License Restoration in Michigan - Where to Begin?
Your License Restoration – Where to Begin?
In order to determine if you are once again safe to drive, the Secretary of State looks for testimony from you through your lawyer regarding your lifestyle and some of the changes you have made. The questions that follow have been asked in one way or another by hearing officers to help evaluate your ability to drive safe and sober. The author will pose the question and follow up with an explanation of the question and what an honest answer would reveal. Please keep in mind that these questions are illustrative only; they may not and indeed, need not be the actual questions asked. However, the questions provide insight into the standards to which you will be held when assessing your ability to once again operate a motor vehicle.
Preliminary Information
You will likely be asked to provide some preliminary information including your name, address, and the like. You will also likely be asked to provide any and all documentation that was not otherwise provided to the hearing officer; such documentation could include any and all “Alcohols Anonymous” verification sheets, toxicology reports that test for use the illicit use of drugs and alcohol, written proof of therapy, as well as reference letters from various people that can legitimately attest to your sobriety. You must make sure that your paperwork is organized and readily accessible to any hearing officer that demands them. It is also wise to make copies of everything you bring to the hearing, as submitted documents are not usually returned.
Obtaining an Occupational Driver's License
After a DUI, you may be struggling to get to work. Your attorney can strive to restore your license only for working privileges.
Many factors can go in to restoring your driver's license after a DUI charge. At a hearing, you will be asked many questions about your life, sobriety, and lifestyle. Browse through the list below to help prepare answers with an attorney.
Do you have an AA sponsor?
Having information like your sponsor's name, phone nuber and address will be important. It's also important to have a regular attendance at meetings with consistency and sustainability.
Are you attempting Sobriety?
Sincere responses to serious questions will help out a lot. What measures have you taken to ensure you do not relapse again? Have you ever attempted to stop drinking in the past?
Have you Ever Used Drugs?
This question is often asked to make sure you are being truthful. Have you made the consistent choice of abstaining from substances that interfere with a clean lifestyle.
Have you ever been incarcerated?
The judge will look to explore your criminal past. Incarceration may have had a positive impact on your decision to maintain sobriety.
Sobriety & Relationships
Your personal relationships may have a great bearing on the outcome of your restoration. Specifically, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, and other influential people are a critical implication into your efforts of remaining sober.
Social Drinking
How comfortable can you be when drinking is brought into your environment? Honest responses include proving you will do what it takes to minimize your exposure to these circumstances.
Drinking Habits
It is important to display a pattern of sobriety and expel any conceptions you are a co-dependent on alcohol. You must maintain a zero-tolerance attitude in relation to alcohol.
Driving History
Your history as a driver can play an important role in the suspension or restoration of your license. Driving while your license was suspended may imply you are not responsible enough o follow the law and have your privileges restored.
Employment Questions
These questions help the officer understand if you've maintained a sober lifestyle or not. Honestly evaluate your Reponses to make sure you are comfortable with the questions.
Occupational (DUI) Driver's License
These are issued to help in maintaining a sustainable lifestyle do to occupational commitments. If qualifications allow, this may be issued for a majority of the suspension.
Prior DUI Charges & BAC Levels
These sometimes serve as a gauge of your progress or lack of progress. It is the seriousness of your sobriety that is the issue. The higher blood alcohol measure, the more likely it is an alcohol issue is present.
Spare Time Events
Showing your bad habits have been replaced by good habits is important. Idle time is red flagged, but finding new hobbies, activities or passions are not. Furthering your well-being is what you must convince the officer of.
When Was Your Last Drink?
Be prepared to provide an honest answer with confidence. While the truth may sometimes be unpleasant, it is sometimes more important to tell the truth. Responses that suggest that your last drink was the precise moment you were last arrested for drunk driving will not seem credible.
A Word about License Hearing Documents
Before going further, please heed a word of caution and a warning: do not even consider the use of fraudulent or altered documents! The use of false or forged AA sheets, for example, is bound to keep you riding a bike for the foreseeable future. In this regard, it is the author's opinion that one must be very prepared for the hearing. A lack of preparation is probably the number one reason people fail at the Restoration hearing. Time and time again clients approach me in utter amazement that, notwithstanding a lengthy period of sobriety, the hearing officer denied the request for licensing. My response usually involves a polite criticism regarding their lack of preparation. The hearing officer is looking for direct and truthful answers to questions that probe a person's past and oftentimes, bring them face to face with the very demons that put them at the hearing in the first place. It may be a humbling experience, but your decision to revisit and mend the past once and for all makes a lasting impression on the very people that have the awesome responsibility of ensuring only sober people regain their right to drive.
License Restoration Success Story:
License Restored in 2 Months … after 11 Years “As soon as I retained Joseph Awad as my attorney my anxiety was cut in half. I put off trying to get my license back for 11 years hoping that the hold would just go away…it doesn't! I have been clean and sober for 3 years, I go to meetings and I take my sobriety very seriously, but that is only half the battle. Within one week of Joe's services and advice it was already worth it. First, we had a long conversation about how the process works, and then we laid out a plan. But like any plan, problems will always come up. It took about two months all together, we spoke on the phone at least twice a week, and had countless emails. He ALWAYS called me back the same day, and my emails were always returned right away. There is no way to do this without CONTINUOUS legal advice, the direction that the secretary of state gives you is not nearly enough. I got my approval letter yesterday and I have never been so relieved, I can't believe it over! And there is no way I could have done it without Joseph Awad.” – MJ, Birmingham, MI