What to Do When You Experience Legal Trouble While Traveling

Do you travel frequently? Are you planning a trip soon? No matter how often you travel, you may not have considered the possibility that you could get into legal trouble while you’re on your trip. If you don’t currently have a plan for what you’ll do if you encounter legal issues, this article will help.

Contact an attorney right away

The first thing you need to do if you get into legal trouble is contact an attorney. This is true regardless of where you are, but it’s most important when you’re traveling in an unfamiliar area. You never want to face criminal charges alone. For instance, in Fort Worth, Texas, you could face some serious penalties if convicted. A good defense lawyer will help to minimize the consequences as much as possible.

If you’re still in your home country and you have a lawyer already, contact them first to ask for their advice. However, keep in mind that if the incident happened out of state, you’ll need to seek legal help from an attorney in that state.

Never self-represent in a criminal case

You may have heard of people representing themselves in court and winning their case. This is the exception, not the rule. Chances are, you won’t be successful in defending yourself. Memorizing the law and knowing how to explain your innocence isn’t enough to win your case. This move is even riskier when you’re in another country.

Winning a criminal case requires a litany of tasks that take experience as a lawyer to get right. For instance, you’ll need to file motions correctly and on time. You’ll also need to know exactly how and when to present evidence, and it’s not as easy as it looks. For instance, you can’t present evidence you haven’t submitted to the other side first. Although the law allows for you to represent yourself, that doesn’t mean the court will be lenient with your mistakes. Judges hold pro se litigants to the same standards as attorneys.

Brush up on the law

Assuming you haven’t been put in jail, it’s important to research the law to find out what kind of law(s) you broke and what the possible consequences are. You might discover that you have more rights than you thought, and you may not have actually broken the law. Or, there could be a gray area with your circumstances.

It’s also not uncommon for people to be wrongfully arrested on fabricated charges or for “crimes” that aren’t actually crimes. This tends to happen more often in places that don’t have strong freedom of speech rights. Hopefully, this never happens to you, but if it does, be prepared to fight.

If you haven’t taken your trip yet, but you feel like you’re visiting a country where the laws are really strict, research ahead of time. Don’t take any risks visiting countries known to lay down serious punishments for what you might consider small offenses.

Be ready to fight your charges

Regardless of what charges you’re facing, if you’re facing those charges in unfamiliar territory, you may not realize the extent of the consequences. Be ready to fight your charges. Don’t just assume you’ll get a fine and get let off the hook.

Contact a local attorney as soon as possible and get ready to fight your charges. What looks like a small issue could end up having severe consequences.

Stay calm

It should go without saying, but stay calm no matter what. It’s normal to get frustrated and even angry, but stay outwardly calm when dealing with the local authorities and court system. Never show yourself as someone who is out of control or angry. It could really hurt your legal case if you don’t hold that back.

Be prepared to be banned from certain countries

The biggest downside of being convicted of a crime is being banned from entering certain countries. There are a handful of popular tourist destinations that don’t allow convicted felons to enter, including Australia, Canada, China, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

In most cases, you’ll be able to enter if you were accused, yet acquitted, but there are some countries that bar entry for merely being accused. The only exception is a true emergency, in which case, you can only enter the country once.

Be careful while traveling and call an attorney

Nobody expects to get into legal trouble while traveling, but it happens sometimes. Your best chance at making it through any legal ordeal is to contact an attorney and take their advice.