I've recently received a notice that I have been included on the jury roll. I may be summoned for jury duty over the next 12 months. Although I am happy to do my duty as an Australian citizen we plan to be travelling around the country for a good part of 2020. This could seriously hamper our travel plans. Has anyone else had this experience and what can I do to specify dates that I am available and be excluded during our travels?
As soon as possible write to the sender of the notice and ask to be removed from the jury list based on your travelling itinerary and that you will not be available while away from your domicile or home base.
As said above, then you most likely will be asked the following year. Let them know as it is a hefty fine if you don't appear. Also keep a copy of all your correspondence to say that you are unable to attend as they are known to loose paperwork.
I have been on a jury a long time ago, it was interesting. But the circus beforehand is a pain.
Being paid. If they still use the same process you do not necessarily get paid!
I filled in 'my employer will not pay me'. I was self employed. Otherwise I would have not been paid for the entire period, & it's not much anyway. There is an allowance for travel from home as well, it's not much either.
Ask for proper meals from day one! Also take in your own food if want.
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Good advice, thanks. It's hard to have a travel itinerary at this point since we have no fixed plans. I'll contact them and what happens. I know a few people who are on the road full-time. I wonder how they do it?
This varies from state to state but being on a formal holiday at the time is a valid reason in Victoria. They may seek evidence of your booking(s) so you may have to explain you're on a road trip and perhaps do a stat. dec.
I was summoned about three years back but was doing consulting work at the time so no boss to pay me for jury duty. I wrote to the court and explained and they said OK.
Actually I regretted not being able to do it: one hell of a lot of people in the Anglo Saxon world have died to ensure that a person can be tried by 12 good men/women peers and I strongly feel it is a system we need to support. I do not want judges alone or, worse still, governments deciding who is guilty or innocent.
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I can only speak of the jury I was on. It went for a few weeks. The room we sat in after sitting in court was quite depressing, a dull grey square room with a round table & 12 chairs, kitchenette & toilet.
But everyone tried hard to come up with the correct verdict. At the end of each day I was mentally exhausted & for the following few weeks.
I find it a bit poor that jurers put in a lot of effort to get it right & get their heads around a whole pile of complex issues while taken for granted by the system.
Keep a diary (we do this just with the location so we remember where we were), receipts & photographs with landmarks so you can prove you were on a proper holiday. It all sounds a bit like work but it's not worth the fine.
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
I'm in VIC and had the same problem about 6 years ago. I just wrote back saying I intended to be traveling over the next few years with no fixed itinerary and they have not bothered me since. Landy.
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