What Happens to Drivers License After MI DUI Arrest?

Immediately upon your arrest for DUI in Michigan the arresting officer notifies the Secretary of State. This happens when the arresting officer destroys your plastic driver’s license and prepares a DI-177, which is entitled “Breath Blood or Urine Report Michigan Temporary Driving Permit.”  This document becomes your paper license and you will use it to drive until you are convicted or until your case is dismissed.  A DI-177 is only prepared if you agree to take a breath or blood test when asked by the arresting officer.

If you refused to submit to a breath or blood test then the officer will prepare a DI-93, which is entitled “Report of Refusal.” This too becomes your paper license but is only good for 14 days or until after you win your appeal hearing. Because you are not allowed to refuse a breath or blood test your license will be suspended for a year unless your Michigan DUI lawyer demands a hearing within this 14-day period.

Your Driving Record Shows Your DUI Arrest Even Before Conviction

Both the DI-93 and the DI-177 are filed with the State of State (SOS), and your driving record will reflect this fact.  This means that even before you are convicted of DUI Michigan your driving record will reflect that you have been arrested under the suspicion of drunk driving. All of this applies for any kind of intoxicated driving including driving under the influence of marijuana.

Prior to being sentenced a judge may impose some driving related requirements, but will not suspend, revoke, or restrict your driving privileges. You would be advised of these requirements at the arraignment hearing.  For example, Judge Carniak, a Judge in the 52-3 District Court, often imposes, as a condition of bond, that the accused only be allowed to drive a car with a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device, or BAIID. (For more information about this court, see “What to Expect in the 52-3 District Court Rochester Michigan“).

This BAIID requirement will remain in place as a condition of bond, and like all bond requirements, it will end at sentencing.  However, the Judge could continue, as a condition of probation, that you only drive a vehicle equipped with a BAIID.

Typically, once you either plead guilty to an intoxicated driving offense or are found guilty by a judge or jury, the court clerk notifies the SOS, who then checks the master driving record of the offender and sends, via the US mail, notice of the driver license sanction.  This usually happens within about 10 days to 2 weeks after the conviction.

The driver license sanctions are imposed automatically by the SOS and are based totally on the master driving record. They are the same for everyone because they are imposed administratively without any hearing, or what we call “due process.”

Unless your license is revoked, this new document becomes your new paper license.  You will drive on this paper license until your driver license sanctions have expired at which time you will need to pay a $125.00 reinstatement fee to the SOS.

At sentencing, the Judge will be imposing all punitive sanctions, such as possible incarceration, WWAM, fines/costs, treatment requirements, community service, etc.  Beginning with the re-write of the Michigan OWI laws in 1999, all driver license sanctions were removed from the jurisdiction of the judges and given completely to the SOS.

Contact us 24 hours a day at our law firm’s easy to remember toll-free number, 1-877-ALL-MICH or 877-255-6424, for a free criminal case review. The Michigan attorneys near me at Barone Defense Firm travel the entire Great Lakes State, to help citizens in legal trouble in Michigan for alleged criminal law violations.