Implied Consent and Administrative License Suspension

The rule in every state that by driving you have agreed to a chemical test for alcohol or drugs after a lawful arrest - and the license suspension that follows a refusal or a failed test, separately from any criminal case.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of DUI-DWI law firms.

What it means

Every state has an implied-consent law: by driving on its roads, a person is deemed to have consented to a breath, blood or urine test for alcohol or drugs when lawfully arrested on suspicion of impaired driving. A driver can still physically refuse, but a refusal has its own consequence - an administrative license suspension, imposed by the motor-vehicle agency rather than a court, and in many states usable as evidence at a criminal trial. In most states a test result over the legal limit triggers the same kind of administrative suspension.

The administrative case and the criminal case run on separate tracks. The suspension can take effect, and become final, before the criminal charge is resolved, and a driver acquitted of the criminal charge can still lose their license administratively. The right to contest the suspension usually depends on requesting a hearing within a short window after the arrest, and that deadline is the one most often missed, because the paperwork handed over at the roadside is easy to mistake for the criminal court date.

Constitutional limits apply. The Supreme Court has held that a warrantless breath test may be required as part of a lawful arrest for impaired driving, but a warrantless blood test may not, and a state cannot make refusing a blood test a crime in itself. States that want blood get a warrant, which in many places is now obtained electronically in minutes.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

The reason to call a lawyer the day of the arrest rather than the week after is the administrative hearing deadline, which is short, separate from the court date, and the only chance to keep the license while the case is pending. The hearing is also the earliest look at the officer's evidence, which is why defense lawyers treat it as more than a formality.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find DUI-DWI law firms in your state

Choose your state to see DUI-DWI law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z.

• Alabama (Birmingham)
  +1 other city

  • Montgomery
• Alaska (Anchorage)
• Arizona (Tucson)
  +6 other cities

  • Chandler
  • Gilbert
  • Glendale
  • Mesa
  • Phoenix
  • Scottsdale
• Arkansas (Little Rock)
• California (Anaheim)
  +19 other cities

  • Bakersfield
  • Chula Vista
  • Fremont
  • Long Beach
  • Los Angeles
  • Modesto
  • Oakland
  • Oxnard
  • Sacramento
  • San Diego
  • San Francisco
  • Santa Ana
  • and 7 more with fewer listed firms
• Colorado (Colorado Springs)
  +2 other cities

  • Aurora
  • Denver
• Connecticut (Bridgeport)
• Delaware (Wilmington)
• District of Columbia (Washington)
• Florida (Jacksonville)
  +5 other cities

  • Hialeah
  • Miami
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  • Tampa
• Georgia (Atlanta)
  +1 other city

  • Savannah
• Hawaii (Honolulu)
• Idaho (Boise)
• Illinois (Chicago)
• Indiana (Indianapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Fort Wayne
• Iowa (Des Moines)
• Kansas (Wichita)
• Kentucky (Louisville)
  +1 other city

  • Lexington
• Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
  +2 other cities

  • New Orleans
  • Shreveport
• Maine (Portland)
• Maryland (Baltimore)
• Massachusetts (Boston)
• Michigan (Detroit)
• Minnesota (Minneapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Saint Paul
• Mississippi (Jackson)
• Missouri (Kansas City)
  +1 other city

  • St. Louis
• Montana (Billings)
• Nebraska (Lincoln)
  +1 other city

  • Omaha
• Nevada (Henderson)
  +3 other cities

  • Las Vegas
  • North Las Vegas
  • Reno
• New Hampshire (Manchester)
• New Jersey (Jersey City)
  +1 other city

  • Newark
• New Mexico (Albuquerque)
• New York (New York City)
  +2 other cities

  • Buffalo
  • Rochester
• North Carolina (Fayetteville)
  +5 other cities

  • Charlotte
  • Durham
  • Greensboro
  • Raleigh
  • Winston-Salem
• North Dakota (Fargo)
• Ohio (Cincinnati)
  +3 other cities

  • Cleveland
  • Columbus
  • Toledo
• Oklahoma (Tulsa)
  +1 other city

  • Oklahoma City
• Oregon (Portland)
• Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
  +1 other city

  • Pittsburgh
• Rhode Island (Providence)
• South Carolina (Columbia)
• South Dakota (Sioux Falls)
• Tennessee (Nashville)
  +1 other city

  • Memphis
• Texas (Dallas)
  +12 other cities

  • Arlington
  • Austin
  • Corpus Christi
  • El Paso
  • Fort Worth
  • Garland
  • Houston
  • Irving
  • Laredo
  • Lubbock
  • Plano
  • San Antonio
• Utah (Salt Lake City)
• Vermont (Burlington)
• Virginia (Chesapeake)
  +3 other cities

  • Norfolk
  • Richmond
  • Virginia Beach
• Washington (Spokane)
  +2 other cities

  • Seattle
  • Tacoma
• West Virginia (Charleston)
• Wisconsin (Madison)
  +1 other city

  • Milwaukee
• Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Entries on the same subject:

• DUI / DWI (Impaired Driving)Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs - a charge that almost always runs as two separate cases at once, one criminal and one over the license.
• Field Sobriety TestsThe roadside balance, coordination and eye-movement exercises an officer uses to build probable cause for an impaired-driving arrest - usually voluntary, and never the same thing as the chemical test that follows.
• Ignition Interlock DeviceA breath-testing device wired into a vehicle that stops it starting if the driver has been drinking - required by many states after an impaired-driving conviction as a condition of driving at all.

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• CDL DisqualificationThe federally defined list of offenses that take away a commercial driver's license - including offenses committed in a personal car, and a lower alcohol limit than applies to other drivers.
• Contesting a Traffic TicketWhat a moving violation citation actually is, the difference between an infraction and a traffic misdemeanor, and the procedures - hearing, written defense, traffic school - for answering one.
• Driving Record PointsThe system most states use to score moving violations against a driver's record, with a license suspension when the total crosses a threshold - and an interstate compact that makes an out-of-state ticket count at home.
• Event Data Recorder (Vehicle Black Box) EvidenceThe crash data a modern vehicle records about itself in the moments before an impact - what the federal standard requires it to capture, who owns it, and who may retrieve it.
• Hours-of-Service Rules (Commercial Trucking)Federal limits on how long a commercial driver may drive and work, and the electronic records that show whether those limits were kept.
• Leaving the Scene of an Accident (Hit and Run)The legal duties every state imposes on a driver involved in a crash - to stop, to exchange information and to help anyone hurt - and the separate criminal offense of driving away instead.
• Lemon Law and Warranty RightsRules that entitle a buyer to a refund or replacement when a new vehicle has a defect the manufacturer cannot fix in a reasonable number of attempts.
• Negligent Entrustment (Lending a Vehicle)The claim against a person who lent a car to someone they knew, or should have known, was unfit to drive it - the owner's own negligence, separate from the driver's.
• No-Fault Car InsuranceA system in which your own insurer pays your medical bills after a crash regardless of who caused it - used in a minority of states, and it limits when you can sue.
• Odometer Fraud and the Odometer DisclosureRolling back or replacing an odometer to hide a vehicle's true mileage is a federal offense, and every transfer of a vehicle must come with a written mileage statement the buyer can sue over if it is false.
• Permissive Use (Insurance Follows the Car)Which policy pays when someone drives a borrowed car with the owner's permission - the omnibus clause, the exclusions that defeat it, and the owner-liability statutes some states add.
• Policy LimitsThe maximum an insurance policy will pay - and usually the real ceiling on what a claim is worth, whatever the injury.
• Rideshare Accident Insurance (App Periods)Which insurance applies when a rideshare vehicle is in a crash depends on what the driver's app was doing at that moment - the three periods state transportation network company laws define, and the gap that personal policies leave.
• Salvage and Rebuilt TitlesThe title brands a state applies to a vehicle an insurer has declared a total loss, what a rebuilt brand means, and the federal database built to stop a branded title being washed clean in another state.
• SR-22 and Financial Responsibility FilingsThe certificate an insurer files with the state to prove a high-risk driver is carrying the required liability coverage - what triggers it, why it is not itself insurance, and what happens if the policy behind it lapses.
• Tire Defect Claims (Tread Separation and Blowouts)Injury claims after a tire fails, where the question is whether the tire was defectively made or designed, was too old or was recalled, rather than only how the driver reacted.
• Total Loss and Diminished ValueWhat happens when an insurer decides a damaged vehicle is not worth repairing - and the separate claim for a repaired car that is now worth less.
• Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist CoverageCoverage on your own policy that pays when the driver who hurt you had no insurance, or nowhere near enough - and it is the coverage people most often discover they declined.
• Used Car Buyers Guide (FTC Used Car Rule)The window sticker a dealer must display on every used vehicle offered for sale, stating whether it comes with a dealer warranty or as is - and why the sticker overrides the contract.
• Vehicle Safety RecallA manufacturer's federally supervised obligation to notify owners of a safety defect and fix it free of charge - and the rules on what a dealer may sell with a recall still open.

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