If your license is suspended or revoked, please remember that the Court takes license suspension very seriously. The penalties for driving after you've lost your license could include jail. When you stand before a judge, having been caught driving on a suspended or revoked license, you're giving the Court a message that you don't respect its authority or the authority of society. In return, the judge will likely send you a message back. The judge will let you know, usually with a jail sentence, that you must abide by the rules of society. In most cases, hiring a experienced lawyer can greatly reduce the consequences of a charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license. In Kansas, driving while revoked for an alcohol-related offense carries mandatory jail time.

If you need to drive to work (or drive for your job), to school or to medical care, you may be eligible for some sort of limited driver's license. An attorney can help you to determine if this is an option in your case.

A license suspension or revocation lasts for a fixed period of time. At the end of that period, your license does not automatically come back to you. It's up to you to apply for reinstatement.

To have your license reinstated, you'll have to provide the licensing authority with certain documents. These may include an SR 22 ( a special kind of certificate of insurance). You also may have to attend driving school or pay damages to an injured party if your case involved an accident that was deemed your fault. In all cases, you will have to pay a reinstatement fee. This fee will vary depending on how and why your license was suspended or revoked. Again, your license never, ever returns automatically. You must take some type of action.

An experienced attorney can help you with the paperwork and may be able to shorten the process to get your license back.

Whatever you do: Don't drive if your license has been suspended or revoked.