Articles Posted in Driver’s License Restoration – Out of State Issues

One of the best parts of my job as a Michigan driver’s license restoration lawyer is actually winning licenses back for people. As much as I have written about how my team and I guarantee to win every case we take, and why we can do that, I want this article to shift the focus to how awesome it is to actually be the person, and be with the person, who wins.

Over the course of my years, I have been rewarded with a heartfelt “thank you” countless times. For everything we do, nothing beats the satisfaction of actually helping someone who genuinely deserves to be able to drive again win back a valid license. I feel good about my driver’s license restoration work. I help honest, sober people get back on the road, not risky drinkers.

The simple truth is that the work that most lawyers do is miserable. Almost nobody comes into a lawyer’s office on a roll. This is certainly true for anyone facing a DUI or criminal charge. Although I have never handled a divorce case, I’d be hard-pressed to imagine a situation much more unpleasant than that.

I am the original Michigan driver’s license restoration lawyer. Over the last several years, more and more “McLicense” lawyers have popped up, trying to market themselves in this field by doing things like using some version of the words “driver’s license restoration” or  “driver’s license restoration lawyer” in their website names to hawk their services on google ads. And while these tactics might have some value, the fact is that I was winning license appeals nearly 30 years ago, and was writing blog articles about how I do that more than 10 years ago, before many of these attorneys were even admitted to the bar, or had ever handled their first Secretary of State case.

I’ve had a guarantee to win every case I take longer than most of these websites has been around. Beyond me, there is a very small circle of bona-fide license appeal lawyers scattered across the state, all of whom have been practicing for 20 years or more. Any one of us in this little group has forgotten more than all these Johnny-come-lately, copy-cat operations will ever know about license restorations. Although these newbies try and make it look like license reinstatement issues are the focus of their practice, as I noted, there are rather few of us who truly concentrate in this field. Unlike most of my other “informational” articles, this one will be a piece of shameless self-promotion, so hold on…

I am uniquely qualified to help you win your driver’s license restoration or clearance appeal because beyond just being a lawyer, I also have a formal, university post-graduate background in addiction studies. This clinical training enables me to really understand the various processes of recovery, and that, in turn, enables me to present my cases so that I can guarantee to win every one I take. For example, the majority of my clients are NOT in AA, and many have never even been to a single meeting, but that couldn’t matter less, because they all do win. It kills me that some lawyers actually misinform people they need to go to AA in order to win their license back…

Certain conditions must be met in order to win a Michigan driver’s license restoration or clearance case. The 2 most important of these are, first, that a person proves he or she has not had a drink for a “sufficient” period of time, and second, that he or she is a safe bet to never drink again. In my role as a Michigan driver’s license restoration lawyer, I sometimes encounter a few people who seem determined to have conflict with everyone and everything they meet. The State of Michigan has a very specific system in place to decide license appeal cases, and it doesn’t bend for anyone. In this article, I want to make clear that, unlike ordering a hamburger, when it comes to winning your license back, you can’t just have it your way.

In order to win, a license appeal case must comply with the rules established by the Secretary of State. If it was up to me, there are lots of things I would change about the license appeal system, but it’s not. Instead, it is what it is, and not what you, me or anyone else wants it to be. In order to win, I have to work squarely within the state’s guidelines. Most people get this, but it can be a problem for those who aren’t particularly good at following rules.

The state, for its part, doesn’t “care” if someone ever drives again. It is important to understand that among those people whose driver’s licenses are revoked for multiple DUI’s, only a minority of them really do quit drinking for good, and that is the absolute key to winning a license appeal. The license restoration process, therefore, is really about screening these people out from the larger group. At the end of the day, a person either meets the standards set by the state or not.

One reality that we confront just about daily, as a Michigan driver’s license restoration practice, is that plenty of the people who become our clients have previously tried to win their license back, without a lawyer, and then lost. I deal with the fallout from unsuccessful DIY cases almost every day. Whatever else, these people didn’t lose because things were done right. In this article, I want to explain a few things about some of the potential pitfalls that a person, and even a lawyer without considerable experience in this field, may encounter in trying a license appeal.

Although I don’t think it’s a good idea to wing it in this kind of endeavor on your own, I want to be perfectly clear, up front, that, for the most part, anyone interested in trying a “do-it-yourself” license restoration or clearance case should give it a shot. In other words, I’m not using this article as any kind of scare tactic to frighten someone out of attempting it. On the contrary, I believe that if you want to give this a try, then by all means, go for it. Then, call me later.

The simple truth is that it’s far easier for me to speak with someone who has previously tried on his or her own and lost, than it is for me to waste my time trying to convince him or her not to do so in the first place. The reason is simple; after someone tries and loses, they’ll have a much better appreciation for the depth of what they don’t understand about the process. This becomes clear as people read the order denying their case and get a real sense of things, like how important the evidence is, and that there is far more to winning these cases than they had ever thought.

In part 1 of this article, I began explaining why someone who has a Michigan hold on his or her driving record, but doesn’t live here, should come back to get it cleared. The Secretary of State requires an accurate and thorough substance use evaluation, and the best way to get one is by seeing an evaluator with extensive experience doing them for Michigan license appeals, something that simply cannot be found in a therapist who practices in another state. Here, in part 2, I will continue my examination of how this “quality control” applies to the letters of support, the preparation for a live hearing, and then the hearing itself. It is attention to these details that enables me, as Michigan driver’s license restoration lawyer, to guarantee to win every case I take.

The control I exercise over a case is a direct result of starting out by meeting with the client in person, and getting to know him or her, and the details of his or her recovery story. Everyone who is sober has a recovery story. Whatever else, nobody decides to quit drinking because it’s working out so well. Usually, people stop drinking long after they otherwise should have, a fact that usually becomes clear in hindsight. An important part of my job is to help bring that recovery story to life, so that it gets translated and conveyed properly within the evidence we submit.

Beyond the evaluation, another key part of that evidence are the letters of support. The Secretary of state requires a minimum of 3 such testimonial letters (we require 4 in my office), and that’s part of what we go over at that initial, 3-hour meeting. We take the time to explain to the client how the letters should be done, and what kinds of things should and should not be included within them. In the real world, there is probably no single thing responsible for as many denials in license appeal cases as inadequate letters of support. That is a completely avoidable mistake.

This will be a 2-part article for people who live out of state and can’t get or renew a driver’s license there because of a Michigan hold on their driving record. Most (but not all) of the people who fall into this category previously had a Michigan driver’s license that was revoked for multiple DUI’s. Less often, some folks affected by this may have never had a Michigan license, but instead picked up a 2nd or subsequent offense here, which cause the revocation of their driving privileges within this state that, in turn, became a “hold” on their license.

No matter what the backstory, the bottom line is that there are a lot of people who don’t live here but can’t drive because of a Michigan hold on their driving record. The fix for this problem is called a “clearance,” which is a release of that hold. Clearances often get lumped into the broader “driver’s license restoration” category, because getting a clearance requires submitting the same evidence that one would file in a driver’s license restoration case. In addition, the appeal process is similar, and if done properly, is actually identical. We’ll get to that soon.

There are 2 key differences between a straight-up driver’s license restoration and a clearance, however, beginning with the fact that only a Michigan resident can “restore” his or her license. No state can issue a driver’s license to a non-resident. In other words, a person must declare residency in a particular state in order to be eligible for a license there. Thus, anyone who no longer lives (or never did live) in Michigan can only obtain a clearance of the hold on his or her driving record so that he or she can go to the DMV in their new state and then get a license.

In my capacity as a Michigan driver’s license restoration lawyer, I attend a lot of license appeal hearings. In the span of a single year, I will take care of more driver’s license restoration cases (somewhere between 200 to 300) than 99% of other lawyers will ever handle in their entire careers. In fact, going to license appeal hearings is the single biggest source of the miles I put on my vehicle, but there is no better way to win any kind of license or interlock case than by holding a live, in-person hearing.

On any given day, I may have to make the trip to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office of Hearings and Appeals, in Livonia, where these matters are heard, from my office, nearly an hour away, or from some court that’s even farther still. Despite the availability of a much more convenient “video hearing” option in many of my cases (one of the video locations is less than 5 minutes from my office), I would NEVER consider it in a license restoration case. In this article, I will explain why you should always appear for a live, in-person hearing.

The value of “showing up” also applies to anyone who lives out-of-state and needs a clearance of a Michigan hold on his or her driving record. The state allows what is called an “administrative review,” which is an appeal-by-mail that permits a person who no longer lives in Michigan and is trying to get a license in another state to submit the required appeal documents and have the case decided without a hearing. This is an overwhelmingly losing proposition because 3 out of every 4 such cases lose.

As a Michigan driver’s license restoration lawyer, I field multiple inquires every day from people interested in getting back on the road. The whole idea of being able to win back one’s driver’s license involves several considerations beyond just being legally able (eligible) to plow ahead and file an appeal. In this article, I want to briefly examine them. We’ll start with situations where a person cannot proceed, move next to those where the ability to successfully do so becomes a definite “maybe,” and then move on to what a person needs to move forward and actually win.

I need to explain myself a little bit, first. I earn my living doing license appeals and handling DUI cases. Whenever I take a driver’s license restoration appeal, I guarantee to win it. I’m in business to make money, but my guarantee also means that I put my money where my mouth is. While it’s obviously NOT in my financial interest to turn away any potential client, having a guarantee also means it’s not worth my while to undertake a case unless I know I can succeed. When someone hires me, they’ll only pay me once to get back on the road. This means I know, because I have to know, everything about what separates the “yes” cases from the “maybe” cases from the “no” cases.

The first and most important thing about getting your license back is that you must be eligible. I get all kinds of compelling emails from people, some of whom pour their hearts into long explanations about how much they need to drive, but who are simply not eligible to move forward. When your license is revoked for multiple DUI’s by the Secretary or State, you are completely ineligible to appeal for a minimum”period of either 1 year (for 2 convictions within 7 years) or 5 years (for 3 DUI’s within 10 years). Until that time period has run, there is no workaround, and nothing that can be done to get a person any kind of license in the meantime. A lot of people don’t quite get this…