or appear in court. When you signed the ticket, it specifically states youu2019re doing so without admission of guilt and paying the ticket is also not an admission of guilt, however, the citation is issued instead of being arrested or brought before a judge right then.Keep in mind, if youu2019re picked up on a bench warrant, you may spend a couple of days in jail if itu2019s a holiday or weekend and you will most likely be held over for a trial. This means you will sit in jail until your trial date, which can vary, simply because you chose not to pay or appear for the original citation and now cannot be trusted to return if released. Now your small ticket has become the ticket, a failure to appear charge, and court costs.