Missouri DWI questions, answered straight

It depends on four things: whether you are charged in municipal court or state court, whether you have prior intoxication-related offenses, whether a chemical test was refused, and whether there was an accident or injury. A first-offense municipal case and a felony DWI in circuit court are not comparable amounts of work, and any firm quoting a single number for both is either overcharging one client or underserving the other. We quote your exact flat fee at the end of a free consultation and put it in writing before you decide anything.

A retainer is a deposit that a lawyer bills against by the hour. When it runs out you are asked for more. A flat fee is one agreed price for a defined scope of work, set out in writing before anything starts, that does not change based on hours. The practical difference is that with a flat fee you can call your lawyer without watching a meter, and the firm has no financial incentive to let your case drag on.

Included: the consultation, entry of appearance, all filings, obtaining and reviewing discovery, negotiation with the prosecutor, every court appearance in the covered stages, suppression motions where supported, unlimited phone calls and emails, and where quoted, the Department of Revenue hearing or refusal petition. Not included, because they are paid to third parties: court costs and filing fees, any fine the court imposes, SATOP, ignition interlock, the Department of Revenue reinstatement fee and SR-22, independent testing or expert witnesses if a case needs them, and bail. The full list is here.

Missouri requires that an advanced flat fee above $2,000 be deposited into the client trust account and withdrawn only as it is earned. If representation ends before the fee is fully earned, the unearned portion is refunded. Your engagement agreement sets out the milestones that define what is earned at each stage, so this is not decided after the fact.

Whether trial is inside your quoted fee is stated in your engagement agreement before you sign it. What we will not do is leave it unpriced so that the number appears only after you are committed, forcing a choice between your trial right and your budget.

For most first offenses, the attorney is not the largest line item. There is the fine and court costs, the $45 reinstatement fee, SATOP, ignition interlock where it is required, and SR-22 insurance maintained for two years. The insurance consequence is usually the biggest and longest-lasting number. Full breakdown here.

Fifteen days. You have 15 days from the date your Notice of Suspension or Revocation (Form 2385) is issued to request an administrative hearing with the Missouri Department of Revenue. The Department states that if you do not request a hearing within that window, your hearing will be denied and no further appeal is possible. This is entirely separate from your criminal court date. More detail here.

No. Missouri law states that the Department of Revenue's determination is independent of the criminal case, and that the disposition of the criminal charge does not affect the administrative suspension. The Department puts it plainly: the action is automatic even if the ticket was disposed of in court or reduced to a lesser charge. They are two separate fights.

If your record shows no prior alcohol-related enforcement contact in the preceding five years: 30 days with no driving privilege, followed by 60 days of restricted driving privilege. Alternatively, filing proof that your vehicle has a certified ignition interlock device means no hard suspension at all, replaced by a 90-day restricted driving privilege from the start. If you have one or more prior alcohol-related enforcement contacts in that five-year window, it is a one-year revocation instead.

Broader than most people expect. It includes prior administrative suspensions and revocations, refusal revocations from any state, and convictions in any state for DWI, DUI or excessive BAC. People regularly find themselves in the one-year revocation category based on something that never resulted in a criminal conviction.

Often, but which one depends on your situation. During a first-offense administrative suspension the remedy is the restricted driving privilege, not a limited driving privilege — Missouri specifically makes people under that suspension ineligible for an LDP. An LDP is available in other circumstances for work, medical treatment, school, treatment programs, interlock servicing, or any circumstance the court or Director finds would create undue hardship. It requires SR-22 on file and you must carry a copy of the order while driving. There is no limited driving privilege for a commercial vehicle under any circumstances.

It depends on your record, and this is widely misstated. A clean first-offense administrative suspension does not by itself carry a post-reinstatement interlock requirement — on a first offense a court may order one rather than must. The mandatory six-month requirement applies where your record shows a prior alcohol-related enforcement contact, and from August 28, 2026 also where a conviction involved a BAC of .15 or above or any property damage or personal injury.

Where it applies, the minimum is six months from the date of reinstatement, with the last three months acting as a monitoring window: a confirmed failed test or evidence of tampering during that window extends it until you complete three consecutive clean months. A court can impose longer. Separately, installing an interlock is what buys the immediate 90-day restricted driving privilege in place of a 30-day hard suspension, and from August 28, 2026 an interlock is required on first-offense restricted privileges.

No. A baseline first offense is a class B misdemeanor, carrying up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. It becomes a class A misdemeanor — up to one year and $2,000 — if you have one prior intoxication-related offense within five years, or if a person under 17 was in the vehicle. Felony exposure begins at persistent offender status, or where an accident caused injury. Full ladder here.

Not under the DWI statute. A person under 17 in the vehicle makes the DWI a class A misdemeanor, not a felony — many Missouri websites get this wrong. Separately, the same facts can support a child endangerment charge, but which degree matters. First degree, a class D felony rising further where injury results, requires acting knowingly to create a substantial risk. Conduct that is criminally negligent rather than knowing falls under second degree, which is a class A misdemeanor. Neither is automatic from the presence of a child, and the endangerment statute contains no DWI provision.

Yes. Missouri defines an intoxication-related traffic offense to include violations of a county or municipal ordinance, along with federal and military offenses. A city DWI you resolved years ago counts toward prior, persistent, aggravated, chronic or habitual offender status on a later case.

Yes, and this catches people out constantly. The offender-status definitions key on being “found guilty,” not “convicted.” So a prior SIS — which is not technically a conviction, and whose court record is closed — still supports enhancement on a later DWI. Closed is not the same as erased.

Missouri's statute uses “driving while intoxicated.” DUI is common usage rather than a separate Missouri charge. There is also no separate drugged-driving statute here: because Missouri defines “intoxicated condition” to include being under the influence of a controlled substance or drug, drug-impaired driving is charged under the same section as alcohol.

Yes, for driving while intoxicated — that offense contains no BAC number at all, only the elements of operating a vehicle while in an intoxicated condition. But there is a significant protection: under Missouri law, if the chemical analysis shows less than .08, the charge shall be dismissed with prejudice unless one of three exceptions applies — delay between driving and testing, drugs, or substantial evidence of intoxication from witness observations or the defendant's own admissions. That third exception is broader than it sounds, so a sub-.08 result is a strong argument rather than an automatic dismissal.

Usually yes for a DWI. Some municipal courts allow certain minor violations to be resolved without appearing, but a DWI generally is not one of them, and some courts specifically require appearance where there was an accident or where the defendant is under 21. Once we enter our appearance we handle much of the scheduling, and several courts allow an attorney to appear on certain settings. Court-specific rules are here.

Because the city charged it under its own ordinance rather than the county prosecutor charging it under state law. Municipal divisions are divisions of the circuit court. A prosecutor can decline municipal handling and file at the state level instead — most commonly on repeat offenses, accidents or injuries.

Often, but not automatically, and it is not a free pass. Jail remains possible in municipal court on a DWI. Missouri law expressly permits confinement for any violation involving alcohol or controlled substances, and the no-confinement rule reaches only minor traffic violations carrying one to four points with no accident or injury. And a municipal DWI still counts as a prior for enhancement later. The differences that do matter usually involve the prosecutor, the available dispositions and the practical outcome.

Rather than appealing on the record, you get an entirely new trial before a circuit or associate circuit judge. The application must be filed within ten days after judgment — a very short window, and one of the most commonly missed deadlines in municipal practice.

Important limitation: where the municipal judge is licensed to practice law, the right to a trial de novo does not extend to a case resolved by a guilty plea or tried with a jury. Because most municipal DWI cases end in a guilty plea before a licensed judge, a trial de novo is often not available as a fallback. Where the municipal judge is not law-licensed, the right is unconditional, even from a guilty plea.

A one-year revocation of your license, which becomes two years unless proof of financial responsibility is filed with the Department of Revenue. Your refusal is also admissible as evidence, and the officer is required to warn you of that before you decide. The challenge is not a Department of Revenue hearing — it is a petition for review filed in the circuit court of the county where the stop occurred. More here.

Yes. If you ask to speak to an attorney when a test is requested, Missouri law grants you twenty minutes to attempt to contact one. Two decisions matter: the twenty minutes runs from the implied consent advisement, and the Missouri Supreme Court held in Roesing v. Director of Revenue (2019) that a refusal was not voluntary where the officer denied the driver a private consultation with counsel. Being handed a phone in a room full of officers is not the same thing.

Implied consent is limited to not more than two tests arising from the same stop, detention, arrest, incident or charge. You also have the right to an independent test at your own expense.

It is not automatic, but there is real ground to cover. For a result to be valid, the analysis must be performed according to methods approved by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, by licensed medical personnel or a person holding a valid permit. That opens up the operator's permit, the maintenance and calibration record for the instrument, and whether the required observation and testing procedure was actually followed. Before any of that, there is the stop itself and whether the officer had reasonable grounds.

Once, under narrow conditions. A first intoxication-related traffic offense that was a misdemeanor or municipal ordinance violation can be expunged after ten years, if you have had no subsequent intoxication-related offense, no subsequent alcohol-related enforcement contact, and nothing pending. It is available once in a lifetime. No felony DWI is expungeable under this section, and it does not apply to anyone who has held or is required to hold a commercial driver's license. Where the conditions are met, the court shall grant it.

Generally yes, unless it was resolved by suspended imposition of sentence and successfully completed, in which case the case record becomes closed under Missouri's records law — though the court's judgment or the prosecutor's final action can still be accessed, and law enforcement and certain agencies retain access. A conviction, including an SES, appears normally.

The Substance Awareness Traffic Offender Program. Completing it is a requirement for license reinstatement after an alcohol-related suspension or revocation, including after a refusal. You are assessed first and placed into a program level based on that assessment, which is what drives the cost.

Serious, and worse than for other drivers. The commercial threshold is .04, half the general limit, and any measurable alcohol triggers an immediate 24-hour out-of-service order. A first disqualifying violation is not less than one year, three years if hazardous materials were being transported, and a lifetime disqualification for two or more. Two points that surprise people: the conduct can occur in a non-commercial vehicle, and an administrative alcohol enforcement contact alone — with no criminal conviction — is enough to disqualify. There is no limited driving privilege for a commercial vehicle, and no expungement.

Missouri's administrative threshold for drivers under 21 is .02, not .08. Note the structure: .02 triggers the license action but is not itself a criminal offense — a criminal excessive-BAC charge still requires .08. Separately, Missouri's “Abuse and Lose” law suspends or revokes driving privileges for a range of alcohol and drug offenses committed under 21, including several with no vehicle involved at all. The periods depend on the offense: 90 days first and one year for a second or subsequent in the main category, but 30 days / 90 days / one year for minor-in-possession violations under RSMo 311.325. There is also an automatic expungement provision for a first under-21 .02 determination, which runs two years from the determination or until the person turns 21, whichever comes first.

Your case stays where the arrest happened. The criminal charge is heard in that municipality or that county's circuit court, and a refusal petition is filed in the circuit court of the county where the stop or arrest occurred — and those two can sit in different counties. We appear throughout St. Louis City and County, St. Charles, Jefferson and Warren counties. Find your court here.

The law in force on the date of your offense, not the date of your court appearance. House Bill 1740 took effect August 28, 2026 and moved every injury and death tier up a full felony class, among other changes. If your offense date is near that line it makes a real difference. What changed.

You speak with Andy or Chris. The firm is two attorneys, which is a limitation in some respects and an advantage in this one: the person who quotes your fee is the person who handles your case.

Our practice is centered on St. Louis City and County, St. Charles County, Jefferson County and Warren County — the last of those covering the I-70 corridor through Warrenton and Wright City. Call and ask about anywhere else in Missouri; if we are not the right firm for your venue we will say so rather than take the case. We handle Missouri matters only and do not practice in Illinois.

Your citation, any paperwork the officer gave you — especially the Form 2385 Notice of Suspension — and the date, time and location of the stop. Also be ready to tell us about any prior DWI, DUI or alcohol-related traffic matter anywhere, including municipal cases you may not think of as convictions, since those affect both the charge level and the fee.

Yes to both, whether or not you hire us. What you tell us in a consultation is confidential even if you go elsewhere. What a consultation does not do is create an attorney-client relationship — that happens only through a signed written engagement agreement.