Courts, probation & code enforcement
Collect fines and fees before the court date, not after it
Municipal, state and county courts use Government Window to take citation, fine, bond and probation payments online, by phone and at the counter — with receipts, dockets and daily reconciliation handled automatically.
Reported outcomes
- Fewer payment calls to the clerk's office
- 40%Fewer payment calls to the clerk's office
- Typical time to launch, not months
- DaysTypical time to launch, not months
- Of fine revenue deposited by ACH
- 100%Of fine revenue deposited by ACH
The problem
What court clerks are actually dealing with
Before the features, the operational reality. If these don't sound familiar, the rest of this page probably isn't for you.
- 01
Clerks answer the same call all day
“How much do I owe?” and “Can I pay over the phone?” consume hours of clerk time that should go to docket preparation and case management.
- 02
Cash and checks arrive at the counter
Handling currency creates a custody chain, a nightly count and an audit exposure that small court staffs are not resourced to manage.
- 03
Payments post late — or twice
When the payment system and the case management system don't talk, defendants show up in court for cases already satisfied.
- 04
Card processing bills are unpredictable
Interchange rates vary by card type, and courts rarely have a budget line for absorbing merchant fees.
The solution
How Government Window handles court payments
Configured to your business rules, integrated with your system of record, and reconciled the way your office already works.
Citation lookup that actually finds the case
Payers search by citation number, case number, name, date of birth or driver's license — matched live against your case management system so amounts due are always current.
Bilingual IVR with live operator fallback
A toll-free number takes payments in English and Spanish around the clock, using the same business rules as the web portal. Callers who need a person reach a Government Window operator.
Partial payments, payment plans and probation
Configure minimum amounts, installment schedules, late fees and probation supervision fees to match your court's standing orders.
Daily detail your clerk can actually reconcile
Every payment arrives with ticket number, court date, subject name and payer name — the fields clerks match against the docket — in a scheduled daily email and a real-time dashboard.
Counter payments on the same ledger
Walk-up card payments taken on a POS reader post to the same account and appear in the same report as online and phone payments.
No cost to the court
A nominal service fee is disclosed to and paid by the payer, separate from the fine amount. The court receives the full fine via automatic ACH deposit.
Payment channels
Channels court clerks turn on first
Integrations
Connected to the systems you already run
With 100+ solution integrations delivered and 40+ third-party systems connected in production, most implementations for court clerks are a configuration rather than a development project.
Case management systems Court accounting packages State citation systems General ledger exports
Voice of the customer
In their words
What court clerks say about running payments on Government Window.
“We are very pleased with the ease at which defendants may make their payments online.”
Brenda Vandiver, Washington Municipal Court
“Your IVR and online site has cut down on my workload a great deal.”
Meg Grant, Auburn Municipal Court
This court has been using Government Window for court and miscellaneous credit card payments for over a year! The customer service is outstanding! The system is very user friendly! Taking payments has become effortless! This makes our court more efficient! Thank you Government Window!
Customer stories
Courts & citations in production
Stone Mountain, GA
A municipal court makes taking payments effortless
Stone Mountain's court moved citation and miscellaneous payments onto a single platform — and turned payment processing from a daily chore into a background process.
Read the story Auburn, GA
Fewer calls a day, and fewer people in the courtroom
Auburn Municipal Court added IVR and online payments. The clerk's phone stopped ringing and the docket got shorter.
Read the story Villa Rica, GA
Daily reconciliation that takes minutes, not an afternoon
Villa Rica Police Department gets a daily email detailed down to ticket number, court date and payer name — and closes the day against it.
Read the story McDonough, GA
Predictable card acceptance for a court with limited staff
McDonough Municipal Court stopped absorbing variable card processing bills and reduced the workload on a limited staff at the same time.
Read the story
Questions
Questions we hear most about court payments
No cost to the department No long-term contract Live in days or weeks
Related resources
- ChecklistFive ways to cut payment calls to your officePayment questions are the single largest category of avoidable inbound calls in most agencies. Here is what actually moves the number.
- ExplainerText2Pay and eBilling, explainedTwo of the highest-return features available to a government billing office, and what it takes to turn them on.
Other departments