Common questions I get when an individual's been arrested for a DUI is, "Can I drive?", "What's the status of my driver's license?", "Am I eligible for a hardship license?". There's usually some immediate shock because after being arrested for a DUI, almost always, the police officer will confiscate your driver's license. You're left not knowing what you're allowed to do, what you're not allowed to do or whether you're allowed to drive.
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There are some severe driver's license ramifications once you've been arrested for a DUI. A lot of it depends on whether you submitted to take the breath test or whether you refused to take the breath test. Depending on which option you took after your arrest, can result in some different sanctions or ramifications in reference to your driver's license.
If you DO submit to the breath test and your breath test is over a .08, which is the legal limit in Florida, the police officer will confiscate your driver's license, turn it over to the DHSMV, and you will potentially be subject to a six-month driver's license suspension.
Now there are a few things you can do.
There's a 10-day window where you have a right to challenge that driver's license suspension. When you leave the jail, you will more than likely be given a DUI citation that looks like a speeding ticket. The officer may or may not explain to you that that is actually your driver's license for the next 10 days. It will basically say, in small red print at the bottom of that ticket, that you are allowed to drive for the next 10 days.
If you do find yourself, over the next 10 days, being pulled over for any reason, and you're asked to see your driver's license, you simply hand that ticket to the police officer and that is considered a valid license for 10 days after the date of your arrest.
If nothing is done during that 10-day period, the six-month driver's license suspension will go into affect for you having an unlawful blood alcohol level of over a .08.
You do have a right to challenge that suspension BUT you only have 10 days to challenge that suspension and submit for a review at the DHSMV. If your paperwork is not filed within that first ten days, you lose your right and suspension goes into place.
Once your paperwork is filed with the DHSMV, before that 10-day period, a few things will happen.
First, the DHSMV will issue you a 42-day, temporary permit. This means that you can continue to drive past that ten days. The 42-day permit is a business-purpose-only license that allows you to just drive for business purposes. They define that as work, school, to religious functions and to the doctor or hospital. Outside of that, you're not allowed to drive. But, you are allowed to remain on the road for those various reasons.
In addition to issuing that permit, the DHSMV will set a hearing date. At this hearing date, you have a couple options to either have an informal hearing or a formal hearing. A formal hearing would mean that the police officers would have to be subpoenaed to come to the hearing. They would offer testimony. An informal hearing would just be with you and the DHSMV hearing officer. It's at this hearing where you can raise issues and challenges to the suspension that the DHSMV is currently trying to put on your driver's license.
If you're successful at this hearing, then your license is reinstated on that day and you're allowed to apply and will receive a full driver's license. The suspension will not go into place.
If the DHSMV hearing office determines that the suspension should stay in place, then a 6-month driver's license suspension would go into affect or stay in affect. Now, this does not mean that for a whole period of six months you're not allowed to drive at all. You currently will be driving on your 42-day permit. When that permit expires, and there will be an expiration date on it, that is when you will be subject to what is referred to as your "hard time" and you will not be allowed to drive for the next 30 days following the expiration of the temporary permit.
After that 30 days is up, you are then again allowed to apply for another hardship license, which upon approval, you will be able to drive on for the same purposes as the previous permit (work, school, church or doctor) and that would be good for the remaining period of the 6-month suspension.
Now, if you refuse to take the breath test, it's a similar process but there's more severe sanctions. You're still eligible to drive for the first ten days. You're still eligible to challenge the suspension, but you still have the 10-day requirement that you must have your paperwork in to the DHSMV before that ten days. You will still be eligible to receive the 42-day permit.
At the hearing, you will still have the same rights to challenge the suspension that is trying to be put in place. The difference is, when you refuse to take the breathalyzer, the DHSMV is going to try to slap on a ONE YEAR driver's license suspension as opposed to the six-month when you DO take the test.
At the hearing, if you are successful and the suspension overturned, then once again you're eligible for a full driver's license on that day and your driving privileges will be reinstated.
If you're unsuccessful at the hearing and the hearing officer determines that the driver's license suspension should stay in place, then, once again, when your 42-day permit expires, you will be subject to the hard time but this time it is for a 90-day period, unlike when you take the test it's just a 30-day period.
At the end of those 90 days, once again, you are eligible to apply for another hardship license, which would be good for the remaining period of the suspension, and in this situation it would be one year.
The DHSMV is somewhat of a complicated process because there are a lot of dates, a lot of deadlines, and a lot of time periods when you can be eligible for a license. Most of the times, people miss out on opportunities to get licensed because they think that they are not eligible for it.
What we would do is walk you through the process. We would file all the paperwork on your behalf to the DHSMV during that 10-day period. We'd get you the temporary permits that you're eligible for. We'd represent you at the hearing and do everything we could to try to get those suspensions thrown out.
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If we are unsuccessful at the hearing, then we will let you know what steps you need to take at the end of the hard period to get your driving privileges back and get your restriction license in that period of time. Basically our job would be to keep you driving whenever you're eligible and as often as possible, with whatever licenses are available to you.
It's somewhat of a complicated process; it's something I wouldn't recommend going alone because there is a lot of filing that needs to be done, there are subpoenas that need to be issued to potential officers when you start dealing with formal hearings, and there is a narrow scope of issues that can be raised at these hearings that a person who's not trained in these may not know what issues to potentially raise and you may lose your opportunity to get your driving privileges back.
We live in a state where it is not easy to get around without a car, especially in the Hillsborough, Pinellas, Tampa Bay area. We don't have the most efficient public transportation and it's really, really hard to get around if you don't have the ability to drive. Driving is a privilege and it is a privilege that we would like to keep for you, keep you on the road, keep you driving as often, and keep the suspensions off your license if possible.
So give us a call for a free consultation. We'll walk you through this process; we'll help you stay on the road; help you get you whatever license you need, more importantly what license you're eligible for and answer whatever questions you have in this process.
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