Ellis County ALR Hearing Guide
How to request your Administrative License Revocation (ALR) Hearing and protect your driving privileges after a DWI arrest.
Last verified: September 12, 2026
15-Day Deadline
You have exactly 15 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
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Guides
A blood draw taken during a "No Refusal" weekend can leave a driver with no idea their license is even suspended until weeks or months after the arrest. Because the officer doesn't have a BAC number yet, no DIC-25 permit is issued and no license is confiscated at the jail. The suspension clock doesn't start until the crime lab returns a result of 0.08 or higher and DPS mails a formal Notice of Suspension to the address on file, and once that letter goes out, there's only 20 days to request a hearing before the deadline runs out. Missing mail during that stretch, because of a move or a full mailbox, guarantees an automatic suspension nobody saw coming.
For everyone else, the deadline is 15 days
If a breath test was refused or failed, the 15-day window runs from the date of arrest, calculated in calendar days. Miss it, and the suspension takes effect automatically on the 40th day with no way to appeal. Filing through the DPS online portal immediately after release generates a time-stamped receipt and is the safest option; the request itself is free, though a $125 reinstatement fee applies if the suspension is ultimately upheld.
The upside of requesting a hearing
A timely request stops the 40-day suspension from ever taking effect while the case waits to be scheduled, and Ellis County's SOAH docket typically runs 30 to 120 days behind. That backlog works in the defendant's favor: months of legal driving on the temporary permit while the hearing is pending.
Why the hearing itself is worth fighting for
DPS often tries to win these hearings on paperwork alone, submitting the officer's written report without live testimony. Subpoenaing the arresting officer to appear on the Zoom hearing is the standard countermove; if the officer doesn't log in, the report is frequently ruled inadmissible hearsay and the defendant wins automatically. If the officer does show, cross-examining them under oath locks in their account of the stop and the field sobriety testing, testimony that carries over into the criminal case later.
Getting an occupational license or a new card
If the suspension takes effect, an ODL petition goes to whichever County Court at Law the case number assigns it to; the two courts split this work by whether the case number is even or odd. For a replacement license or ID, the Waxahachie DPS office runs strictly by appointment, typically booked weeks out, though logging into the online scheduler at exactly 7 a.m. occasionally catches a released same-day slot.
Last updated: September 12, 2026
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