Out of State License Reinstatement Lawyer

• 1 | I live out of state, can you help me reinstate my Illinois  driver's license?
• 2 | I live out of state, should I fill out an out-of-state  hearing application?
• 3 | My license was recently revoked as a result of a DUI or DWI  from outside the state of Illinois. What  can I do?
• 4 | I was previously denied relief and denied a driver's license  reinstatement at a formal hearing. What  can John W. Callahan, Ltd. do for me?
• 5 | My DUI occurred ten, twenty, or even thirty years ago. Do I still have to go through the formal  reinstatement process or can I just pay a fee to reinstate my driver's license?
• 6 | Can I use any evaluator or treatment provider outside  the State of Illinois?

1. I live out of state, can you help me reinstate my Illinois driver's license?

Yes.  As long as you are eligible by law to reinstate or clear your license in Illinois, driver's license lawyer John W. Callahan will get the job done for you.  If you need help in finding out if you are eligible to clear your driver's license in Illinois, feel free to call us anytime.  That is what we are here for.  Attorney John W. Callahan has represented many clients who have lived outside of Illinois for years or even decades.  If you live in a state outside of Illinois and find that you cannot renew your driver's license where you currently live due to a driving under the influence charge from a long time ago or if you have a hold on your Illinois driving privileges, John W. Callahan will be able to clear your license in Illinois so that you can renew your driver's license where you currently live.

The process for an out-of-state and an in-state license reinstatement client are very similar.  It takes time.  The details are important.  We prepare you, the client.  We make sure that all of your treatment documents are presented to the Secretary of State and that you are prepared for your hearing.  We have had success in representing numerous clients from out-of-state and getting their licenses either fully reinstated in Illinois or cleared so that you can obtain a driver's license in your home state where you now reside.

In the past several years with the implementation of the PDPS (Problem Driver Pointer System), which is a national database of problem criminal cases including DUI's, we at the law offices of John W. Callahan, Ltd., have been retained by many clients who have had their licenses valid in their state for years, but as a result of this computer database implementation, their license is now revoked in the State of Illinois and thus they cannot get a clear and valid license in their home state.  We know very much about how this system works.  We can request the records from PDPS and prepare our clients for a formal administrative hearing so that they can reinstate their license.

Should you live out-of-state and have any questions about reinstating your license in Illinois and wish to retain John W. Callahan, Ltd., you should contact us immediately at the number below.

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2. I live out of state, should I fill out an out-of-state hearing application?

No.  I have seen numerous cases where people have retained me to reinstate their license in Illinois at the Secretary of State after having first been denied through the out-of-state process. I believe the reason for this is that the people who mail in the out-of-state hearing applications typically use their out-of-state treatment provider.  When that treatment provider goes through the requirements, they are not experienced with the level of detail that the Illinois Secretary of State requires for the reinstatement process.  Many of the required documents for an administrative hearing include the discharge summary, individualized treatment plan, DUI risk education certificate, continuing care plan, etc.  All of these documents require specific information and specific input from the client.  If you do not use an alcohol evaluator from Illinois, you are at a disadvantage.

If the client is not aware of all of the requirements and the out-of-state evaluator is not aware of the requirements, it will hinder your ability to clear your license or obtain license reinstatement inside the State of Illinois.  This is why, if you live out-of-state and you are considering submitting an out-of-state hearing application to the Secretary of State of Illinois, you should call the law offices of John W. Callahan, Ltd. for a consultation to discuss your potential license reinstatement application inside the state of Illinois.  Don't be shy!  Driver's license lawyer John W. Callahan talks to people from outside of Illinois every single day who are interested in reinstating their driver's license.

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3. My license was recently revoked as a result of a DUI or DWI from outside the State of Illinois.  What can I do?

John W. Callahan can help you if your license was recently revoked as a result of a DUI or DWI from outside the State of Illinois.  Typically what happens when a person picks up a DWI or DUI from a state other than Illinois, that state will refer through the Problem Driver Pointer Systems or directly the result of that DUI disposition to the Secretary of State of Illinois.  Once the Secretary of State picks up the DUI conviction, they will issue notice and revoke the driver's license of the person who picked up the DUI outside the state of Illinois.  Once that happens, the client will be eligible for either an informal hearing  or a formal hearing with the Secretary of State and in order to do that, the client must comply with all of the requirements including an alcohol evaluation and treatment documents to prepare and be allowed to proceed to a hearing with the Secretary of State of Illinois.

At the law offices of John W. Callahan, Ltd., we often represent clients, whether they live inside the State of Illinois  or outside of Illinois, when they have been found guilty of a DUI or DWI from a different state.  The process is still the same, no matter where the DUI was picked up.  You need to prepare for the hearing with the proper documents and you need to know the questions you are going to be asked at that hearing.

If you have any questions or would like to retain John W. Callahan, Ltd. to represent you as a result of DUI or DWI from outside the state of Illinois  at a formal administrative hearing with the Secretary of State, you should contact us immediately.

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4. I was previously denied relief and denied a driver's license reinstatement at a formal hearing.  What can John W. Callahan, Ltd. do for me?

At the law offices of John W. Callahan we have represented several clients who were previously denied their license reinstatement from a formal administrative hearing.  What we typically do with these clients is request all of the documents from the Secretary of State, as well as their treatment documents that they provided to the Secretary of State at that formal administrative hearing.  We meticulously go through the details to find out where the inconsistencies in their testimony were when they testified at the Secretary of State hearing.  We try to iron out those facts with the Secretary of State.

What we have typically found when a client has been previously denied their reinstatement after going to a formal administrative hearing with the Secretary of State of Illinois is that the client testified inconsistently with what was reported in their treatment documents.  An example would be if the client reported to their evaluator that on the night of their second DUI they consumed five to six beers in three hours and the client also testified at the Secretary of State that they had eight to ten beers in two hours.  That inconsistency would lead them to a denial due to the fact that the report from the evaluator and the testimony to the Secretary of State was inconsistent.  We will help find any inconsistencies and help resolve these problems when we bring our clients to the next formal reinstatement hearing.

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5. My DUI occurred ten or twenty or thirty years ago.  Do I still have to go through the formal reinstatement process or can I just pay a fee to reinstate my driver's license?

At the law offices of John W. Callahan, Ltd., we see many clients who have had DUI's from ten, twenty or thirty years ago that are posing a problem with their license being clear in the state of Illinois.  While there are several states, including New York, for example, that will allow a client to just simply pay a reinstatement fee after several years of not having any new DUI's, Illinois is not one of them.  If there is a DUI conviction in the state of Illinois that is on the Illinois driving abstract, that client will either need to go through an informal hearing or a formal administrative hearing process to reinstate their driver's license.

At John W. Callahan, Ltd., we have the experience need to represent the client whether that client was out-of-state or in-state to reinstate the license and get them back up and driving.  Should you wish to contact us, you should contact us at the number immediately so that we can begin the process to get your license back.

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6. Can I use any evaluator or treatment provider outside the State of Illinois?

At the law offices of John W. Callahan, Ltd., we have used several evaluators and treatment providers to aid our clients in obtaining their driver's license.  What we have typically found is that while any counselor and treatment provider is eligible to be used for any client at a formal license reinstatement hearing, what we have found is that those who are out of state typically do not know the exact and specific requirements for the clients who need to reinstate their license inside the state of Illinois.

After doing numerous hearings, we have found a few evaluators and treatment providers who we believe understand the needs of the Secretary of State and provide credible and truthful reports to the Secretary of State.  When a client does not have an evaluator or treatment provider, we will typically try to refer him to those who we find to be the most efficient and truthful and thus helpful to our clients.  While we can work with others and do work with others, if the client has not obtained an evaluation or does not have a treatment provider, we can refer them to those whom we know will do a great job for the client.

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