You were arrested. You are probably home now, holding a piece of paper you have not read properly, and trying to work out how bad this is.
Here is the thing almost nobody tells you in the first week, and it is the most useful thing on this page.
An arrest starts two separate cases against you. One of them is the criminal case, which is the one you are picturing. The other is a case about your driving license, it runs at a completely different agency, and it moves first. People spend their first two weeks worrying about the criminal case and let the license case expire without ever knowing it existed.
So before anything else: find the paperwork you were given.
The paperwork matters more than you think
At some point during the arrest or the release, an officer handed you documents. If you were drinking, if it was the middle of the night, if you were frightened, there is a reasonable chance you shoved them in a pocket and have not looked at them since.
Find them now. One of them is likely a notice about your license.
In most states that notice does three things at once. It tells you your license is going to be suspended. It often serves as a temporary permit that lets you keep driving for a short period. And it starts a clock for requesting a hearing to challenge the suspension.
That clock is short. In some states it is counted from the date of arrest, in others from the date you were served the notice, and those are not always the same day. Miss it and the suspension takes effect automatically, with no further chance to argue about it.
That is the single most time sensitive thing in your situation. Everything below is less urgent.
What already happened
Working backwards, so the sequence makes sense.
An officer stopped you for something. A traffic violation, a checkpoint, a report from another driver. That initial reason matters later, because a stop without adequate justification can undermine everything that followed.
You were probably asked to perform field sobriety tests at the roadside. Standing on one leg, following a pen with your eyes, walking a line. The officer was scoring you against a checklist while you did it.
You may have been asked to blow into a handheld device at the roadside. That device is not the same as the machine at the station, legally or technically, and the rules about refusing each one are different in most states.
Then you were arrested, transported, booked, and at some point tested again with an evidentiary instrument or asked for a blood sample. Your car was probably towed.
If blood was taken, the result is not back yet. Blood analysis commonly takes weeks. That is normal and it does not mean anything either way.
Case one: the criminal case
This is the prosecution. A prosecutor decides what to charge, you appear in court, and the case resolves by dismissal, plea, or trial.
It starts with an arraignment, which is a short hearing where the charge is read and you enter a plea. It is usually less dramatic than people expect. You will not be arguing your case.
The criminal case is slow. Months is normal for a first offense. That is not a sign that something has gone wrong.
What it can end in depends on your state, your blood alcohol level, whether anyone was hurt, and whether you have prior offenses on your record. Those variables matter far more than anything about how you behaved during the stop. Penalties in your state →
Case two: the license case
This one runs at your state's motor vehicle agency, and it is administrative rather than criminal. Different building, different rules, different timetable.
It is not about whether you are guilty of anything. It is about whether the agency has grounds to suspend your license, and the standard it applies is lower than the criminal standard.
Two things about it catch people out.
It is independent of the criminal case. You can have the criminal charge dismissed entirely and still lose your license through the administrative track, because the two proceedings answer different questions.
And it moves fast. While the criminal case is still months from resolving, the administrative deadline will already have passed.
That is the whole reason this page opens the way it does.
Your state's license suspension process →
Your next thirty days
Roughly, and with the caveat that the specifics differ by state:
Days one to three. Read the notice you were given. Find the hearing request deadline on it. Work out whether the temporary permit is currently letting you drive and when it expires.
The first week. Request the administrative hearing if you are going to. This is the step with a hard deadline and no second chance. If you are going to hire a lawyer, this is the week to do it, because the request is often something they will handle.
Weeks two to four. The arraignment usually falls somewhere in here. Blood results, if any were taken, may come back.
Beyond that. The criminal case proceeds. Depending on your state and your circumstances, there may be a diversion or first offender program worth asking about.
What to do today
Five things, in order.
One. Find the paperwork and read all of it. Photograph every page with your phone so you have a copy. You will be asked for these documents repeatedly.
Two. Work out your hearing deadline. Count the days. Put it in your calendar with a reminder several days before, not on the day itself.
Three. Write down what you remember, now. Where you were coming from, what you had to drink and over what period, what you ate, what the officer said, what you said, what tests you were asked to do, whether you were told what would happen if you refused. Your memory of this will degrade quickly and specific details can matter later.
Four. Find out where your car is and what the storage charges are. Impound fees accumulate daily and people routinely lose more money here than they expect.
Five. Decide about a lawyer. Not every first offense needs one, and it is reasonable to weigh the cost. But the license deadline compresses that decision, so make it this week rather than next month.
What not to do
Do not contact the arresting officer to explain yourself or apologize. Nothing good comes of it.
Do not post about it. Not on social media, not in a group chat you assume is private. Screenshots exist.
Do not assume the temporary permit lasts until your court date. It usually does not. They are often much shorter than people assume, and driving after it expires is a separate offense that is genuinely worse than the one you are already facing.
Do not ignore the notice because the court date feels more official. This is the mistake that costs people their license, and it is the reason this page exists.
Where to go next
Almost everything specific to your situation depends on which state arrested you. The deadline, the penalty tiers, whether your county runs a diversion program, which court hears your case. Those are not things a general article can tell you, and any page that gives you a national number is giving you a number that is wrong somewhere.
Pick your state and start with the deadline.
Find your state
Pick the state you were arrested in, not the one you live in.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming are being written.
All states →This is general information about how DUI cases work, not legal advice about your case. Laws differ by state and change over time. Confirm anything you rely on with a lawyer licensed in your state.