First DUI in California: Exactly What Happens, Step by Step

Last reviewed: July 28, 2026 Checked against the current California code on this date.

You got arrested for a first DUI in California. Take a breath. Most first DUIs follow the same path, and knowing that path takes away a lot of the fear.

Here is the one thing that cannot wait: you have 10 days to save your driver’s license. Everything else can be handled step by step, but that clock is already running. Start there.

The 10-day rule. When you were arrested, the officer likely took your plastic license and gave you a paper permit. You have only 10 days to call the DMV and ask for a hearing. The clock starts the day the notice of suspension was handed or mailed to you, and that paper permit is the notice. For most people that is the day of the arrest. If your case involved a blood draw, the notice can come by mail weeks later, and your 10 days start then. Miss the deadline and the suspension goes ahead on schedule, and you lose the hearing that could stop it. Do this first.

You now have two separate cases, not one

This surprises almost everyone. One DUI arrest creates two completely separate problems, handled by two different places:

The DMV case is about your driver’s license. The DMV does not care if you are guilty of a crime. It only cares about your license.
The court case is the criminal side, the one with a judge, possible fines, classes, and jail.

They run at the same time but do not talk to each other. You can win one and lose the other. That is why the 10-day DMV step matters on its own, no matter what happens in court later.

Want to see both tracks laid out in order? The free first DUI walkthrough takes you through the whole thing step by step, from the 10-day DMV deadline to your last court date. It runs entirely on your own device.

One arrest, two separate cases

They run at the same time. They do not talk to each other. You can win one and lose the other.

Day 0 · The arrest. The officer usually takes your plastic license and hands you a pink form (a DS-367). That pink form is your temporary license, and it is also the thing that starts the DMV clock.

The DMV case

About your driver’s license only. The DMV does not care whether you are guilty of a crime.

By day 10 · hard deadline Call DMV Driver Safety and request a hearing. The 10 days run from the day the pink form was handed or mailed to you, not from the incident. Ask for a stay of the suspension in the same call. If your case involved a blood draw, the notice may come by mail weeks later, and your 10 days start then.
Day 31 · if you did nothing The suspension starts. The pink form is good for 30 days from service. Day 30 you are still legal. Day 31 you are not. First-offense DMV suspension is 4 months.
Weeks later The hearing. Usually by phone. A DMV officer, not a judge. Requesting on time normally keeps you driving until it happens.
After the decision Suspension, or no suspension. If suspended, most people can get a restricted license by installing an ignition interlock, enrolling in the DUI class, and filing SR-22 insurance. Not available if you were under 21, refused the test, or had no valid license.

The court case

The criminal side. A judge, a prosecutor, and possible fines, classes, and custody.

Day 0 to day 2 Released, or held. Most people are released the same night with a citation and a promise to appear. If you are held, your first appearance comes within about two court days.
Typically 3 to 8 weeks out Arraignment. Charges are read, you enter a plea, the next date is set. Your date is printed on the citation. This is the appearance you cannot miss.
Then, over months Pretrial hearings and negotiation. Discovery gets requested and reviewed, and the case gets negotiated. Most first DUIs end here. Long gaps of silence between dates are normal.
The end of it Resolution and sentencing. A negotiated plea, a reduction, a dismissal, or a trial. If you are convicted, the court triggers its own separate 6-month license suspension, which overlaps with the DMV’s rather than stacking on top of it.

The trap: people focus on the court case because it feels bigger, and lose the license by letting day 10 pass. Handle the DMV call first. It takes fifteen minutes and it is the only deadline on this page that cannot be fixed later.

How much this varies: the DMV timeline is statewide. Everything on the court side, especially how long it takes and what the sentence looks like, depends heavily on which county your case is filed in.

Step one: the 10-day DMV deadline

Call the DMV Driver Safety office and ask for a hearing within 10 days of getting the notice of suspension. Doing this does two good things: it puts your license suspension on hold until the hearing, and it gives you (or a lawyer) a chance to fight the suspension.

If you do nothing, the suspension starts 30 days after the notice was served on you. There is no grace period. You can still ask the DMV for a hearing after the deadline, but a late hearing does not pause the suspension.

What you are facing in court (first offense)

For a typical first DUI, here is what the law allows. “Allows” is the key word, most first-time cases do not end up at the harsh end of these ranges.

Jail: the law sets a minimum of 96 hours and a maximum of 6 months. Whether you actually serve the 96 hours is a county question. In many counties a clean first offense ends with no custody past the night you were booked. In others the minimum gets ordered as routine, and it is usually served through work release or electronic monitoring rather than a cell, with at least 48 of the hours continuous. A high test result, a refusal, or an accident makes custody more likely anywhere. Often the arrest night is the only custody you’ll see. First offenses resolve through probation.
Fine: the base fine is $390 to $1,000, but with the state’s add-on fees the real total usually lands somewhere around $2,000 to $3,600.
DUI class: a 3-month program is standard. State law makes it a 9-month program if your blood alcohol was 0.20 or higher, or if you refused the test. Between 0.15 and 0.20, some counties push for the longer program anyway, so ask what your county does.
Probation: usually 3 to 5 years of informal probation. The main rules are simple: don’t drive with any alcohol in your system, don’t refuse a test if you’re stopped again, and don’t pick up new charges.

Read more: the exact penalty rules and probation terms

Jail (Vehicle Code 23536). A first DUI is punishable by 96 hours to 6 months in county jail, and if any jail is imposed, at least 48 of those hours must be served in a row. The court is supposed to try to schedule jail on your days off if possible.

Fines and fees (Vehicle Code 23536). The statute says $390 to $1,000, but California adds mandatory “penalty assessments” (court, county, and state surcharges) on top. These multiply the base fine several times over, which is why the real bill is usually a few thousand dollars.

DUI education (Vehicle Code 23538). If you get probation, you must finish a licensed DUI program. The standard first-offender program runs about 3 months. A blood alcohol of 0.20% or more, or a test refusal, bumps you to a 9-month program (Vehicle Code 23538(b)(2)). Some counties push for the longer program from 0.15 up, but the statute draws the line at 0.20.

Probation (Vehicle Code 23600). Probation runs 3 to 5 years. Required conditions include: not driving with any measurable alcohol in your blood, not refusing a chemical test if you’re arrested again, and not committing any new crime. If you violate probation with a blood alcohol over 0.04%, the court must add at least 48 hours of jail.

What happens to your license

A first DUI conviction triggers its own 6-month suspension, on top of the 4-month one the DMV already started from the arrest. The two run at the same time, not back to back, so the total is the longer of the two. The good news for most people: you usually don’t have to go without driving for those months.

Since 2019, you can typically get back on the road right away with a restricted license if you install an ignition interlock device (IID), a small breath tester wired to your car that won’t let it start if it detects alcohol. For a first offense, the IID period is usually about 6 months. You’ll also need to enroll in your DUI class, carry special (SR-22) insurance, and pay the fees.

Read more: suspensions, restricted licenses, and the IID

There are actually two suspensions floating around, because of your two cases. The DMV’s administrative suspension (from the arrest) runs about 4 months for a first offense if you don’t go the IID route. The court-ordered suspension (from a conviction) runs 6 months. They can overlap.

The simplest path for most first offenders is the IID restricted license: enroll in the DUI program, install a certified IID and file the paperwork, get your SR-22 insurance, pay the fees, and you can generally drive without a “hard” no-driving period. Talk to a lawyer or the DMV about the exact steps for your case, because the timing depends on both cases.

If you refused the breath or blood test

California has an “implied consent” law: by driving, you already agreed to take a chemical test if you’re lawfully arrested for DUI. Refusing has its own separate penalties, and they are harsher than the DUI itself in one key way.

Refusing costs you more, and there’s no restricted-license workaround. A first refusal means a 1-year license suspension with no restricted license to drive during it. Refusal also adds mandatory penalties if you’re convicted, and the prosecutor can tell the jury your refusal suggests you knew you were drunk.

What is a “wet reckless”?

You may hear this term. A “wet reckless” is a reduced charge a prosecutor may offer instead of a DUI, where you plead to reckless driving that involved alcohol. It is usually a better deal, but it is not a free pass.

The upsides: no mandatory minimum jail, lower fines, a shorter class, usually no automatic license suspension from the court, and often no required IID. The license catch, and it is the one people miss: a wet reckless fixes the court side only. The DMV suspension from the arrest runs on its own track, so if you never asked for that hearing, or asked and lost, you are still suspended no matter how good the court deal was. The other catch: if you get another DUI within 10 years, that wet reckless still counts as a prior DUI, so the next one is treated as a second offense.

What we see in real cases

A few realities that help set expectations:

Custody past the arrest night is the exception, not the rule. On a clean first DUI most people serve nothing more, but it is a county call, not a promise. Probation, the fine, and the class are the real sentence.
Most first DUIs end in a negotiated plea, not a trial. The negotiation is where the outcome gets decided.
The lower your BAC, the better your odds of a wet reckless. Reductions also come easier with a clean record and no accident.
Treat it as a wake-up call, visibly, even if you’re sure it wasn’t one. Here’s something people don’t expect: DAs tend to read a DUI as a sign of a drinking problem, even when it truly was a one-time mistake. The people who get the best outcomes are the ones who act on that assumption instead of fighting it. Start going to AA or a similar program, get an alcohol assessment, do something concrete that shows the problem, if there was one, is being handled. Bring proof of it to court. It genuinely moves prosecutors and judges.
Expect the whole process to take 6 months to a year. It depends on how clogged the court is, and right now the backlogs are significant. Long stretches of silence between court dates are normal, not a bad sign.
A private attorney often makes the case run slower, and that’s not a bad thing. Good lawyers take time to get the discovery (the police reports, video, and test records) and actually review it. Thorough is slow.
The 10-day trap is real. The license side can be lost by simply missing the DMV deadline, even when the court case goes fine. Don’t let that happen.

And if the wake-up call turns out to be real, that’s not a bad ending. Our Road Back section is written for exactly that.

Do you need a lawyer for this?

A first DUI is one of the most common cases in California courts, and many are very defendable. Even setting aside the criminal side, a lawyer can handle the DMV hearing, argue for a reduction like a wet reckless, and often keep you driving with minimal disruption.

At the very least, request that DMV hearing within 10 days yourself if you’re not going to talk to a lawyer right away. That deadline waits for no one.

This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to a California attorney about your situation.