Letters of reference can help you restore your Michigan driver’s license after DUI. If you’ve had your Michigan driver’s license revoked because of multiple DUI convictions, you need to go through the full driver’s license restoration process before legally obtaining the right to operate a vehicle again. There are several steps and pieces of evidence required throughout this process. One that sometimes gets overlooked is the letters of reference from members of your community.
These letters can be from anyone who you interact with regularly who may have knowledge about your situation, including friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors, or people you’ve met through support groups. The people you choose should be able to speak knowledgeably about your experience with alcohol or narcotics and the steps you’ve taken to get better. Ideally, you should also try to get a cross-section of individuals from different areas of your life. For instance, a court officer might be more likely to believe this corroborating evidence if letters come from a neighbor, co-worker, and sponsor with different perspectives, rather than three family members who shared basically the same information.
The letters are designed to provide some extra insights into your experience with substance abuse and your recovery process. Hearing officers scrutinize letters carefully to make sure they provide substance and corroborate your points about making tangible lifestyle changes that support your recovery and lessen the chances of a relapse that could potentially lead to DUI incidents in the future.
If you’re currently going through the driver’s license restoration process in Michigan or are preparing to do so, here are some of the most important things you should know and consider when it comes to your license restoration hearing letters.
Don’t Blow Your Letters Off
Next to some of the other required pieces of evidence, like a drug screen and evaluation form from a certified counselor, these letters might seem a bit fluffy. However, you shouldn’t take them lightly at all. In fact, it is required for you to submit between three and six of these letters from members of your community. If you fail to do so, your case is not likely to get anywhere and you’ll have to try again another time.
However, it’s often not enough to simply submit these letters, if they include generic facts from individuals who aren’t very familiar with your lifestyle or recovery efforts. Your case may be accepted, but it’s not likely to have a successful outcome if you can’t find any individuals who can provide real backup to your sobriety claims.
To give yourself a better chance of success, you need to put serious care and consideration into picking the right individuals who are going to share truthful insights into your journey. Every person is different, but it’s important for you to think about the individuals who have a deep knowledge about you and your recovery process, so they can share facts and insights that the court officials will find valuable. For example, a co-worker who you interact with once a week may not be able to provide as much value as a family member who has been a major source of support throughout the process.
However, you’ll likely want to speak with a variety of individuals so the officers can get insights into different areas of your life. You’re required to submit between three and six letters, so it’s best to try and ask for support from at least a few different groups. For example, your family member may be able to speak to how you’ve changed your habits at home, while a friend could testify that you no longer attended weekly happy hours at the local bar, and a sponsor or person you’ve met in a support group could speak about the emotional work you’ve done to address potential triggers.
They Can Be Crucial For Getting Your License Back
So why are these letters of reference so important anyway? Basically, they’re meant to serve as corroborating evidence or testimony to back up your claims of sobriety. Since you have motivation to say what the court officer wants to hear in order to get your license restored, they may be more likely to believe your story if they hear similar things from others as well.
Court officers comb through these letters of reference to make sure that key points you’ve made about your sobriety are backed up by others. For instance, if you claim to have made serious lifestyle changes like attending AA meetings or avoiding situations that have triggered substance abuse issues in the past, they’ll want to see details about those changes in your license restoration hearing letters. However, if they don’t corroborate your claims, your case is likely to be lost because you haven’t been able to prove your claims in a tangible way. Your testimony alone isn’t going to be enough.
Basically, if the people you interact with on a day to day basis are able to see significant changes in your lifestyle and back up your claims of sobriety, it makes your own testimony and recovery more believable. When combined with other required and complementary evidence, this makes it significantly more likely that your case will be seen in a favorable light and you may be able to restore your license.
To ensure that you not only have the required letters of reference, but also get them from the right individuals who will be most likely to support your case and share valuable information about your journey, an experienced Michigan driver’s license restoration attorney can help. This can also be a valuable step for making sure you have all the other pieces of evidence that are required by the state, as well as any additional materials that may help court officers better understand and decide on an outcome.
