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DUI Charge - Helping your spouse, partner, child, friend



- If someone you care about has been charged with a DUI, what can you do to help them?

- It is very common to have a parent, partner, spouse, or friend call our law firm when someone they care about has been charged with a DUI.

- Here are 4 things you need to know about helping a loved one.



1/ DUI charge does not mean there’s an alcohol problem



- Most people that contact our law firm about their DUI charges are not alcoholics.  

- And most do not have an alcohol problem.

- The majority of DUI cases are people that had a few drinks and thought that they were okay to drive.  

- From your perspective, it's important to recognize the person you care about does have a legal challenge ahead of them but does not necessarily have an alcohol problem.



2/ Can you book a call with a DUI law firm on behalf of someone else?



- Yes.  It is common for someone other than the person charged to call our law firm to get help for their Impaired Driving, Over 80 or Refusal DUI charge.

- We receive calls from others because they are embarrassed, or English may not be their first language, or if they have a drinking problem, their ability to make decisions may be compromised.

- So calling on behalf of your loved one is usually a big help.



3/ Do you need permission to call on behalf of someone else?



- If you are a parent or legal guardian of an under-aged person, you can call on behalf of the person charged.

- If you are not a parent or legal guardian of someone under the legal age, you need to get permission from that person charged to discuss information that is not public. 

- For example, the fact that someone was charged with a DUI is a matter of public record.

- But any information beyond that public fact is confidential, and you would need to get permission from the accused to discuss private information.



4/ If your vehicle is impounded, can you get it released early?



- The short answer is, no.

- When someone gets charged with Impaired Driving, the police will immediately order the vehicle to be impounded.

- Now, if that vehicle is yours, in other words, it's not owned by the person that was charged, unfortunately there’s nothing you can do to get the vehicle out of the impound early.

- The vehicle that is involved in the DUI incident will be impounded, regardless of who owns that vehicle.



https://youtu.be/0YSWEpS5ehA https://www.nextlaw.ca/2022/09/04/dui-helping-a-spouse-child-or-friend/

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