License Restoration

Many of the people, for whom I do license restoration work, have had their license revoked for inordinately long periods of time, e.g., 10-20 years, etc..

Some have been able to function without licenses, either because they may be “rolling the dice”, and driving when they should not be.  Of course, folks like this are taking them being arrested for “driving while license suspended (DWLS)”.  While this is not the most serious offense presented to a court, it is one that tends to really irritate judges, because they view the person driving on a suspended license, as someone who is disregarding the authority of the law. They take that personally. 

Other folks have been able to function without licenses, because they have supportive friends and family members, were willing to chauffeur them around.  As you may know from personal experience, you can only “go to the well so many times”, meaning that you cannot forever abuse someone’s willingness to help you out. Additionally, some people rely on parents who are aging to the point where they will soon no longer be able to act as your driver.

I can be wrong about this, but one thing that I think I see in many of these really good people, is that even though they are really good people, they beat themselves up, and they are their own worst critics. Perhaps there is something in the past that they feel guilty about, or they feel that this is some type of penance that has to be paid.

My own view is that it is never your job to beat yourself up; is somebody else’s job to do that, and they will. That being the case, you might as well pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and give me a call. I will help you get your Michigan drivers license restored.

Give Jon Frank a call at (586) 727-1900, or email at jon@jonfranklaw.com

Michigan is a big place, and while driving is a considered by law to be a privilege, we all know that as a practical matter, it is an absolute necessity around our great State of Michigan.

My home and office used to be in suburban Detroit’s Oakland County. However, since 2011, I have lived and worked in Richmond MI, near the border of far northern Macomb and St. Clair Counties; it is a rural area of the Southeastern part of our State. In places like Richmond, with the great distances between homes and businesses, the need for a car is obvious. However, even in places like Detroit and Oakland County, public transportation is difficult and unreliable, where it exists at all.

THE BOTTOM LINE: You need a vehicle, which means you need a valid drivers’ license.

When your drivers’ license has been revoked, and your mobility is on the line, your safety and your ability to work is also on the line. You can certainly represent yourself before the Secretary of State’s Office, but as is often the case in legal matters, you will likely do better with experienced counsel.

My drivers license restoration practice USED TO BE LIMITED TO SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN, BUT I NOW HANDLE MATTERS THROUGHOUT THE STATE.

AGAIN, I NOW HANDLE LICENSE RESTORATION MATTERS THROUGHOUT MICHIGAN.

When Covid hit, the Secretary of State’s Office, like a lot of businesses, courts and governmental agencies, went to a pure videoconference platform. Before Covid, hearings were also conducted by videoconference, but you had to appear at a Secretary of State branch office, to access the video.

Now it is done by “Microsoft Teams”, which is just Microsoft’s version of Zoom. Because everything is now done by pure videoconference links, I can work wherever there is a Michigan resident who needs my help, from Marquette to Monroe, from Alpena to Allegan, Detroit to Dowogiac, Lansing to Lake Tahquamenon, and everywhere in between!

There is a lot of leg work involved in properly handling a Michigan drivers’ license restoration matter. Let attorney Jon  Frank handle it all for you – anywhere in Michigan

My work in the area of license restoration, falls into a number of categories:

1. Folks who have had more than one DUI/OWI, and have had their licenses suspended for some period of time; and

2. Folks who got their licenses restored enough to allow them to drive, but now want to get the mandatory breath alcohol interlock device removed from their vehicles.

3. “Allegations” of “tampering” or “circumvention” electronically made by the interlock device, most often because the devices wear down vehicle batteries

The process is mostly the same, except that in connection with the interlock cases, I need to obtain the interlock records from the vendor.

In cases where the interlock machine “accuses” you of tampering with it, we need to collect evidence that you did no such thing.

Also, under MCLA §257.320, the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office requires driver re-examinations in the following situations, after which driving privileges are denied:

1. Driver accumulates 12 or more points on driving record, within a two year period of time;

2. Driver has medical or other conditions rendering him/her potentially unable to safely operate a motor vehicle;

3. Driver has been involved in accidents resulting in fatalities;

4. Driver has violated restrictions granted on license; or

5. Driver has been involved in 3 or more “at fault” crashes within a two year period of time

In the context of a new driver, whose license is automatically deemed probationary, under MCLA §257.310d, the following indicates unsafe driving behaviors to the Secretary of State:

• Incurring a 4-point driving offense;

• Incurring three traffic offenses; or

• Incurring 6 or more total points

Despite the stricter regulations placed on new drivers, an attorney may still be able to help restore a new drivers license much sooner than originally mandated.

Fill out form BDVR-153, which you can find here, and send it in with the required $11.00 fee, and you should get it in about 2-3 weeks. The form has an option for email response by the Secretary of State, but you will need to send in the form, with your payment first.

It ain’t easy. In fact, even the Secretary of State’s Office knows that their driving history form is confusing, because they even created a pamphlet, instructing folks on how to interpret the driving history forms. Here it is.

I find that if I put everything into a chart, organized chronologically by the date of violations/events, etc, I wind up having a pretty good idea what is going on with a client’s driving history.

Call me if you have any questions on how to interpret it, or what it means for your rights, in a criminal, traffic ticket or other setting.

The Michigan Secretary of State’s Office requires driver re-examinations in the following situations, after which driving privileges are denied:

1. Driver accumulates 12 or more points on driving record, within a two year period of time;

2. Driver has medical or other conditions rendering him/her potentially unable to safely operate a motor vehicle;

3. Driver has been involved in accidents resulting in fatalities;

4. Driver has violated restrictions granted on license; or

5. Driver has been involved in 3 or more “at fault” crashes within a two year period of time

If you’ve had your license suspended for any of the above reasons, your suspension is not permanent and with help from a lawyer, you could be back on the road sooner than you thought.

There are three main tasks that need to be undertaken, in connection with a license restoration/interlock removal process:

1. The application;
2. Obtaining letters of support, vouching for your sobriety
3. Substance abuse evaluation/12-panel drug screen

Most lawyers will help you fill out the application, or at least they should. I know I do.

I will interview you, using the Secretary of State form, and pointing out to you some of the psychology behind the questions posed on the form.

For example, when they ask you, “Do you intend to use drugs/alcohol in the future?”, don’t you think they are smart enough to expect you to say “No”.

What they are really asking is “What makes your promise to not drink, any better than the 50,000 other such similar responses we get every year?” Why should we believe you, when you tell us you are never going to drink again?

The substance abuse evaluation/12 panel drug screen is something that you will have to get on your own. I can refer you to some of the providers who have helped out past clients, but since you must do that with someone other than me, my role in this part of the process will be limited. I will help you through it, however, as much as I can.

By the time of our first meeting, you will have given me a list of between 4-7 individuals, who can vouch for your sobriety over the past two years.

These “Community Support Letters” are perhaps the single biggest imposition on the client (i.e., you), during the Application process. It is embarrassing, mortifying, and it is often enormously difficult to get
cooperation from “the right people”. Most lawyers who do this kind of work, impose this onerous task on the clients. I do not. I TAKE ON THIS JOB FOR YOU; after all, I view it as my job to put your overall package in the best light that I can, for you.

As part of this effort, I have developed a form, by which I directly communicate the Secretary of State’s Office specific requests for information, from those persons whom you identify; this is reserved for clients of my firm.  It will all be by mail, and you will receive a copy of my communication to them, once it goes out the door. That way, you will see what is going on, and when it is going (by the way, I do that in all aspects of my practice). This makes it easier for the client (i.e., you), and candidly, easier for the people you are asking to help you in this situation. By the way, the people from whom you seek this type of support, must have an opportunity to see you with enough frequency, to know that you are sober.

In these situations, indeed, in any situation in which a witness is needed in a court setting, not all witnesses are created equal. Some have more influence, by virtue of their relationship you, or by virtue of their status. For example:

 1. Ex-spouses/ex-significant others: 

Many times when an intimate relationship breaks up, the two parties in their relationship part with acrimony and noncommunication. However, when in ex-spouse/ex-significant other is willing to vouch for your sobriety, a letter like that will make a hearing officer take notice.  A letter of support from such a person is not absolutely necessary, and indeed may be a bad idea, where there is an ongoing child custody dispute, or some other dynamic, that makes a request for help inappropriate.

2. Employers/supervisors/supervising union officials (business agents, e.g.,)

Naturally, it is very difficult to approach such people, and he asked them to vouch for your sobriety. Indeed, by doing so, you might be putting your job in jeopardy. I do not want to do that, and if asking your employer/supervisor for a letter of support, would put your job in jeopardy, I will tell you right now, not to do it.  Again, however, if someone in this category is willing to step up and sign such a letter, it is often quite influential.

3. Police officers/law enforcement

Police officers and other law enforcement officials, rightly or wrongly, bring a certain weight with their letters of support. If you know such a person socially, again, someone who would have  an opportunity to see that you are sober at social occasions, this would be a good person to get a letter of support from.

4. Pastors/clergy

Like police officers clergymen/women bring a certain weight with their letters of support. If you know such a person socially, again, someone who would have an opportunity to see that you are sober and social occasions, this would be a good person to get a letter of support from.

Additional Comments:

Whoever provides you with a letter of support, will have to do so by signing the letter in front of a notary. This makes an already embarrassing and mortifying situation even all the more difficult. If your “supporters” are anywhere near my office in Richmond, they are welcome to come by my office, and to have their letter notarized here.

Many of my clients, now sober, no longer have the social circle they used to, when drinking, or drug use were a central part of their time together. Oftentimes, these people will only have family members to look to. If that is the truth of the matter, then that is the truth of the matter and we will proceed on the basis of those letters of support we can get from whoever is available.

Other Evidence

Sometimes there will be other evidence that can be quite influential in supporting your application; this is where you and I will put our creative minds together, to come up with persuasive evidence, that the Secretary of State’s Office should give you partial or restricted driving privileges. That evidence can consist of just about anything; here are some examples of things I have used in the past:

Copies of AA attendance achievement coins

Copies of voluntarily assumed mobile sobriety detection records (in addition to the required drug screen);

Copies of certificates of achievement in other fields of endeavor that strongly suggest sobriety (graduation certificates, licensing documentation, certification of status as a contractor, etc)

Assembly of Package & Upload to SOS

Once everything is in, I assemble it into a package, and I upload it to the Michigan Secretary of State “Driver Appeal Integrated System” (DAIS), or “Dashboard”. The Secretary of State prefers to receive these applications for whole/partial license restoration, via the dashboard, which will require a username/password.

You can create one for yourself at the “MI Login for Business” website, if you intend to do this yourself. Once you have logged in, find your way to the “MDOS Driver Appeal Integrated System”, hit the “launch service” button, and you are in. if you have not created a hearing for yourself, hit that button, and follow the prompts.

Once I have uploaded all of the documentation the Secretary of State’s Office needs to grant your application, I make sure that it is transmitted to the SOS. I then make a hard copy of all of these documents, and I send them to you, so that you have a copy of everything submitted to the SOS, so that you can be as well prepared as possible for the hearing.

Normally, within 10 days or so, we get notified of a hearing date. Even though you will be getting notified separately of this date by the SOS, I will notify you as well. I do this for record-keeping purposes, and as part of my overall policy in ALL CASES I HANDLE FOR CLIENTS, NO MATTER THE TYPE OF CASE IT IS, to keep my clients informed.

In the 7-10 days before the hearing, I will have a practice preparation meeting with you, via Microsoft Teams, the same videoconference platform used by the SOS to conduct these hearings. We will go over the procedure, the paperwork and issues in our case, and issues that are unique to hearings conducted by videoconference. And because we will be doing our practice session by Teams, we will get some practice in on that, too!

Make sure you have the Teams app loaded on whatever device you intend to use as a camera/microphone, during the hearing.

I will also make sure, by this time, that you have a link to the MI Secretary of State Office of Hearings & Administrative Oversight website, so you can log into the hearing room maintained for your specific hearing officer. Here is a copy of the link:

https://www.michigan.gov/sos/license-id/license-restoration/ohao-hearing-ms-teams-link

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES log into the waiting rooms of either your Hearing Officer, or any other Hearing Officer before the hearing date. If you do, you may succeed only in alienating your Hearing Officer, and making it less likely that they will rule in your favor.

Day of Hearing

We conduct the hearing. You answer all of the Hearing Officer’s questions clearly and truthfully. You can assume that the Hearing Officer knows everything about you, because they often do. I will likely have some closing remarks in summary, and we will then end the hearing.

Make sure that you are out of the hearing, by using the Teams program to exit. I will also call you immediately after the hearing is finished, to make sure that you are out of the hearing.

So you prepared for your hearing….and you prepared, and prepared, and prepared….and you still lost.  Do not beat yourself up, because you are in some pretty good company, including every License Restoration lawyer, whose website you have reviewed.  Yes, that includes me.[1]

However, how do you know whether you have a decent case for appeal to the Circuit Court?

In short, if there is any evidence, that supports the Hearing Officer’s ruling against you, the suspension will likely be upheld in the Circuit Court.  If, as sometimes happens, you get a Hearing Officer who seems to have a bit of “an attitude”, and issues a ruling that seems arbitrary and capricious (think: coin flip), you may have suffered a bad ruling for no reason.  Rulings made on the basis of such arbitrary and capricious bases, are subject to being overturned in the Circuit Court, under MCLA §257.323(4)(a).

In these cases, appeals make a lot of sense.

It may also make sense to appeal a ruling seemingly based on at least miniscule evidence, capitalized upon by a biased Hearing Officer.  Lawyers differ in their opinions on this subject, but MCLA §257.323 does permit a Circuit Court, hearing a license restoration matter on appeal, to consider the grant of a restricted license.

However strong your case is, on appeal to the Circuit Court, you need to be mindful of the deadlines.

MCLA §257.323(1) allows an appellant 63 days from the date a determination is made, within which to appeal an adverse ruling.  That 63-day period of time starts on the date of the Hearing Officer’s Order, and not on the date it was transmitted to the applicant (you), or to the applicant’s attorney (me). 

I recently represented a client at an implied consent hearing; UNWISELY, he refused the police officer’s request for a breath or blood alcohol test at the police station.  The police went and got a subpoena for the blood draw, and they got the blood they wanted for testing, in any event.  Meanwhile, my client was stuck with this implied consent issue.

I requested a hearing within 14 days, extending the time my client was legally able to drive.  Ultimately, a hearing was held, and unfortunately, the Hearing Officer ruled against my client, suspending his license to drive, for a year.  The ruling was handed down on May 10^th, but it was not uploaded by the Secretary of State’s Office for transmittal to me, until three days later, May 13^th.  Too bad.  The 63 days started on May 10^th, and not May 13^th.

Worse still, much of the 63-day period of time is chewed up by the time it takes to get a transcript of the Secretary of State hearing, a requirement for the appeal.  Attached is a form letter sent by the Secretary of State’s Office, where transcripts are requested.  As you can see for yourself, 50 of the 63 (or fewer) days are consumed by the time the Secretary of State’s Office itself takes, to generate a response.

The appeal merely consists of a hearing before a Circuit Court judge, in whatever county you live in (or where you lived last in MI, if you no longer live in MI). Our appeal paperwork will be in front of the judge, as will opposition paperwork from the Secretary of State, who will be represented either by an Attorney General’s office Assistant Attorney, or in the rural counties, by a local prosecutor. Once the hearing is conducted, we will know either at the hearing, or soon after, what the court’s ruling will be (to either give you a whole/partial driving privilege, or not).

Appealing From Adverse Rulings in The Circuit Court

This rarely, if ever, makes any sense. It will often take 12-18 months for the Michigan Court of Appeals to give us a hearing. By that time, you could start out a new Secretary of State proceeding, with greater assurance of success (after all, an appeal to the Court of Appeals, might itself be denied).

In short, whatever the merits of your appeal, if you want to go forward with an appeal, you will need to call me as soon as possible, to get the process going… properly.  Call Jon Frank at (586) 727-1900, or email me at jon@jonfranklaw.com.

[1] Any lawyer who tells you they never lose, doesn’t try enough of these matters.  What is more, any lawyer who promises you, or guarantees you an outcome, is probably not being truthful with you.  We can give you the benefit of our experience, we can tell you what the odds are, and how to increase the odds in your favor, but nobody can truthfully – or ethically – guarantee an outcome.

When you obtain your license privileges back, following a long period of suspension/revocation, you are not really getting them back in full.  You get to drive again, but under MCLA §257.625k(1)(c), any car you drive, must be equipped with a breath alcohol interlock device, that monitors your breath alcohol, while you are driving (with video confirmation that it is you testing), and actually, before you can turn your car on.

The Secretary of State’s Office has a list of approved vendors, and a full discussion of procedures it wants interlock users to follow. 

Rather than re-hash what the Secretary of State’s Office sets forth in its form approval of drivers license restoration, I am attaching a copy of an actual order, with the name of my client redacted out, for obvious privacy reasons.  In the attached form order from the Secretary of State’s Office, you will find discussion of the following:

1. Procedures for getting the interlock (aka “BAIID”, or Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device) installed and approved;

2. Its characterization of major and minor violations;

3. A minimum one year of driving with the BAIID installed;

4. Anti-tampering rules;

5. Proper interlock usage;

6. Identification of interlock providers in the State of Michigan;

7. Secretary of State’s Office hearing procedures.

There are a lot of moving parts here, and you are going to need guidance from experienced legal counsel.  Give Jon Frank a call at (586) 727-1900, or email at jon@jonfranklaw.com.

Take very seriously, the orders/advice of the Secretary of State’s Office, as contained in the form order, that I have attached to this website. The Hearing Officer sure will.

If your machine “accuses you” of violating (i.e., saying that you consumed alcohol), go immediately to a local police station, and submit to a preliminary breath test (PBT), and get a receipt, documenting the test, and most importantly, the date of
the test. I have had clients who used mouthwash, hand sanitizer, or cologne, and found that one vendor’s machine or another, tripped them up.

Again, take this seriously, especially if you did not violate.

It depends. (I know, this answer sounds like a “typical lawyer answer”, doesn’t it?)

It depends on a number of factors. First, have you been attending AA so far? If not, then starting now may not be all that worthwhile. Why?

Because if you have not been attending AA, and yet you have maintained your sobriety, then you obviously do not need AA, to maintain your sobriety. Starting AA will be pointless, it will not fool the hearing officer, and it simply is not advisable.

THERE IS AN EXCEPTION TO THIS ADVICE, WHERE THE SUBSTANCE USE EVALUATOR YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO SIT DOWN WITH… WHERE THAT EVALUATOR CONDITIONS THE GRANT OF YOUR LICENSE ON ATTENDANCE IN AA

If that occurs, i.e., if the Evaluator says that you should attend AA meetings, then go to them, no matter how much you do not think you need them.

Whether you have been going to AA meetings or not, you may have come to your own decision that you want to pursue AA, or some other 12-Step program. If you have great. Some of my clients absolutely swear by their AA, or other 12-Step attendance/participation.

I believe in suggesting AA to clients where I think it will do them some good in their legal matter, and perhaps some good for them personally. Ultimately, the decision to attend AA, is yours and yours alone.

A couple of thoughts for those who are attending AA:

1. I have noticed lately, that Hearing Officer’s have been playing what I consider a “gotcha” game with license restoration applicants, asking if they know, e.g., the First Step, or the Fourth Step, and “what it means to them”, or “how they implement this in their daily lives. Just the same, I am linking to a copy of the Twelve Steps, that I keep around my office; “forewarned is forearmed”.

I believe they are trying to trip up those who attend Alcoholics Anonymous for appearance’s sake. I also think it cheapens the process of both license restoration, and helping folks return to sobriety.

That is one reason I do not suggest AA for folks who are not committed to attending meetings and working
with an AA sponsor. Again, the decision to attend has to come from deep within you.

2. Secondly, AA can be a very uncomfortable experience. Some find it extraordinarily depressing, some find it a forum for people to just sit around and talk about how much they used to drink, how much they want to drink, and how much they drink now.

As a result, those who are dedicated to going to AA meetings should find one or more meetings that they feel
comfortable going to, at least once/week. Here is a link to all AA meetings in Southeastern Michigan.

That meeting may be full of people just like you (gender, ethnicity, profession/employment, etc), or they may
be completely different from you. You may like being with other AA members just like you, or you may like
the idea of going to a meeting where folks are so different from you, that you are not likely to see them, in
your personal life. Again, that decision is yours.

3. Finally, if you do decide to go, and even if you like going, you might as well be given credit for going, in the context of your license restoration matter, or an ongoing criminal matter. There are sign-in sheets, and I am linking here, to a copy of the sign-in sheets recognized by Hearing Officer’s and judges, throughout our area here in SE Michigan.

It’s a terrible question to ask, and it usually is posed by a Hearing Officer who has no training whatsoever in alcoholism, or addiction medicine.

It is a horrible question to have to process, because it is loaded with judgment, and is often posed by people who might be drinking under the same circumstances that you did, that led to your DUI violations (drinking while watching football or hockey; drinking at a social occasion, or funeral, etc).

Some of us know, either directly or indirectly, people who truly have been alcoholics. It is a condition that tragically and unnecessarily endangers and kills people, and tears apart families.

THE HEARING OFFICER DOES NOT CARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE QUESTION, nor will they admit how little right they have to ask you this question. They will ask it anyway, and you will have to answer it.

Short Version

“Yes. I think I may still be an alcoholic, because I cannot have another drink, without having another 10 drinks. Also, for a time, alcohol took over my life. Some people can drink and stop; I am not one of them. That is why I think I am an alcoholic.”

Longer Version: The Thinking of The Hearing Officer

Secretary of State Hearing Officers believe that everyone who comes before them is an alcoholic. If they ask the question, and you answer, “no, I do not think I am an alcoholic”, they will hear denial, no matter how much of an alcoholic you MAY NOT BE according to the medical/psychological professions.

The difference between the professional medical/psychological definitions of alcoholism, and the definitions found in AA are the key to answering this question properly. The professional diagnostic criteria for alcoholism, or as it is more formally known, “alcohol use disorder” (AUD) is the key here.

The professional definition is found in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”, which is called DSM for short; the profession is now up to the fifth full revision, and so we refer to the current Manual, as the DSM-5. Here are just a few of the current criteria:

 Alcohol is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended.

 There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control alcohol use.

 A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain alcohol, use alcohol, or recover from its effects.

 Craving, or a strong desire or urge to use alcohol.

 Recurrent alcohol use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home.

The rest can be found at this link.

Meanwhile, the belief in AA is that “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic”

Just as the DSM-5 is the “Bible” for psychological/medical diagnoses like alcoholism, AA’s “Big Book” is that organization’s “Bible” and compendium of their beliefs. They believe that “no real alcoholic ever recovers control…We are convinced to a man, that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period, we get worse, never better.” (page 51 of 200, Big Book 2^nd Edition)

Incidentally, reading the “Big Book” before your hearing might not be a bad idea. It is a very quick read, even though it is 200 pages. Here is a link to the 2^nd Edition). The “Big Book” is up to its 5^th Edition, and you may/may not want to purchase it. The Hearing Officer will give you some credit for reading it, even if it is an older edition.

Click here to get a FREE copy.