After an arrest · Leer en español
The first hours,
in plain English
Short, sourced answers to the questions people actually type at two in the morning. Each one is checked against the current Minnesota statute or rule it cites, including the DWI changes that took effect August 1, 2025. None of it is legal advice — it is what to know before you reach an attorney.
- You can talk to a lawyer before you take the test. Here's exactly what that right covers.Minnesota gives a DWI arrestee a limited right to consult an attorney by phone before deciding on a breath, blood or urine test. It is real, it is short, and it is the reason The Blue Pages is in the room.Checked 2026-09-04
- What happens to your license after a Minnesota DWI arrest — the 14-day permit, the revocation, and the 60-day deadlineThe license consequences run on their own track, separate from the criminal case, and several of the numbers changed on August 1, 2025. Here they are from the statutes themselves.Checked 2026-09-04
- Refusing the test in Minnesota: which refusals are a crime, and what it costs your licenseRefusing a breath test is a crime in Minnesota. Refusing blood or urine is a crime only when a search warrant requires the test. Either way, the license consequence is at least a year.Checked 2026-09-04
- Bail and the first court appearance in Minnesota: the 36-hour rule and what happens in the roomAfter an arrest, Minnesota's rules require a first appearance before a judge within 36 hours — not counting the day of arrest, Sundays or holidays. That hearing is where release conditions and bail are set.Checked 2026-09-04
- How to reach someone in a Minnesota county jail — and what not to say on the phoneIf someone you know was just arrested, this is the practical order of operations: confirm where they are, find out when they see a judge, get them an attorney, and keep the case off the jail phone.Checked 2026-09-04
- Getting your license back after a Minnesota DWI: the $680, the interlock, and the order to do things inReinstatement after a DWI revocation is a fixed sequence with a fixed price. Here is the sequence from the statutes, and where the ignition interlock fits.Checked 2026-09-04
- Whiskey plates and vehicle forfeiture: when Minnesota takes the plates, when it takes the car, and the 60-day deadlineTwo consequences that surprise people after a DWI arrest — plate impoundment (the 'whiskey plates') and vehicle forfeiture — with the triggers, the durations and the one deadline that matters.Checked 2026-09-04
- The four degrees of DWI in Minnesota, what moves a charge up a degree, and the maximum penaltiesMinnesota charges DWI in four degrees. The degree is set by counting aggravating factors — priors within ten years, a 0.16 or higher, a child in the car — and by whether you refused the test. Here is the table, from the statutes.Checked 2026-09-04
- The words you'll hear in the first 48 hours: a plain-English glossary of Minnesota criminal and DWI termsShort definitions for the terms that come up between the arrest and the first court date — implied consent, omnibus hearing, conditional release, whiskey plates, B-card — with the statute or rule each one comes from.Checked 2026-09-04