Why Would a License Still Be Suspended After Court?
License suspensions caused by traffic court can be tricky to reverse even if you attend court. The Secretary of State will tell you to vacate (a fancy legal word for undo) your traffic ticket convictions and get court supervision. For many suspensions, getting court supervision will go a long way towards fixing the suspension because convictions are a leading cause of suspensions. This alone however is never enough to fix the problem. A suspension for traffic tickets involves two different organizations: the traffic courts and the DMV (Secretary of State). Revisiting the traffic ticket case does not mean the Secretary of Sate is aware of all of your hard work. Until they hear otherwise, the Secretary of State will keep you suspended. Yikes! So, how do we tell the Secretary of State what you have done in court?
Updating the DMV (Secretary of State) About Traffic Court?
The DMV (Secretary of State) isn’t like you or me. It isn’t enough to call them on the phone. They require special forms to update a driving record. This document is called a report of court disposition or report of court supervision. It goes by several names depending on the county. Some counties like Kane County call it a vacate order. In Cook County, it is known as a transcript. In DuPage, Will, and most other counties, it is known simply as the court disposition. The report of court supervision shown here is used exclusively for court supervision orders. To learn about other forms, see our companion article.
The Secretary of State will not update a record unless they receive an original copies of this form. You can obtain these from the Circuit Court Clerk of the county in which you attended court often for free (Cook County typically charges $6 each). Once processed, the record will be updated. But where can I take this form?
NOTE: This is only one type of form. Read here for information the types of dispositions.
How do I deliver this form to the Secretary of State?
Unfortunately, updating the Secretary of State to fix your suspended license is more complicated than visiting your local DMV. In Illinois, there are are only two locations where these documents are processed:
- Chicago Regional Office located at 17 N. State Street, Chicago, IL 60602
- Springfield Secretary of State located at 2701 S. Dirksen Parkway, Springfield, IL 62723
After getting the form from the clerk, the driver must bring an original copy of these documents to one of these. You can also mail it to the address listed on the document but it can take several weeks to process by mail. Processing in Chicago takes approximately 3-5 business days and processing in Springfield is usually performed instantly. While this is inconvenient, it is the fastest way to reinstate your privileges. But is there an easier way?
How We Can Help Process Your License Suspension Reversal?
As a traffic law firm, we routinely send documents to the Secretary of State for our clients. We work to process documents quickly and can do so for you to. For our process we:
- Retrieve the document for you and check it for errors
- Send via UPS air mail to our courier
- Have our courier hand walk the document(s) into Springfield for immediate processing
- Update you via text as soon as your license is valid
If you wish to have us handle the your license suspension for you, we are happy to at an affordable rate.
If you would like your documents processed quickly, call us to request a quote!
