The 15-day clock: why the ALR hearing matters more than your criminal case

Here is the most important sentence I will write on this website. After a DWI arrest in Texas, you have 15 days from the date of arrest to request an ALR hearing. Miss it, and you lose your license automatically for 90 days on a first offense. Even if you are eventually found not guilty. Even if the case is dismissed.

Most people do not know this. The officer who arrests you will hand you a pink piece of paper. That paper is the Notice of Suspension. Buried in it is the ALR request deadline. Most people put the paper in a drawer and deal with it later. By the time they call a lawyer, the 15 days are gone.

What the ALR hearing actually is

The Administrative License Revocation hearing is a civil proceeding, completely separate from your criminal DWI case. It is about one question: did the officer have legal grounds to ask for a breath or blood test, and did they follow the procedure correctly. That is it.

You win the ALR hearing, you keep your license while the criminal case plays out. You lose the ALR hearing — or you never request one — and your license is suspended regardless of what happens in criminal court.

Why most lawyers downplay it

Here is the honest answer: the ALR hearing is extra work that most lawyers would rather skip. The standard of proof is lower for the state than it is in criminal court. You often lose. Lawyers who take volume cases do not want to spend half a day cross-examining an officer about a breathalyzer calibration for a case they expect to lose.

But here is the thing: even when you lose the ALR, you learn a lot about how the state will argue your criminal case. The officer testifies under oath. We get a transcript. When the criminal case comes, we already know where the weak points are.

What to do right now, today

If you were arrested in the last 15 days and you have not requested the ALR hearing, call me today. Not tomorrow. I will file the request within 24 hours of retaining me. It is literally a form. But if the deadline passes, no lawyer on earth can save you from the automatic suspension.

If you were arrested more than 15 days ago and you did not request the hearing, we still have options — occupational license petitions, hardship motions — but they are harder. The ALR was the clean fix.