When is an out-of-state reinstatement packet hearing regarded as being filed?

As a lawyer who handles license reinstatement matters in the State of Illinois, I am often asked the question as to what happens if a client applies for an out-of-state hearing packet but never completes it enough so that the Secretary of State accepts the application and begins the out-of-state hearing. Title 92 of the Illinois administrative code gives us the answer taken straight from the code…

TITLE 92: TRANSPORTATION
CHAPTER II: SECRETARY OF STATE
PART 1001 PROCEDURES AND STANDARDS
SECTION 1001.100 CONDUCT OF FORMAL HEARINGS

A petition for an out-of-state formal hearing is regarded as being filed when the Department accepts, as fully completed, the documentation required by subsection (a)(3). The Department will inform the petitioner of this fact by a dated letter posted in the regular mail. Pursuant to Section 2-118 of the Code, the petitioner's file will be assigned to a hearing officer within 90 calendar days from the date of filing. A final Order will be entered no more than 90 days after it is assigned to a hearing officer.

What this means is that if a client mails the documents to the Secretary of State yet the department does not except them as fully completed, then the application is not deemed to have been filed. As an attorney who handles these types of cases every day, I would not recommend any member of my family or any loved one to go through the process of the out-of-state hearing. There seems to be a running joke that almost every application applied for through the out-of-state process is denied. In my experience, I have an incredibly high success rate at in person formal and informal hearings. I stopped performing out-of-state hearings or aiding clients with them almost 9 years ago due to the vast discrepancy in success rates between the out-of-state process and the in person hearings.

If you have a minute, take a look at some of our most successful cases in helping people get their license back or reinstate your license in the state of Illinois. You'll find that none of these are truly out-of-state hearing packets that people just mail it. Rather, they are all from in person hearings.