Attorney Eric J Dirga, PAFlorida law allows the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles [DMV] to administratively suspend your driver’s license in several ways. They are:
- Financial Responsibility – FR Suspension (typically insurance or liability claims)
- Point Suspensions (due to just paying tickets)
- Administrative Suspensions – Bad Act Suspension
If your driver’s license is suspended or will be soon, you need to take immediate action.
Florida Drivers License Suspensions: Causes; Defenses; Solutions
When your license is suspended, the DMV sends you a notice to your last known address (the address on your driver’s license). This notice indicates that your license was suspended on a certain date or will be suspended on a certain date.
Most suspensions are not immediate. This means the notice will give you time to fix the suspension before it takes effect. An example of this occurs if you do not resolve a traffic ticket within the first thirty days (pay it, elect traffic school, elect a hearing).
Other suspensions are immediate. This means the notice indicates your license has been suspended since a prior date. This occurs when your insurance lapses.
See, Why your License is Suspended.
Do Not Drive While Your Driver’s License is Suspended
While your driver’s license is suspended, do not drive. Knowingly driving with a suspended driver’s license is a criminal offense in Florida.
License Suspensions Do’s and Dont’s
If you have been cited for knowingly or unknowingly driving while your driver’s license was suspended:
- Don’t start paying off old traffic tickets.
- Don’t drive while your license is suspended.
- Do a Driver’s License (DL) check on yourself.
- Make a plan to fix the problem or just contact me.
Below are links to more information about driver’s license suspensions:
- Why your driver’s license is suspended.
- What to do if you get a Driving While License Suspended ticket.
- What is a Business License Only driver’s license.
- DWLS Case Law.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT START Paying Off Tickets
If you start paying off tickets you will end up with a point suspension (up to 18-months), a Habitual Traffic Offender suspension (5-years), or worse, a mandatory suspension due to an accident causing serious bodily injury or death.
Defenses to License Suspensions
The only defense to license suspensions is to fix the suspension. As pointed out above, the answer is more complicated than just paying tickets off. If hired, I will run a license check and see why your license is suspended. You may also have to get a copy of your “complete” driving history. Once we know why your license is suspended, we can fix it in the safest way possible.
Quick Contact For Suspended License Issues
Please include the information you are comfortable with providing us. We use the cell number to confirm email transmission.
We will not harass you with calls, emails, or texts. We will not place you on a mailing list. We will not share your information with anyone. We will add you to our contacts so we know who you are when we communicate in the future. For more information, see our privacy policy.
