How much does it cost to restore your gun rights? Restoring your gun rights costs as much as attorney fees, court fees, possible supervision fees, evaluation fees, and incidental costs.
These costs can seem daunting when restoring your gun rights, but an experienced Columbus gun rights restoration lawyer can help navigate them.
Costs of Losing Your Gun Rights In The First Place
Getting a gun license in Ohio comes with its own costs. Then there’s the money spent on firearms and associated accessories. Eventually, if you lose your gun rights, you are looking at the cost of being convicted of a crime and the remedies to appeal, petition, or other strategies to regain your gun rights.
Ohio law requires an application fee for obtaining a gun license, as well as additional fees for certain background checks for residents in the state who have been a resident for fewer than five years or for out-of-state applicants. Current and former military personnel, as well as peace officers, have their fees waived, unless they have been dishonorably discharged. Guns, ammunition, and accessories can be expensive, so we are already looking at investments of hundreds to thousands of dollars.
If you are convicted of certain crimes, that entire legal process can come with high costs. Attorney fees, court fees, fines, and the element of lost wages can add up to a lot, depending on the severity of the crime and the length of the court battle. Adding all this up, getting to the point of trying to get gun rights restored can already cost you a lot of money.
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Court Fees Vary Depending on Location Within Ohio
If you want to file your petition to get your gun rights back, you will have to pay the filing fee. This can vary county by county in Ohio. For example, the fees and costs in Delaware County can run a couple of hundred dollars. Be sure to consult with your attorney to determine the filing fees in your area.
Often, courts will also require additional paperwork for various matters that arise in the regular course of business. You can expect small fees to accumulate every time a ruling is made, a document is filed, or a transfer is processed.
Often, fees are higher in urban areas than in rural areas. It will be essential to obtain clarity from your attorney regarding your current residence and the location where your court case should be handled. If you cannot afford the fees in your area, it may not be worth the debt to try getting your gun rights restored. Review our case results to see how we have helped people just like you.
Attorney Fees to Consider
You are not required to have an attorney to file a petition for restoring your gun rights, but your ability to get your paperwork done right, get everything done on time, and argue your case successfully can greatly increase with the help of an attorney. Unlike suing for personal damages and your lawyer getting paid from that, you have to pay for a criminal defense attorney to fight for your gun rights to be returned.
Your fees will depend significantly on the complexity of your case and the number of stipulations within Ohio Revised Code § 2923.14 that we must consider. Your attorney may work on an hourly basis or a flat fee for certain legal processes. These costs may be important to consider in combination with your current financial situation.
These expenses may feel like a barrier to pursuing the restoration of your gun rights, but they could be the difference between success and never getting them back at all. Spending the money to file and other court fees should not go to waste just because you went without the experience of a good criminal defense attorney.
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Background Checks and Other Fees For Evaluation
Similar to getting a gun license in the first place, the court may deem it necessary to have you evaluated to return your gun rights, as well as a look at your conduct after whatever caused you to lose your gun license. There could be fees for conducting the checks and evaluations, which neither the court nor your attorney pays for.
While you are required to submit a record of everything related to your weapons disability, certain qualities may cause the court to need an official background check from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. They charge for running a background check. If this check extends out of state or involves federal records, this fee can swell the total cost of restoring your gun rights.
There may also be a need for certain mental assessments to officially determine your mental health as related to section (D)(1)(i) of Ohio Revised Code § 2923.125. Getting this done by mental health professionals is not free and is not covered by any other parties.
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The Cost of Time Investment
The court process does not occur in a single day, regardless of the type of lawsuit. You could be looking at months of intermittent time invested in gathering documents, working through things with your attorney, and appearing in court. This can all add up in simple things like transportation and wages lost from not being able to go to work.
If you are trying to get your life back on track after serving a sentence, working is likely a top priority. Securing a job can be tough enough, but having to miss time to take care of the legal necessities of relieving your weapons disability can take a toll on your job security. Also, not all jobs will pay you for all the time you take off.
Having this legal cloud over your head for months can end up getting in the way of other regular life events. Before you decide to incur the costs of getting your gun rights restored, be sure to talk it through with your attorney to know just how much time the whole process will cost you.
The Cost of Restoring Your Gun Rights Is However Much Your Gun Rights Are Worth To You
By considering the costs of trying to get your gun rights back, having them at all is likely important to you.
The monetary costs may seem steep when all added up, but putting them in perspective of returning you to your sense of normalcy can make it priceless. Contact Koffel | Brininger | Nesbitt today to schedule a complimentary consultation.
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