What Happens at a Fort Lauderdale DUI Formal Review Hearing

A Fort Lauderdale DUI arrest starts two separate cases. One is the criminal case in court. The other is an administrative case over your driver’s license. The second case moves faster, and many people do not learn it exists until their license is already gone.

As a Fort Lauderdale DUI lawyer, I help clients navigate both. A driver focuses on the criminal charge and misses the license deadline. This post explains the administrative side, how a formal review hearing works, and what is at stake. It speaks in generalities. Every case depends on its own facts.

The License Suspension Starts at the Arrest

Florida law authorizes the arresting officer to suspend your license on the spot. Section 322.2615 of the Florida Statutes allows that suspension in two situations. The first is a breath or blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher. The second is a refusal to submit to a breath, blood, or urine test.

The officer takes your license. If you are otherwise eligible to drive, the officer issues a notice of suspension and a 10-day temporary permit. That permit expires at midnight on the 10th day after the notice issues.

The suspension periods under the statute are:

• Unlawful alcohol level: 6 months for a first suspension, or 1 year if your license was previously suspended under this section
• Test refusal: 1 year for a first refusal, or 18 months if your license was previously suspended for a refusal

The suspension begins on the date the notice issues. It does not wait for the criminal case.

The 10-Day Window

Section 322.2615(1)(b)3 gives drivers three options, and all of them carry the same 10-day deadline. You can request a formal review, request an informal review, or request a review of eligibility for a restricted driving privilege.

An informal review is a paper review. The hearing officer examines the documents the officer submitted and anything the driver submits. No witnesses appear.

A formal review is a hearing. It allows testimony, subpoenas, and questioning of witnesses. Requesting either review does not pause the suspension.

What the Officer Sends to the Department

Within 5 days of the notice, the officer must forward materials to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Under section 322.2615(2), those materials include:

• Your driver license
• An affidavit stating the officer’s grounds for believing you were driving or in actual physical control while impaired
• The breath or blood test results, or an affidavit stating you refused
• The officer’s description of any field sobriety exercises
• The notice of suspension

The officer may also submit a crash report and video of the field sobriety exercises. The statute treats these agency materials as self-authenticating. They go into the record automatically.

Timing and Format of the Hearing

The department must schedule the formal review hearing within 30 days after it receives your request. If it fails to do so, the statute requires the department to invalidate the suspension.

A hearing officer employed by the department runs the proceeding. This is not a judge, and the hearing is not a criminal trial. The hearing officer can administer oaths, take testimony, receive evidence, issue subpoenas, and question witnesses. The statute also allows these hearings to take place using communications technology.

The driver carries real obligations. If you request a formal hearing and fail to appear without just cause, you waive the hearing and the suspension stands.

What the Hearing Officer Decides

The scope of the hearing is narrow. Section 322.2615(7) limits the issues, and the hearing officer applies a preponderance of the evidence standard.

In an unlawful alcohol level case, the questions are:

1. Did the officer have probable cause to believe you were driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence?
2. Did you have a breath or blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher?

In a refusal case, the questions are:

1. Did the officer have probable cause to believe you were driving or in actual physical control while under the influence?
2. Did you refuse a test after an officer requested one?
3. Were you told that a refusal would suspend your license for 1 year, or 18 months for a second or subsequent refusal?

The hearing officer does not decide guilt. The question is whether the suspension holds up under these specific issues. The department must send notice of the decision within 7 working days after the hearing.

Subpoenas and Witnesses

The formal hearing lets the defense subpoena the officers and witnesses named in the arrest paperwork. That includes the arresting officer and anyone who administered or analyzed a breath or blood test.

The statute treats absent witnesses in two ways. As a general rule, a subpoenaed witness’s failure to appear does not invalidate the suspension. The remedy is to seek enforcement of the subpoena in circuit court or in the related criminal case. Section 322.2615(11) separately provides that if the arresting officer or the breath technician fails to appear under subpoena, the department must invalidate the suspension.

Questioning an officer under oath this early can matter. The officer’s account is fresh, and testimony at the hearing creates a record.

Possible Outcomes

The hearing officer can sustain, amend, or invalidate the suspension.

If the suspension is invalidated, the license suspension from that arrest ends. The criminal case continues on its own track.

If the suspension is sustained, the driver may seek a license for business or employment purposes only, if otherwise eligible. Waiting periods apply. For an unlawful alcohol level suspension, the wait is 30 days after the last temporary permit expires. For a refusal suspension, the wait is 90 days.

A driver can challenge a sustained suspension by filing a petition for writ of certiorari in circuit court. That appeal does not stop the suspension, and the court does not rehear the case from scratch.

How the Hearing Relates to the Criminal Case

The two cases stay separate by law. Under section 322.2615(14), the department’s decision cannot be considered in the criminal DUI trial. A written statement in your request for review cannot be used against you at that trial either.

The separation cuts both ways. The outcome of the criminal case does not undo a refusal suspension. However, if a driver is found not guilty at trial, the statute requires the department to invalidate a suspension based on an unlawful alcohol level.

Talk to a Fort Lauderdale DUI Lawyer Before Day 10

The choice between a formal hearing, an informal review, and a restricted license review carries tradeoffs. Each path affects how long you drive, what evidence gets tested, and what record exists before trial. A Fort Lauderdale DUI lawyer can explain those tradeoffs in light of your situation.

The most important fact in this post is the deadline. You have 10 days from the notice of suspension to act. Miss it, and the review options close. If you were arrested for DUI in Broward County, contact a Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney now, while every option is still open.