DMV Hearings

Following an arrest for a DUI, the California DMV requires you to contact them within 10 days of your arrest to schedule a DMV administrative hearing to determine the status of your license. This is required under both State and Federal Due Process laws, namely that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of the law. Therefore, before any suspension or revocation of your license may take place, the DMV must give you an opportunity to argue your position at an administrative hearing.

This DMV hearing is an administrative proceeding conducted in front of a DMV hearing officer, and is completely separate and distinct from any criminal court proceedings on your DUI case. Our attorneys will contact the DMV for you in order to schedule your hearing. We will also place a stay on any suspension of your license. Generally, upon an arrest for a DUI, the police officer will take your CA driver’s license and give you a ‘temporary license’. This license is typically valid for 30 days from the date of your arrest. Our attorneys, however, will ask for a stay of any suspension until we are able to review the police reports in your DUI case and determine if there are any issues involving reasonable or probable cause, driving defenses, blood alcohol content, or unlawful arrests. This stay will remain in effect until after the conclusion of the hearing and a mailing of the ruling.

Once the notice of the ruling is mailed out, there is generally a short window prior any suspension going into effect, if that is the hearing officer’s ruling. On a first-time DUI, the suspension is typically a four-month suspension that is converted to a 30-day hard suspension, with the balance being a restriction on your driving privilege if you submit proof of enrollment into a drinking-driver class, provide an SR-22 from your insurance, and pay a reissuance fee to the DMV. We will walk you through any and all steps you will need to take in order to restore your license completely. A second-time DUI, on the other hand, typically carries with it a one-year suspension on your driving privilege, as does a refusal.

In addition to any action taken by the DMV on your license after the DMV administrative hearing, the court may take action on your license. Legally, each of these actions is independent of one another, meaning that two separate suspensions may be imposed on your privilege to drive. Our Murrieta DUI attorneys have experience with both DMV hearings as well as defending your DUI case in court. We will be able to contact the DMV for you and conduct your administrative hearing, as well as appear in court for you, so you don’t have to be present in a stressful courtroom setting. At the Law Offices of Parwana Anwar, PLC, we will conduct your DUI case with these priorities in mind: Either to have your license restored with no suspension or fight to have just one suspension placed on your license concurrently.

If you have been arrested for DUI, contact the Law Offices of Parwana Anwar, PLC immediately. Our attorneys will handle your DMV hearing and court case from start to finish, keeping your informed of every step along the way.