Testimonial Letters for DAAD Hearing

In Michigan, if you are convicted of two or more drunk driving offenses within seven years, then your license will be revoked for life.  However, depending on the circumstances, you may be eligible to ask for your driving privilege to be restored after either a one year or five year waiting period.  

It is not necessary but we highly recommend that you obtain legal counsel to assist you with your hearing.  At the Barone Defense Firm we have handled Driver License Restoration Hearings for nearly 20 years, have an excellent success record and look forward to helping you prepare for your successful hearing.  Contact us today for your FREE consultation.

Your driver license restoration hearing will take place at the Driver Appeals and Assessment Division (DAAD) of the Michigan Secretary of State.  At or before the hearing you will have the opportunity to present to the Hearing Officer at least three letters to support your case.  For more information about these letters please see “Preparing For Your License Restoration Hearing.”

You letters are a very important part of your license restoration case so you should give a great deal of thought to who you will be asking to prepare these letters for you. 

Here is a handy list you or your attorney might use as a reference tool as you begin to collect these import letters.

• Send Letters to Your Attorney First – This will allow your attorney to check them for content and to make sure they contain all of the positive attributes and none of the negative.  Your attorney should make sure the letters contain no inconsistencies such as regarding your sobriety date.  Also, he or she should make sure they are signed and dated, and contain the day time contact information for the author.  Remember, the Hearing Officer will be looking for anything to deny your driving privileges, and it is your attorney’s job to make sure the letters are complete and accurate, and contain nothing to allow the Hearing Officer to deny you
• The Letters Should be on Letterhead – Whenever possible, you should have the author place their letter on their professional letterhead or at least some kind of stationary.  Appearance counts and you certainly want to avoid the handwritten sloppy letter.  Again, whenever possible the letters should be type-written.
• Avoid “Form” Letters – All letters should be original with totally original content.  While your lawyer may provide you with a preferred format, you must avoid letters that are too similar.  This will be a warning to the Hearing Officer that something is wrong, and your letters may be disregarded or given less weight, which may itself cause you to lose your hearing.
• Address Letters to “Hearing Officer” – The letters should not be addressed to your or to your lawyer.  It is the Hearing Officer who will be making the decision on your case, and this is to whom the letter should be addressed.
• Letter Writers Should Identify Themselves – Make sure that your letter writers indicate in their letters what they do for a living, and any significant activities in which they participate.  If the writer is a doctor, a teacher, a preacher or a poet, this should be specifically indicated and described.
• Writers should be Specific – Each letter should indicate how long the writer has known you, how they know you, and what they know about you.  Specifically, the letters should include knowledge of your past drinking habits, and the fact that you are no longer drinking today.  A specific sobriety date should also be indicated.  If the writer has knowledge of your support group activities, this should be indicated.  Perhaps the most important thing to include is how your behavior has changed pre and post sobriety.
• A Cross-Section is Best – You should think about having a cross-section of society write your letters for you.  Consider asking your friends, family, pastor, support group sponsor, teacher, coach or co-worker to write letters for you.  The think you want to avoid is to have all of your letters come from one source, such as all from your support group or all from work.  Again, letters coming all from once source may tip-off the Hearing Officer that you are hiding something, or at least raise suspicion to the point that the letters as a whole are discredited.

Your testamentary letters are an important part of your overall evidence at the restoration hearing, and if they are written correctly your chances of winning will increase significantly.

If you follow these tips as well as all of the other information on this web site then you will be well on your way to success at your next driver license appeal hearing.  Good luck, but remember, luck favors the prepared!