MyCitations Online Trial by Declaration vs TR-205

What It Is

A written trial you file on a court website instead of by mail.

MyCitations is the California courts' own site. Every county uses it for fine reductions, and a smaller group of courts also uses it for an online trial by declaration. You type or upload your statement and your evidence, the officer files a written statement too, a judge reads both, and the decision arrives by email.

The courts say to use it only for infractions where your ticket or courtesy notice doesn't require you to appear, before the due date, and before you've paid or been to court. You need an email address and your evidence ready to upload before you start.

Which Courts

Amador, Imperial, Nevada, Sacramento, San Francisco and Siskiyou, as of February 2026.

Those six were listed in the courts' February 2026 announcement, which also said two more courts planned to go live by April and up to five more would start onboarding before the end of 2026. The list has probably grown. Check mycitations.courts.ca.gov for your county before you decide anything.

What Changes

No bail up front, and no second trial. On paper too.

Government Code 68645.4 sets the rules for courts that offer the online trial. The court can't make you deposit bail before the trial unless it makes specific findings about you. And if you lose, you have no right to a trial de novo, the new in-person trial that's normally available after a written trial.

The part most guides miss is subdivision (b). Once a court offers the online tool, those same rules apply to every trial by written declaration in that court, including a paper TR-205 dropped in the mail. In these counties there's no route to a written trial that keeps the second chance.

Should You Use It

It depends on what you'd do if you lost.

Not having to front the bail is a real advantage if paying the full fine now and waiting for a refund is hard. The cost is the safety net. Elsewhere in California, a written trial you lose can be tried again in person, so the first round is close to free. In these courts, the written decision is the decision.

So the work goes into the statement. Say exactly what you saw, attach what backs it up, and leave out anything you can't sign under penalty of perjury. If keeping a second chance matters more to you than skipping a trip to court, these courts still let you skip the written trial and have your trial in person instead.

With TicketFight

The statement is the same either way.

What we prepare is a sworn statement of your facts on form TR-205. In a court with the online trial, you can file that form on paper as usual, or use the statement as the text you submit through MyCitations. Either way, the rules above decide what happens after the judge rules.

FAQ

Common questions about MyCitations