What to Do if You’re Charged with Using Someone Else’s Handicap Permit
Many people share a vehicle with a spouse or other relative who legally possesses a disability parking permit. The placard may be hanging from the rearview mirror or ready to be hung while you search for a handicapped parking space at Publix. While parking in a handicapped spot is a civil infraction without the permit, it’s considered a crime for fraud if you use someone else’s handicap permit, even if they agree to it.
There is a situation in which you are permitted to drive with a handicapped permit that is not your own. The valid owner must be in the vehicle with you, whether you are transporting them or they are accompanying you.
What Are Your Choices if You Are Charged with Parking Fraud?
While a civil infraction allows you to pay the fine or ask for a hearing, a criminal charge for using someone else’s handicap permit can result in an arrest and court appearance. A defense attorney familiar with this charge should assist you because, if convicted, you could spend up to 60 days in jail and be fined $500 for this second-degree misdemeanor.
Your attorney may be able to argue that you and the person with a valid handicap parking permit share one vehicle and you did not know the permit holder had to be in the car when the permit was used. It is also a second-degree felony to replicate the permit, keeping a copy for yourself and leaving the original with the valid holder.
Defenses to Parking Fraud
Wheelchair license plates are attached permanently to the handicapped person’s vehicle, and the plate follows the car of the registered disabled owner, unlike a placard, which can be moved and used on any car the disabled person drives.
Your attorney could defend your use of the vehicle with a permanent plate if it is the only vehicle spouses share. Much depends on whether there are past infractions, whether you had an intent to defraud, you were not aware the plate is a special disability plate, or you do not use a handicapped parking space even though the plate enables the owner to do so. If you are also handicapped, it is in your best interest to secure your own placard by being certified by a qualified physician and applying to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) through your local county tax collector’s office (DMV.org).
Types of Disability Permits
Florida issues permanent permits that expire up to four years after issuance on the permit holder’s birthday. Medical recertifications are required and these permits are available if your mobility is impaired long-term.
Temporary permits expire in six months and are issued to patients recovering from surgery or an injury that impairs mobility.
Lifetime permits are issued to people who are permanently disabled by amputation or dismemberment. They do not expire. All three permits, whether placards, or issued as a wheelchair license plate, can be the subject of criminal fraud if an unauthorized person uses one to park in a handicapped parking space or avoid paying for parking by using that space.
Out-of-State Handicap Permits
Florida recognizes disability parking permits from other states or placards from other countries, allowing drivers to access handicapped parking spots. Whether your permit is issued in Florida or elsewhere, the same rules apply if someone uses the permit and is not authorized to do so. Talk to a skilled criminal defense attorney if you face charges for using someone else’s handicap permit. If there is a fix for the problem, The Umansky Law Firm will apply it to your situation.
