What Action Does The Department Of Motor Vehicles Take When You Are Arrested For A DUI?

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When you sign up for a driver’s license in the state of Florida, you sign something called implied consent and implied consent is your agreement in advance that if law enforcement would stop you or have probable cause to arrest you for a DUI that you will take a breath test. If you take that breath test and blow above a 0.08 they can suspend your license. Implied consent also says that if you do not take that breath test they can suspend your license. So if you take the breath test and blow above a 0.08, DMV will automatically suspend your license for 6 months. If you refuse to take that breath test they will suspend your license for one year.

What Is The Length Of The Department Of Motor Vehicle’s Administrative Suspension?

The lengths of the suspensions are going to vary depending upon whether or not it’s for a breath test or whether it’s for a refusal to take a breath test. On a first DUI, the length of the suspension for a breath test above a 0.08 is 6 months. If you refuse to take the breath test, that is going to be a one year suspension. If it is a second refusal that suspension is for 18 months. If you were unsuccessful at contesting the suspension at a formal review hearing and you had taken a breath test, there is going to be a period of hard time. That hard time is a period in which you are ineligible for a driver’s license. Other than those 30 days, we can keep you driving through the pendency of the case with the business purpose license even if you lose the formal review hearing and even if you lose in criminal court.

There are tools for us to help you keep driving and keep working other than the 30 days. If, on a first DUI, you did not take a breath test or you refused and you were unsuccessful in the formal review hearing, there is a period of 90 days in which you are ineligible for a driver’s license. Other than those 90 days we can keep you driving with a business purpose license through the pendency of the case and even if you are unsuccessful in criminal court. We can keep you driving with that business purpose license. There are things we need to do and hoops we need to jump through to get that done but we can definitely get that done.

What Is A Formal Review Hearing?

A formal review hearing is the process where you can contest that suspension. So with implied consent and the program for a suspension on a DUI arrest and the subsequent breath test for above a 0.08 or the refusal to take a breath test. Those suspensions can be contested through a formal review hearing. You’d have to request the formal review hearing within 10 days from the date of the arrest and within that time period then we will get you an extended permit from the original permit. So that beginning time, you have 10 days to request, 10 days to drive. When we go forward with the formal review hearing there are 2 purposes to it. One is to try and get the driver’s license back and two, we can subpoena the officers to come down and any witnesses they may have.

We have a court reporter there. We get to question them backwards, forwards and upside down about what happened. The significance of that is that the testimony is admissible in criminal court and is often times the best testimony that we get. The state of Florida really has limited our ability to take depositions in misdemeanor cases and sometimes this is the only proceeding where we can get direct testimony from these officers.

What Are The Benefits Of Requesting A Formal Review Hearing?

With a formal review hearing, if you are successful, you get the full license back and that suspension is set aside. When we make the request from the time of the arrest, you have 10 days to drive on the DUI citation. When we make the request we will get you up to a 40 day, with a 2 day extension for business purpose only license that is supposed to provide you the tools to be able to continue with your life pending the results of the formal review hearing. If at any point, that formal review hearing gets continued as the fault of the state, we will get you an extended business purpose license. If you are successful at winning the formal review hearing that suspension is set aside.

However they do have a second chance at suspending your license in criminal court. You can also, during that formal review hearing get testimony from the officers. That testimony is admissible in criminal court and can be a really important tool when contesting the criminal charge of DUI.

For more information on Driver’s License Suspension For DUI, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (239) 263-4384 today.