Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: DWI License Plates

You were quite fortunate. If this had been a third offense, your car could have been forfeited to the state as an instrument used in a criminal offense. you would have no defense if you were in the vehicle with him at the time.

As it stands your vehicle will be required to have special series plates for a one year period since your boyfriend had access to your vehicle and used it to commit a crime while you were in the vehicle. Any plates for vehicles he owns will also be impounded and replaced with special series plates.

Re: DWI License Plates

By law, if a driver is subject to a plate impoundment, the impoundment applies to all vehicle with the driver's name on the title AND the vehicle used during the offense, even if the driver's name is not on that title. In these situations, there is the possibility of getting the impoundment lifted from the vehicle used during the offense, but the owner must meet certain criteria.

Those criteria are listed right on the impoundment form. They are: (1) the violator must have a valid license at the time of the DWI offense; (2) the registered owner must be the current owner and possessor of the vehicle; (3) the owner must live at a different address from the violator according to DMV records; (4) the owner must not have been a passenger at the time of the DWI offense; and (5) the owner must sign a statement saying that he/she knows that the violator cannot operate a vehicle without a valid driver's license.

Unfortunately, in your situation you were a passenger when the DWI was committed, so you cannot get automatically exempted. However, talk to your boyfriend about getting legal representation. It is possible that a legal argument could save the day and get the plate impoundment lifted in court.