If you are under the age of 21 and you get a marijuana possession ticket or possession of alcohol by a minor ticket, there will be several consequences. One of those consequences that you might not expect is a suspension of your driver’s license. Having your license suspended can make everything in life more difficult. You will have to find another way to get to work, school, and social gatherings.

Even simple things like running errands will become much more difficult. If possible, you want to avoid this license suspension. Even if you plead guilty to one of the above mentioned tickets, you can still avoid a license suspension. This can be achieved by reopening your case in order to fight the suspension. To learn more about this possibility, read on.

Timeline for Reopening a Ticket

You have two different possibilities if you want to reopen a possession ticket in order to fight the driver’s suspension that goes along with it. The first is fighting the ticket before the driver’s license suspension even starts. If you do this, you have the possibility of avoiding the suspension altogether. Obviously this will be the most convenient option for you.

But if the license suspension has started, you still have an opportunity to reopen the ticket and fight it. You can reopen the ticket within 120 days of when you paid the ticket. If it is more than 120 days since the ticket was paid, you won’t have an opportunity to reopen the ticket. This means that it will stay on your record and that the driver’s license suspension cannot be fought.

How to Reopen a Ticket

You can reopen a possession ticket by filing a motion in court. It is then up to the court to permit the reopening of the ticket or to deny this option. If the court denies your motion to reopen the ticket, you don’t have many options in appealing the ticket and having the driver’s license suspension overturned. It is a good idea to contact an attorney to help you file the motion and support the reopening of the case. While this is not a guarantee, it might help your odds of having the ticket reopened. If this is an option that you would like to explore, please contact my office. I can review your situation and help you reopen your ticket. Hopefully, this can result in overturning your driver’s license suspension.