DMV Hearing Attorney – To Help Avoid a License Suspension

If the California DMV suspends your license for DUI, negligent operator points, or any other reason, you can request an administrative DMV hearing to fight to keep your driving privileges. Even if you lose your DMV hearing in a DUI case, you may be able to continue driving with an ignition interlock device (IID) installed in your cars.¹

DMV hearings resemble trials but are harder to win because the state’s burden of proof is so low. However, our experienced criminal law defense attorneys know how to maximize the odds of persuading the DMV hearing officer to let you keep your license.

In this article, our California criminal defense attorneys discuss the different reasons why the DMV may revoke your license, and how we can fight it.

• 1. DUI
• 2. Negligent operator points
• 3. Mental or physical conditions
• 4. Being elderly
• 5. License fraud
• 6. No insurance
• 7. Road rage
• 8. Nevada DUI
• 9. Missing court
• Additional reading

1. DUI

Following a California arrest for drunk driving, drugged driving or vehicular manslaughter, the DMV will seek to suspend your driver’s license – even if the criminal case was just for a misdemeanor. If you live out-of-state, your home state DMV may suspend your license once it learns of your California DUI arrest.

To contest the driver’s license suspension, you have 10 days after your arrest to request a DMV hearing (which in DUI cases are called admin per se hearings, or APSs).² There are many ways to try to show the hearing officer that you were not under the influence, such as:

• you had a medical condition that caused the breath test to return an inaccurately high BAC result, or
• the police officer committed misconduct.

In most cases, you can continue driving with an IID in your car even if the hearing officer finds against you. For a first-time DUI, the IID requirement lasts about four months.³

If you get arrested for an underage DUI charge or a chemical test refusal, the license suspension lasts for at least one year.⁴

2. Negligent operator points

The California DMV imposes points on your driving record for a variety of Vehicle Code violations, including:

• accidents,
• moving violation infractions (traffic tickets), and
• other criminal driving offenses such as reckless driving.

If you rack up four points or more in a year, the DMV can classify you as a “negligent operator” and suspend your license. So once you receive a “notice of suspension” warning letter from the DMV, contact our California DMV lawyers right away.

We can help you secure a negligent operator hearing to fight the suspension. (If the reason for the suspension was a serious accident, the DMV would instead hold a DMV fatality hearing.)⁵

In the event we lose the DMV hearing, we may still be able to secure you a restricted license allowing you to commute to work and school.

You are entitled to a suspension hearing if the DMV revokes your license.

3. Mental or physical conditions

The California DMV can revoke your license for various physical or mental conditions, such as:

• epilepsy,
• blindness,
• Alzheimer’s disease,
• diabetes, or
• any condition that may cause loss of consciousness or impair alertness, reflexes and motor skills.⁶

If your license is threatened, you can request a DMV reexamination hearing (also called a “lack of skill” inquiry). If our DMV hearing lawyers can present testimony or letters from doctors attesting to your driving ability, the hearing officer may be persuaded to allow you to continue driving.⁷

4. Being elderly

The California DMV imposes no “cut off” or maximum age for you to keep your driver’s license. Instead, as discussed above, the DMV revokes your license if it determines that you have lost the mental and physical faculties necessary to follow traffic laws and drive safely – no matter your age.

In addition, the DMV requires senior citizens over 70 to renew their licenses in person at a DMV location. The DMV may also require elderly drivers to submit to a supplemental driving performance evaluation.⁸

If you wish to fight your driver’s license revocation, our DMV hearing lawyers would request a DMV reexamination hearing. Ideally we could present affidavits from health care providers swearing that you are not a road safety risk.

5. License fraud

Driver’s license fraud is using false or forged documents to secure a California driver’s license. This carries a one-year loss of your California driving privileges unless we can win your DMV hearing.⁹

Note that driver’s license fraud also triggers criminal charges for:

• Forgery (PC 470) and
• Burglary (PC 459), if you entered a DMV office with the intent to apply for a driver’s license fraudulently.

Our criminal defense lawyers would represent you both in criminal court and at the DMV. If we are able to get your criminal charges dropped, that could persuade the hearing officer at your DMV hearing to restore your driving privileges.

6. No insurance

If you neglect to renew your liability insurance in California, your insurer will notify the DMV, which will then revoke your driver’s license. Though once you regain insurance, our DMV hearing attorneys can help clear the hold on your license so you can get back on the road.

Note that if you get into a car crash without insurance, the DMV will suspend your license for up to four years. Though you can regain your license after only one year if you obtain SR 22 insurance (which you would then need to maintain for three years).¹⁰

7. Road rage

The California DMV punishes road rage with a suspended license lasting:

• six months for a first offense, and
• one year for a subsequent offense.

Though our lawyers may be able to prevent this suspension by requesting a DMV hearing and showing the hearing officer that the accusations are unfair and unfounded.¹¹

8. Nevada DUI

It is not uncommon for California residents to get arrested in the state of Nevada, especially when visiting Las Vegas or Laughlin. Our Nevada DUI defense law firm practices throughout the state and has provided legal representation to literally thousands of people charged with drunk or drugged driving.

If we can save your driving privileges in Nevada, that may prevent the California DMV from suspending your license.

DUIs open both a criminal case and a DMV case.

9. Missing court

As of 2023, the court will no longer notify the DMV if you miss court. Therefore, the DMV should not suspend your license for it.¹²

Additional resources

If your license was suspended due to a DUI, refer to the following California DMV articles:

• Driving Under the Influence: Age 21 and Older – Overview of how getting arrested for DUI affects your driving privileges.
• Driving Under the Influence (DUI) – Frequently-asked-questions and answers about the DMV consequences of a DUI case.
• Ignition Interlock Device List – Approved Manufacturers & BAIIDS (Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Devices) in California.
• Driver Safety Offices – For drivers seeking administrative hearings or drivers scheduled for departmental re-examinations.
• Licensing Fees – Costs for reinstating your license following a DUI.

Also see our law office’s related article on reinstatement of a driver’s license after getting your license revoked.

Legal References