Three numbers to know. Your temporary license is good for 14 days. You have 60 days from the notice to ask a court to review the revocation. And prior incidents now count for 20 years when the state sets the revocation — even though the criminal charge still looks back only ten.
The notice and the 14-day temporary license
If you fail or refuse the test, the officer takes your license and gives you a notice of revocation. Under the statute as amended in 2025, the officer must:
"issue the person a temporary license effective for only 14 days"
Minn. Stat. § 169A.52, subd. 7(c)(2)
Before August 1, 2025, that permit ran seven days. Plenty of older web pages still say seven. It is fourteen.
How long the revocation lasts
The 2025 law moved the revocation periods into a single section, § 171.178. For a person with no qualifying prior incident in the lookback window:
- Test failure at 0.08 or more: revocation of "not less than 90 days" (§ 171.178, subd. 4).
- Test refusal: revocation of "not less than one year" (§ 171.178, subd. 3).
- Alcohol concentration of 0.16 or more — twice the legal limit: "not less than one year" (§ 171.178, subd. 4).
- Any qualifying prior incident within the past 20 years: the revocation continues until you complete the ignition-interlock program under § 171.306 (§ 171.178, subd. 4).
Two different clocks
This is the part that trips people up. For license consequences, § 171.178 counts prior incidents "within the past 20 years." For the criminal charge, a prior incident is an aggravating factor only if it falls "within the ten years immediately preceding the current offense" (§ 169A.03, subd. 3). So a 2010 DWI can push your 2026 revocation into interlock territory without making the 2026 charge a more serious degree. An attorney will look at both.
Challenging the revocation: 60 days
"Within 60 days following receipt of a notice and order of revocation or disqualification pursuant to section 169A.52, a person may petition the court for review."
Minn. Stat. § 169A.53, subd. 2
This is a civil case, separate from the criminal one, with its own filing fee and its own deadline. Miss the 60 days and the revocation stands regardless of what happens in criminal court. It is one of the first things to ask an attorney about. DWI attorneys by county →
Sources
- Minn. Stat. § 169A.52, subd. 7 — notice of revocation; 14-day temporary license (as amended by 2025 Minn. Laws ch. 29)
- Minn. Stat. § 171.178 — revocation periods; 20-year lookback (2025 Minn. Laws ch. 29, § 13)
- Minn. Stat. § 169A.53, subd. 2 — petition for judicial review within 60 days
- Minn. Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 3 — 'aggravating factor' (criminal lookback, ten years)
Checked against the sources above on 2026-09-04. This is general information about Minnesota law, not legal advice, and it can't account for your situation. Laws change — several of these did on August 1, 2025. Talk to an attorney.