Home » DUI / Drunk Driving » Administrative Suspension

Administrative Suspension

After a DUI arrest, the officer will take your license and hand you a notice that your license will be suspended on an administrative basis. You then have 10 days to demand a formal review hearing to contest the administrative suspension so that it can be invalidated and forever removed from your driving record. The demand for a formal review hearing is made at the Bureau of Administrative Reviews Office in Broward County located in Lauderdale Lakes.

Alternatively, under a new procedure designed to encourage first offenders to waive all their rights, you can stipulated to the suspension and waive all of your rights to a formal review hearing. If you do so, the notation of the administrative suspension will remain on your driving record for the next 75 years. The penalties for a second administrative suspension will be much more serious (even if your DUI case is reduced to reckless driving or you otherwise avoid a DUI conviction).

Florida Statute Section 322.2615 and 322.64 authorize the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles upon the request of the driver to conduct formal and informal reviews for the purpose of sustaining, amending or invalidating administrative suspensions and disqualifications. The decisions of the department shall not be considered in any trial for DUI nor should any written statement submitted by a person in his request for review be admissible into evidence against him in any such trial. The disposition of any related criminal proceedings shall not affect a suspension/disqualification.

Length of the Administrative Suspension in Florida

The length of the suspension will depend on whether you submitted to testing or refused. It also depends on the number of prior suspensions on your Florida driving record. 

• First DUI Administrative Suspension
• Breath or Blood Test at .08 or over – 6 months with a 30 day hard suspension.
• Refusal – 12 months with a 90 day hard suspension.

• Second DUI Administrative Suspension
• Breath Test – 12 month suspension with a 30 day hard suspension.
• Refused (with no prior refusal) – 12 month suspension with a 90 day hard suspension.
• Refused (with a prior refusal) 18 month suspension with an 18 month hard suspension.

• Third or Subsequent Administrative Suspension
• Breath Test – 12 month suspension with a 12 month hard suspension.
• Refused (with no prior refusals) – 12 month suspension with a 12 month hard suspension.
• Refused (with a prior refusal) – 18 month suspension with an 18 month hard suspension.

Additional Resources

Florida DUI Administrative Suspension Law – Visit the official website of the Florida DHSMV to find a summary discussing Florida law for administrative suspensions after a DUI, DUI felony conviction, manslaughter and vehicular homicide. Find the driver license revocation periods for a first conviction for DUI or a more serious offense such as DUI with serious bodily injury. Learn more about suspensions for an alcohol related conviction or disqualification for a holder of a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) and business purpose only / employment purposes only reinstatement. Also read about the instances when a hardship permit is prohibited. 

Office Locations for the Bureau of Administrative Reviews – Visit the website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) to find a list of the address and phone numbers for the various Bureau of Reviews Offices located throughout Florida. Also find the sample form for the “Application for Hardship Driver’s License” with the Bureau of Administrative Reviews.

Finding a DUI Attorney for an Administrative Suspension in Broward County, FL

If you were arrested for a DUI then contact an experienced criminal defense attorney in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to discuss your case. Our attorneys handle every aspect of the case from the formal review hearing to contest the administrative suspension to the pre-trial motion hearings and trial. Call us to find out reasons to demand a formal review hearing within 10 days of the arrest instead of just stipulating to the suspension in a “waiver review hearing” which requires you to forever waive all of your rights.

Call an experienced DUI defense attorney in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to discuss your case today.

This article was last updated on Thursday, January 14, 2016.