Underage DUI in Washington
Most of the calls we get about underage DUI come from a parent, and most of them come a few hours after the moment when a call would have helped most.
Not because anyone did anything wrong at home. Because of what a well-raised nineteen-year-old does when an adult in a uniform asks him a question. He answers it. He explains. He tries to be helpful, because being helpful has worked for him his whole life. It is the single most expensive instinct a young person brings into a police encounter.
These are the questions parents and young drivers actually ask us, answered plainly. If your son or daughter has been arrested or has been asked to come in and talk about something, the last question on this page is the one to read first.
Common Questions About Underage DUI
1. Is the limit different for drivers under 21?
Yes. For drivers under twenty-one, Washington’s underage alcohol-driving offense applies at an alcohol concentration of at least 0.02 but below 0.08 within two hours after driving. It also applies when THC is above 0.00 but below 5.00. Drivers can still face a standard DUI charge below 0.08 if there is evidence of impairment. The lower threshold is not a safe-driving allowance.
2. Can my child be charged with a regular DUI too?
Yes. The lower threshold does not replace the standard DUI charge. A young driver can face that charge at 0.08 or above, with THC at 5.00 or above, or when there is evidence of impairment even below those numbers. The charge and consequences depend on the facts.
3. My child is 19. Does that mean juvenile court?
No. If this happened at nineteen, they are an adult in criminal court, with an adult case and an adult record. The word “underage” refers to drinking age, not to any lighter category of legal treatment.
4. Will this affect school?
It can, on a separate track from the criminal case. School and university conduct processes follow their own policies, and some react to a charge rather than waiting for a conviction. Athletic eligibility, campus housing, and scholarship terms may be affected before any court date arrives.
5. Will this follow my child for life?
A standard DUI conviction in Washington cannot be vacated. The separate underage alcohol-driving offense is not the same conviction and may be eligible to be vacated if the statutory requirements are met. Either can affect education, licensing, travel, and background checks, so the exact charge matters.
6. What about the license?
The Department of Licensing runs its own case on its own clock. The hearing request is due within seven days after the hearing notice, usually given at arrest in breath-test or refusal cases; blood-test notice may come later. For a young driver, the license usually is the week — the job, the classes, the commute — so losing it starts unwinding everything else.
7. The police want to talk to my child. Should we cooperate?
Not without a lawyer present, and this matters more for young people than for anyone else. We wrote about a nineteen-year-old asked to come in and answer whether he had been driving that day. He said yes, honestly, thinking about ordinary speeding. He was booked on half a dozen charges. A lawyer later pulled the dashcam and proved it was not even his car — not the same make, model, or year — and every charge was dropped. None of it needed to happen.
8. Can I sit in on the meetings with the lawyer?
That starts with your son or daughter. If they are eighteen or older, they are the client, even if you are the one calling and the one paying. The lawyer may still need to speak with them alone. Most families work this out easily once it is explained, but it is better said at the start than discovered later.
9. Should I call the school and explain?
Get legal advice before giving the school an account of what happened. Check any reporting requirement or response deadline promptly; do not miss an obligation while waiting for the police report.
10. What should we do right now?
Get legal advice promptly, make sure your child is not answering further investigative questions without a lawyer, and arrange any DOL hearing request within the deadline on the notice. Do not wait for one step to finish before addressing the others.
If your son or daughter has been arrested for DUI in the Greater Seattle area or has been asked to come ‘down to the station to help us out,’ call us. Now.