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If a driver submits to a breath alcohol test, and their blood alcohol level is 0.08% or higher, they will have 10 days from the date of their arrest to schedule a hearing with the Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) before their license is suspended. If the person fails to schedule this hearing, their driver’s license will automatically be suspended for 6 to 18 months. Additionally, if a person refuses to submit to a breath alcohol test, they will automatically be served a Notice of Suspension.
A formal review hearing is an administrative hearing before the DHSMV to determine whether the Department was justified in suspending your driving privilege the day you were arrested for a DUI.
Administrative Suspensions comes in two ways:
1. Refusing to take a breath test, and
2. Having an unlawful breath/blood alcohol level (UBAL)
Length of Suspensions
Refusal suspensions
First refusal: 12 months
Second / subsequent: 18 months
Unlawful Breath/Blood Alcohol Level
First Time: 6 months
Second or more times: 12 months
You are entitled to challenge this suspension by means of the Formal Review Hearing. However, this Hearing must be requested in writing and delivered to the DHSMV no later than 10 days from the date of arrest. I can handle the details involved with the scheduling and I can conduct this hearing without the need for you to attend.
This Hearing is very helpful in the investigation and the defense of your case. Primarily it allows me to challenge the suspension of your license and, if successful, obtain the reinstatement of your license. It also gives me the first opportunity to question the police in order to gain detailed information concerning their observations, actions and opinions.
Your traffic citation is a 10 day permit as long as your license was valid prior to your arrest. If your driver's license is already suspended for any reason in this or any other state, the suspension begins on the day of the arrest. Hardship availability is subject to the rules below.
If a Formal Review is requested, assuming the driver's license is otherwise valid, the DHSMV will allow driving on a limited basis until they have made a decision to either allow the suspension or set aside the suspension. The DHSMV will forward the temporary permit to me, along with the date for the Formal Review hearing. I will then forward the temporary permit to you so you can have on you while you are driving.
This permit will not be issued by the DHSMV if the driver is suspended for any reason in this or any other state. If that is the case, the suspensions discussed below will take affect on the 11th day after the arrest. (You may be facing additional criminal charges of Driving without a License or Driving with License Suspended (DWLS).
If the driver does not request a Formal Review within the 10 days after their arrest, the suspension begins on the 11th day after the arrest.
If, after the Formal Review hearing, the DHSMV determines that the police have not provided them with enough information to support the suspension they will forward the driver's license back to us for the driver to pick up. The suspension is then taken off their record. Hardship driving is not necessary at this point since the suspension has been removed from the record.
If the DHSMV determines that the police have provided enough information to support the suspension, a period of hard suspension will begin as of the effective date of the order which is usually the date the temporary permit expires (that is the one forwarded to the driver after the Formal Review was requested).
If you have been arrested for a DUI you only have 10 days from the date of arrest to requet a hearing. Contact me today to review your case.
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