Missouri DWI Administrative License Suspension Hearings

In Missouri, you have 15 days after your arrest to request a hearing to contest the suspension of your driving privileges or license.  You must petition for a hearing before a circuit or associate cicuit court in the county in which your arrest or stop occured, within the 15 days following your arrest. You may request the court to issue an order staying your revocation until a hearing can be set.  If the court grants a stay, it will enter the order and that order will serve as your temporary driver's license until the hearing occurs.

At the hearing, the prosecutor will appear and act on behald of the director of revenue, who has the authority to suspend your driving priliveges in Missouri.

The Issues At The Hearing:

The court will determine only the following issues at the hearing:

(1) Whether or not the person was arrested or stopped;

(2) Whether or not the officer had:

(a) Reasonable grounds to believe that the person was driving a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated or drugged condition; or

(b) Reasonable grounds to believe that the person stopped, being under the age of twenty-one years, was driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of two-hundredths of one percent or more by weight; or

(c) Reasonable grounds to believe that the person stopped, being under the age of twenty-one years, was committing a violation of the traffic laws of the state, or political subdivision of the state, and such officer had reasonable grounds to believe, after making such stop, that the person had a blood alcohol content of two-hundredths of one percent or greater; and

(3) Whether or not the person refused to submit to the test.

If any of the following questions are answered in the negative then the court will order the director of revenue to reinstate your driver's license.