Hinsdale County License Hearing Guide
How to request your Express Consent Hearing and protect your driving privileges after a DUI arrest.
Last verified: September 23, 2026
7-Day Deadline
You have exactly 7 days from your arrest to request a hearing. Miss this deadline and your license is automatically suspended. No exceptions.
Enter your arrest date to see your deadline:
If You Request in Time
- • Temporary permit until hearing
- • Chance to keep your license
- • Gather evidence for defense
If You Miss the Deadline
- • Automatic 90-180 day suspension
- • No hearing, no appeal
- • Starts after waiting period
How to Request Your Hearing
Online Request
Fee: Typically $50-$125
Available: 24/7
Instant confirmation
Phone Request
Fee: Same as online
Hours: Business hours only
Expect hold times
Information You'll Need
From Your Notice:
- • Driver License Number
- • Date of Arrest
- • Arresting Agency
- • Arresting Officer Name
Personal Information:
- • Full Legal Name
- • Current Address
- • Date of Birth
- • Phone Number & Email
After You Request
Temporary Permit
ImmediateDrive legally until your hearing
Hearing Notice
20-40 daysDate, time, and format mailed to you
Prepare Defense
Before hearingGather evidence, hire attorney
Attend Hearing
Scheduled dateUsually phone or video
Decision
Same dayWin: keep license. Lose: suspension starts
Temporary Permit
Immediate
Drive until hearing
Hearing Notice
20-40 days
Date mailed to you
Prepare
Before hearing
Gather evidence
Attend Hearing
Scheduled
Phone or video
Decision
Same day
Win or suspension
What to Expect at the Hearing
Most hearings are by phone or video
You usually don't need to travel. When you receive your hearing notice, it will specify whether it's phone, video, or in-person.
Duration
30-60 minutes typically
Who's There
You, your attorney (optional), state attorney, hearing officer
What They Review
Probable cause for stop, proper arrest procedure, test validity
Evidence That Can Help
- Dashcam or bodycam footage showing procedural errors
- Breathalyzer calibration records (if not current)
- Witness statements about your sobriety
- Medical conditions affecting field sobriety tests
Should You Hire an Attorney?
With an Attorney
- Can subpoena arresting officer
- Knows how to challenge evidence
- Uses hearing to strengthen criminal defense
- Higher success rate at hearings
Without an Attorney
- State has experienced attorney present
- May not know proper objections
- Can't effectively cross-examine officers
- Lower win rate statistically
If You Lose Your Hearing
Losing the hearing isn't the end. You still have options to maintain limited driving privileges:
Ignition Interlock
Drive with device installed
Occupational License
Limited driving for work/essentials
Colorado DMV Office
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Guides
Seven calendar days. That's the entire window a Hinsdale County driver gets to request a DMV hearing after a DUI arrest, and there's no local driver's license office to walk the paperwork into. For a breath test or refusal, the clock starts on the arrest date. For a blood test, the clock doesn't start the moment the state mails the results — it starts three days later, the point Colorado law treats the notice as received, stretching the real deadline to around 10 days after the letter goes out rather than 7. Miss the deadline and the license is automatically revoked on the eighth day, with no hearing and no appeal.
Because Lake City has no State Driver License office at all — the nearest one is in Leadville, over two hours away — filing through mydmv.colorado.gov is the only practical option. It time-stamps the request instantly, which matters given how easily mail can eat several of those seven days from a county this remote. Requests can also be mailed to the Hearings Division or filed in person at a full-service office, but neither makes sense from Lake City.
The criminal case and the DMV suspension run on completely separate tracks. A dismissed DUI charge in Hinsdale County Court does nothing to stop the administrative revocation — Colorado law keeps the two processes independent under C.R.S. 42-2-126(6)(a). A driver can win in court and still lose their license through the DMV process alone.
Registering a BAC of 0.15 or higher, or refusing chemical testing outright, gets a driver classified as a "Persistent Drunk Driver." That designation adds a longer revocation, two years of mandatory ignition interlock, and Level II alcohol education, regardless of how the criminal case turns out.
One quirk worth knowing about before the hearing even happens: the state sends the hearing packet and the arresting officer's affidavit through encrypted email from a "@state.co.us" address, and those emails expire exactly seven days after they're sent. Reliable broadband isn't guaranteed everywhere in Hinsdale County, and anyone who doesn't check their inbox and spam folder promptly can lose access to the evidence against them before the hearing takes place.
Because the county is so rural, hearings themselves are held almost entirely by Zoom or phone rather than in person.
Last updated: September 23, 2026
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