# Your license after a driving while intoxicated arrest in Texas > A Texas driving while intoxicated arrest starts two cases. One is criminal. The other is an administrative case against your license, and it moves first. The hearing request generally has to reach the Texas Department of Public Safety by the fifteenth day after you receive notice. Miss it and the suspension takes effect. Published 2026-08-10 · Statutes checked 2026-09-14 · Practice: [Criminal Defense Lawyer](/practice/criminal) A driving while intoxicated arrest in Texas opens two separate cases on the same night. One is the criminal case, brought by the State in a court, with a cause number and settings you will be told about. The other is an administrative case against your driver license, run by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Nobody calls you about that one. It moves first, and the window to contest it is short. This is the single most common thing people lose in the first month after a DWI arrest, and they lose it by waiting. They wait to hear from a court. They wait until they can afford a lawyer. By the time either happens, the license case has already gone by default, and nothing that happens later in the criminal case brings it back. ## Your license case and your criminal case are two different cases The criminal case asks whether you are guilty of driving while intoxicated. The license case asks a narrower set of questions about the stop, the arrest, and the breath or blood test. Different decision makers hear them, on different schedules, with different burdens of proof. That separation cuts both ways. A dismissal or an acquittal in the criminal case does not automatically undo a license suspension. A suspension does not mean the criminal case is over or that you have been convicted of anything. You can win one and lose the other, so both need attention in the first week. ## How long you have to request a hearing after a DWI arrest in Texas > **The statute.** For an administrative suspension based on a failed test or a refusal, the hearing request generally has to reach the Texas Department of Public Safety no later than the fifteenth day after the person receives, or is presumed to receive, notice of suspension, under Texas Transportation Code section 524.031. Missing that deadline generally allows the suspension to take effect as the statute provides, and it does not decide the criminal case. Use the date and the instructions on the notice, because the legal trigger is notice rather than the arrest date. > > [Section 524.031](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.524.htm#524.031) Fifteen days is short, and the count runs from the day the notice was served on you, not from the day you were released, not from the day you bonded out, and not from the day charges were filed. Read the notice itself. It states the deadline and it states how the request has to be made. Two things cause people to lose that time. The first is custody. If you spent days in jail, those days still count against the deadline. The second is simply not recognizing the paper for what it is. The notice often ends up folded into the property envelope with your keys and your phone, and it stays there. - Find the notice the officer gave you and read it front and back. - Write down the date it was served on you. That date starts the clock. - Calendar the deadline from that date, counting every day, not business days. - Make the request in exactly the form the notice requires. - Keep proof that you sent it, including the date and the method. ## What the officer handed you at the roadside If you refused the test, or if your sample came back at or above the legal limit, the officer generally takes the plastic license and hands you a notice of suspension in its place. That notice does two jobs at once. It tells you the Texas Department of Public Safety intends to suspend your driving privilege, and it works as a temporary driving permit for the period printed on its face. This is exactly why the deadline gets missed. You are usually still legal to drive when you leave. Nothing feels urgent. Then the temporary permit runs out on its own, and if no hearing was requested, the suspension takes effect quietly with no further notice and no phone call. ## What happens if you miss the deadline The suspension takes effect on the date described in the notice, without a hearing and without a judge ever looking at the facts. There is no argument left to make, because the forum that hears the argument is the one you gave up. A timely request does something concrete and immediate. It stops the suspension from taking effect while the hearing is pending. For most people that is worth more in the first month than anything else that happens, because it is the difference between driving to work and not driving to work. ## What an administrative license revocation hearing decides The hearing is held by the State Office of Administrative Hearings, not by the criminal court, and an administrative law judge decides it. The Texas Department of Public Safety has to prove a specific list of points, and the list depends on whether you refused the test or gave a sample. - Whether the officer had reasonable suspicion or probable cause to stop you. - Whether there was probable cause to believe you were operating a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. - Whether you were properly asked for a breath or blood sample and warned about the consequences of refusing. - Whether you refused, or whether the sample was at or above the legal limit. The hearing also does something the criminal case benefits from. The officer can be subpoenaed and questioned under oath, on the record, early, long before any trial setting. What an officer says there does not go away, and it can be compared line by line with the report later. ## Refusing a breath or blood test versus failing one Texas treats a refusal and a failed test differently, and a refusal generally carries the longer suspension. A prior alcohol or drug related enforcement contact lengthens the period further. The exact periods are statutory and they turn on your own history, so check them against your record rather than against what somebody told you in the parking lot. Refusing at the roadside also does not mean there is no blood result in your file. Officers can apply for a search warrant for a blood draw, and in some circumstances a draw is mandatory. Assume the State may have a number even if you declined to blow. ## How to keep driving while a suspension is pending There are two routes and they are not alternatives to each other. The first is the timely hearing request, which holds the suspension off while the administrative case is pending. The second is an essential need license, commonly called an occupational license, which is a court order permitting limited driving. An essential need license is petitioned for in court. The order sets what you may drive for, usually work, school and essential household duties, and it can set hours and sometimes routes. It is not your full license returned. It normally carries conditions, including proof of financial responsibility, so start the paperwork before the day you need to drive. ## Where a driving while intoxicated case goes in El Paso Misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charges are filed in a county court. County Court at Law No. 7 in El Paso handles civil and criminal matters, and assignments change over time, so the current court directory governs rather than anything you read once. Felony level allegations go to a district court. El Paso district courts include the 34th, 120th, 168th, 171st, 210th, 243rd, 346th and 384th, along with Criminal District Court No. 1. Whatever the level, Texas generally requires that an arrested person be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest. That appearance is where bond and bond conditions are set, and conditions after a driving while intoxicated arrest often include an ignition interlock device on the vehicle you drive. If you are still in custody, release rules that turn on the State being ready also apply. They run broadly 90 days for a felony, 30 days for a Class A misdemeanor, 15 days for a Class B and five days for a Class C, each with statutory conditions and exceptions that have to be read against your own charge. Geography matters here more than it does in most places. If the stop happened in Anthony, Sunland Park, Santa Teresa or Las Cruces, that is New Mexico, in Doña Ana County in the Third Judicial District. New Mexico runs its own license procedure on its own deadline. Do not apply a Texas timeline to a New Mexico stop. ### What to do in the first week - Locate the notice of suspension and read the date it was served. - Request the hearing in writing before the deadline on the notice, even if you have not hired anyone yet. - Write down everything you remember about the stop while it is fresh, including the time, the location and what was said. - Check any bond conditions you were given, because violating one can land you back in custody regardless of the license case. - Find out which court has the criminal case and what the cause number is. This is general information about how Texas procedure works, not advice about any particular case. The deadline that applies to you is the one printed on your notice, and the right move depends on what that notice says and what your driving record looks like. Wyatt, Underwood and Grasheim is an El Paso trial firm licensed in Texas and New Mexico. Spanish is spoken at the firm. The office is at 705 Texas Ave #100, El Paso, TX 79901, telephone (915) 485-9100. ## Questions people ask about this ### How long do I have to request a license hearing after a DWI arrest in Texas? The request generally has to reach the Texas Department of Public Safety by the fifteenth day after you receive the notice of suspension. The count runs from that notice, not from the date you were released or charged. The notice itself states the deadline and the required method of requesting. Read it before you do anything else, and count calendar days rather than business days. ### Does getting my DWI case dismissed cancel the license suspension? Not automatically. The criminal case and the administrative license case are separate proceedings with different decision makers and different burdens of proof. A dismissal or an acquittal is good news, and it may matter to your record later, but it does not by itself reverse a suspension that already took effect because no hearing was requested in time. ### Can I still drive right after a driving while intoxicated arrest? Usually yes, for a limited period. When the officer takes your plastic license, the notice of suspension generally serves as a temporary driving permit for the time printed on it. That permit expires on its own. If no hearing was requested by the deadline, the suspension then takes effect without any further warning to you. ### What happens if I refused the breath test? A refusal generally carries a longer suspension than a failed test, and prior alcohol or drug related enforcement contacts lengthen it further. Refusing also does not mean there is no sample. Officers can seek a search warrant for blood, and in some situations a draw is mandatory, so the State may still have a result in the file. ### Is the hearing worth requesting if I think I will lose it? Requesting it stops the suspension from taking effect while the case is pending, which keeps you driving in the meantime. The hearing also puts the arresting officer under oath on the record early, before any trial setting, and that testimony can be compared against the written report later in the criminal case. ### What is an occupational license in Texas? It is a court ordered essential need license that permits limited driving while a suspension is in effect. The order sets the purposes, commonly work, school and essential household duties, and it can set hours and routes. It is not a full license returned, and it normally requires proof of financial responsibility and other conditions. ## Talk to a partner The case review is free, the call comes from a partner, and you get a straight answer either way. Even if the answer is that you do not need us. Call [(915) 485-9100](tel:+19154859100) or use the chat at the bottom right of any page. Hablamos español. Wyatt, Underwood & Grasheim 705 Texas Ave #100 El Paso, TX 79901 [Directions](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&destination=705+Texas+Ave+%23100%2C+El+Paso%2C+TX+79901) General information about Texas procedure, not legal advice about your matter. Reading this page does not make the firm your lawyer. See the [Terms of Use](/terms).