Can you really not drive for 10 years? How can I drive during this time?

Can you really not drive for 10 years? How can I drive during this time?

by Cameron CooperCategories Your Rights

I recently answered this question on a public forum where people ask lawyers questions. I also answer this question for callers once per week.

You can lose your license for 10 years in Missouri if you get convicted of DWI, DUID, or BAC in Missouri or many other states three times in your life. To be clear, any combination of the three conviction types, totaling three received in a lifetime, will result in Missouri denying you a driver’s license for 10 years.

You can seek what is called a “hardship license”, or to be technical and use the name in the Missouri statutes, a “limited driving privilege,” from a circuit court in Missouri if you file and pursue the correct type of case, and you are not ineligible.

Before I joined the DOR in 2013, the law was that, if you had a 10-year denial, you had to do a “hard walk” for 3 years before you could be eligible for a hardship. That hard walk was done away with before I got there. Now, as then, a person is eligible for LDP from “day zero” of such a denial (keep in mind that there are many eligibility requirements, but waiting 3 years is no longer among them).

At DOR, I dealt with dozens of open LDP cases at a time, and played my part at the hearings at a rate of about 10 per month. Of all the cases I handled, I only saw 2 unrepresented people successfully get their case on the dockets and before a judge. However, because neither I nor the judge could advise these people of what the law means, or what they should do next, they never actually had a hearing, and thus never got their LDPs.

And that is a perfect losing record for the unrepresented.

I know how to screen my clients for eligibility (so as not to waste their time and money), and how to get them a hearing before the judge as quickly as anyone (so as not to waste their time and money). Lawyers have a bad reputation for wasting clients’ time and money. Because I know exactly how to pursue these LDP cases, I can help people and and get them on the road as soon as possible.

Contact me to see if we should file your hardship case.

I also discuss the reinstatement process in another post, and give a few thoughts on getting ready for an LDP or reinstatement on this site.


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