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To preserve your right to challenge an Administrative License Suspension after a New Hampshire DWI arrest, send a written request for either an administrative review or a hearing to the NH Department of Safety, Bureau of Hearings within 30 days of the date your suspension notice was served. Mail, fax, or email it, never by phone. Choose one proceeding, not both, and send a copy of your request to the arresting agency.
TL;DR:
- Filing a proper request requires including the arrest date, grounds for review, and clear choice of proceeding, or it will likely be rejected.
- The hearing must be scheduled within 20 days once a timely request is received, making early filing crucial for avoiding missed deadlines.
- The hearing only addresses administrative questions such as reasonable grounds, arrest verification, or test validity, not the criminal guilt of DWI.
- Missing the 30-day deadline or skipping the hearing without good cause results in automatic dismissal of the request and the suspension remaining in place.
- Legal assistance is recommended to ensure all paperwork is correct, deadlines are met, and to evaluate appeal options after the hearing.
The Bureau of Hearings sits at 33 Hazen Drive, Concord. You can reach it by fax at 603-271-6653 or by email at safety-hearings@dos.nh.gov, and the Department confirms that telephone requests are never accepted. One detail catches people off guard: the date that counts is not when you send your request but when the Bureau opens it, so mailing something on day 29 is a real gamble.
Your written request needs specific content to be accepted the first time.
Incomplete requests get returned for missing the statutory grounds or skipping the copy to the officer, a problem documented in the Bureau’s own request forms. If that happens close to your deadline, you may run out of time to refile.
Pro Tip: Send your request by certified mail or email with a read receipt, and keep a dated copy of everything you sent, including proof it reached the officer’s agency.
Once the Bureau receives a properly filed request, Saf-C 2804.02 requires that your hearing be scheduled within 20 days, unless a continuance is requested by either side. That is a tight window, and it rewards people who file early rather than at the deadline.
Twenty days is the scheduling target the Bureau of Hearings follows once it has a valid, timely request in hand, which is exactly why the paperwork on the front end matters so much.
Many people assume the ALS hearing reopens the whole DWI case. It does not. Under RSA 265-A:31, the examiner can only look at a short list of administrative questions.
The proceeding is administrative, not criminal. Testimony is taken under oath and recorded, and hearsay is allowed, which is a lower bar than a criminal trial. If you intend to challenge how a blood or urine test was handled, your original request must include a notice compelling the tester or certifying scientist to appear. Without that notice built into the filing, you may lose the chance to question the test itself.
Preparation for an ALS hearing looks different from preparing for trial, mostly because the questions are narrower and the record matters more than argument.
If the officer or scientist was properly noticed and fails to show, RSA 265-A:31 requires the examiner to dismiss the case and rescind the suspension, which makes that notice one of the most consequential parts of your filing.
Pro Tip: Ask whether your hearing will be in person or by video before the date arrives, and bring a way to record the proceeding yourself as a backup.
An attorney can help you draft the attendance notice properly, prepare cross-examination questions for the officer, and evaluate whether an appeal makes sense after the examiner’s decision comes down.
Missing the 30-day window is close to unrecoverable. The Bureau treats a late request as untimely and denies it, leaving the suspension in place. Failing to appear at a scheduled hearing without good cause carries similar consequences.
If you believe you have a legitimate reason for a delay, document it immediately and speak with an attorney the same day. Narrow exceptions exist, but they are the exception, not the rule, and waiting even a few more days can close them off entirely.
The most common mistake we see is a request that states an objection but skips the statutory grounds, which gets it kicked back under the Bureau’s own rules. The next most common is forgetting to notice the officer or tester, which quietly forfeits a real chance at dismissal. File early, keep proof of delivery, copy the arresting agency, and if any of this feels uncertain, get a lawyer involved before the clock runs out rather than after.
— Kalie
Thirty days moves fast when you are also dealing with a pending DWI charge, and one missed detail in your written request can cost you the hearing entirely. Clients typically work directly with an attorney from the first call to receive assistance with drafting requests, gathering test records, or subpoenaing relevant individuals for hearings.
The law firm serves clients from offices in two New Hampshire locations and focuses exclusively on clients within the state. If you were arrested recently, contact us now with your suspension notice in hand so we can calculate your deadline and get your request filed correctly the first time. For a fuller walkthrough of the process, our guide on ALS hearing steps covers the statutory citations in more depth.
A DWI conviction in New Hampshire remains part of your criminal and driving record permanently under state law, and it is not eligible for annulment for a set number of years depending on the offense. Because rules on annulment eligibility can be detailed, it is worth discussing your specific situation with an attorney.
An Administrative License Suspension hearing is a proceeding separate from your criminal DWI case where an examiner decides only specific administrative questions, such as whether the officer had reasonable grounds and whether you refused testing or met the BAC threshold, as outlined in RSA 265-A:31. It does not decide whether you are guilty of DWI itself.
In New Hampshire, a suspension notice is served at or near the time of arrest, and requesting a hearing does not pause that suspension while you wait for your hearing date. The suspension stays in effect unless the examiner later rescinds it based on the hearing record.
A second DWI conviction in New Hampshire typically brings longer license suspension periods, higher fines, and potential jail time compared to a first offense, with specifics depending on the circumstances of the case. Given how much heavier the penalties become, speaking with a criminal defense attorney early is especially important for a second offense.
If your written request is not received by the Bureau of Hearings within 30 days of service, the request is denied as untimely and your suspension remains in effect. There are only narrow exceptions to this rule, so contacting an attorney immediately gives you the best chance of identifying whether one applies to your case.
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