Michigan Driver's License Holds - Unable to Renew a License From Another State
About half of my Driver's License Restoration Clients reside out-of-state. These people can be divided into 2 categories:
- Those who left Michigan with a Revoked License due to multiple DUI's, and who have been unable to obtain a License outside of Michigan, and
- Those who were able to obtain an out-of-state License but are then unable to renew it due to a subsequently discovered Michigan "hold" on their Driving Record.
The majority of people fall into the first category: those who are unable, right out the gate, to obtain an out-of-state License. This article will focus on that smaller group in the second category: those who were first able to obtain, but were thereafter unable to renew, an out-of-state License.
When someone who has left Michigan, and thereafter obtained a License in a different state contacts me, they often express a sense of frustration, as if there has been some mistake. After all, they had a License in their new state, and they haven't had any Arrests or problems. How can this be? Is there some mistake? Isn't' there something that can quickly be done so that they can renew?
Usually, the source of their difficulty is what's called the National Driving Register. While the details and nuances of it's operation are rather involved, and go beyond the scope of this article, what matters is that it exists, and means a person who has obtained a License in another state, and who has had their driving privileges Revoked in Michigan, will, at some point, be unable to renew that License until they clear Michigan's "hold" on their driving Record. This is like a big, comprehensive national driving Record. To be clear, most people will simply be unable to obtain a License in another state because Michigan's Revocation (seen by that other state as a "hold") will show up right away. Yet in any number of cases, it does not, for some reason, and only catches up with the person later, when they go to renew their out-of-state License.
In terms of how it works, the inability to renew an out-of-state License requires the same "Clearance" that must be obtained before the usual, Revoked because-of-multiple-DUI's driver can obtain a License anywhere. Except for the fact that an out-of-state resident will seek the ability to obtain a License in a state other than Michigan, whereas a Michigan resident will seek Restoration of his or her Michigan Driver's License, the proof required to win such an Appeal is identical.
Continue reading "Michigan Driver's License Holds - Unable to Renew a License From Another State" »
The benefit to me, as a License Restoration Lawyer, is that once someone
When a person has left Michigan without having had their Driver's License
The single best thing I can examine is that Driving Record, like a Doctor will examine a Patient's x-ray before determining what course of action to take. Having examined perhaps thousands of these Records, I can make short work of interpreting the information contained therein. In a matter of a minute or two, I can tell a person if they are
Sometimes, these individuals had a License in another state for a while, and this previously undisclosed "hold" comes up when they try to renew. Most of the time, however, and in large part due to what is know as the
So I want to be clear:
As a general rule, once a person's License has been Revoked in Michigan, they will be unable to secure a License in any other State. This is because the
I think some of the confusion about this stems from a lack of understanding about the
It is not uncommon for me to be contacted by someone who asks something like "Do I really need a Lawyer to do this?" Or, "Can I do this on my own?"







