License Restoration Quick Start to Getting back on the Road

The following is a short overview of the driver’s license appeal and clearance process required by Michigan Secretary of State’s Office of Hearing and Administrative Oversight (OHAO).

Michigan driver’s license restoration and clearance appeals are complex. They are decided by Rule 13, of the Michigan Driver License General Rules, which reads:

To even start the license appeal process, you must first be legally eligible.

The Secretary of State rules determining eligibility are very specific, and cannot be shortened or modified, no matter how much you need a license:

1. If your license was revoked for 2 DUI’s within 7 years, you must wait at least 1 full year from the last conviction to be eligible to apply.
2. If your license was revoked for 3 DUIs within 10 years, you must wait at least 5 years from that last conviction to be eligible to apply.

You can file for your hearing up to 6 weeks before your actual eligibility date.

Being able to apply, though, doesn’t mean you’re anywhere near able to win. As I’ll make clear in the following sections, there are things you must be able to prove to have any chance of winning a restoration or clearance case, and the first among them is that you have honestly quit drinking.

Michigan License Reinstatement Documents

To begin, you must undergo a substance use evaluation (often, but incorrectly referred to as a “substance abuse evaluation”).

Accordingly, you must submit a legally adequate and favorable evaluation to have any chance of success in a driver’s license restoration or clearance case.

In addition to the Secretary of State’s request for hearing and SUE form, you must also submit a minimum or 3 (and a maximum of 6) letters of support, also called “testimonial letters.”

Once the completed paperwork is filed with the Secretary of State, a date for your hearing will be set, and your case assigned to one of the OHAO hearing officers.
At the hearing, every hearing officer will ask some of the same core questions – but each on also has his or her own particular areas of interest they’ll explore in order to help them decide whether or not to grant your appeal.
Beyond that, the specific questions asked by each officer will vary, depending on a broad range of factors, like if you are involved in AA, or not.
You need to be thoroughly prepared for all this, and not just for the hearing in general, but also for the particular hearing officer to whom your case is assigned.

During the hearing, you will be asked a lot of questions. Hearings generally last about a half hour, and the decision is usually mailed out several weeks thereafter.
This, in a nutshell is basically how the Michigan driver’s license restoration process works.
If you’re serious about winning your case the first time, and really want to get back on the road, read through the various pages of this website section and the Driver’s License Restoration section of our blog, where I have written and posted hundreds upon hundreds of articles that examine every facet of the license appeal process in detail.
Of course, if you’re looking to win your license back, you want to do that the first time around.
As genuine Michigan driver’s license restoration attorneys, our services come with a first time win guarantee. You simply can’t do any better than that.

My team and I know exactly what to do, and how to do it to get you back on the road. We don’t cut corners to compete with anyone on cost. Instead, we do what’s necessary to win the first time around.
NOBODY can compete with how we do license appeals, nor can anyone match our success, much less guarantee to win, like we do.
When you’re ready to learn more, call our office. My team and I are really friendly people who will be glad to answer your questions, explain things, and even compare notes with anything some other lawyer has told you.
All of our consultations are free, confidential, and done over the phone, right when you call (during normal business hours).
We can be reached Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. (EST), at either 248-971-2250, or 586-465-1980.