DWI Penalties and Fines in Texas: What You Face at Every Level

The enhancement stings in a second way: Texas law bars deferred adjudication for anyone whose BAC was 0.15 or above at the time of the offense. The most valuable tool for keeping a first offense off your record can vanish because of a single number — a number produced by a machine, under conditions a defense lawyer knows how to question.

A Second DWI: Jail Time Stops Being Optional

A second DWI conviction is a Class A misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $4,000, a jail sentence of 30 days to one year, and a license suspension of 180 days to two years. That 30-day mandatory minimum matters more than it looks: even when the court grants probation, it cannot do so without requiring at least 30 days of incarceration as a condition.

An ignition interlock device is mandatory on a second offense — including as a condition of bond while your case is still pending. Expect probation terms similar to a first offense, but with longer supervision periods and more intensive monitoring.

The mistake we see most often in second-offense cases is assuming an old conviction no longer counts. Texas puts no time limit on prior DWIs for enhancement purposes. A conviction from 20 years ago counts against you today, exactly as if it were recent.

A Third DWI Is a Felony, and a Different World

A third or subsequent DWI is a third-degree felony, and the escalation is dramatic: a fine of up to $10,000 and a prison sentence of two to ten years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The license suspension can run up to two years, and an ignition interlock device is required.

Felony cases also move to a different arena — the District Courts rather than the County Courts at Law — and a felony conviction follows you long after any sentence ends. You lose the right to vote while incarcerated, you lose the right to possess firearms, and a felony record surfaces on every background check you will ever face.

Probation is technically available for a felony DWI, but you must convince the court that you belong on community supervision rather than in prison. That is a high bar, and good intentions alone do not clear it — it takes strong advocacy and a carefully built mitigation case.

Facing a second or third DWI in Montgomery County? The mandatory minimums mean the stakes are set before you ever see a judge — but the evidence is not. Call our Conroe office before your first court setting, so we can start challenging the stop, the testing, and the state's case while every option is still on the table.

The New School Zone Law: A First Offense Can Now Be a Felony

Under a law that took effect September 1, 2025, a first-offense DWI becomes a state jail felony if the state proves you were driving in a school crossing zone while the reduced speed limit was in effect. The punishment: 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000. Your BAC level does not matter, and neither does a spotless record. The location alone does the damage — which makes where you were stopped a fact worth fighting over.

When One Arrest Becomes a Serious Felony

Certain facts turn a DWI into a serious felony even if you have never been in trouble before:

• DWI with a child passenger under the age of 15 is a state jail felony under Penal Code Section 49.045, carrying 180 days to two years in state jail and up to $10,000 in fines.
• Intoxication assault — a DWI that causes serious bodily injury to another person — is a third-degree felony carrying two to ten years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
• Intoxication manslaughter — a DWI that causes the death of another person — is a second-degree felony carrying two to twenty years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

Each of these charges is covered in depth on its own page, and each demands its own defense strategy. What they share is what every DWI charge shares: the state has to prove its case, and the evidence can be challenged.

Your License Is on a Separate 15-Day Clock

Here is the part that catches almost everyone off guard: the criminal case is not the only case against you. A DWI arrest triggers a separate civil proceeding — the Administrative License Revocation (ALR) process — through the Texas Department of Public Safety. Depending on whether you refused or failed a chemical test and whether you have prior offenses, ALR can suspend your license for 90 days to two years.

The ALR suspension is entirely separate from any suspension the criminal court imposes. You can face both, and one does not replace the other. And the deadline is unforgiving: Texas law gives you just 15 days from your arrest to request the ALR hearing that contests the suspension. Miss that window and you lose the chance to fight it.

If your 15 days are already running, contact our Conroe office today. The hearing request takes minutes to file, and it preserves your license — and your ability to get to work — while we fight the suspension.

The True Cost: What the Fine Schedule Never Shows

When people look up DWI penalties and fines, they find the numbers a judge can order — the fine, the jail range, the suspension. In our experience, the costs that follow clients the longest are the ones no fine schedule lists:

• Auto insurance premiums that rise substantially and stay elevated for years
• A $125 license reinstatement fee owed to DPS
• Ignition interlock costs — installation plus monthly monitoring fees
• DWI Education Program tuition and ongoing probation supervision fees
• Community service hours that pull you away from work and family
• Potential loss of employment, especially if you drive for a living or hold a commercial driver's license

A DWI conviction can also jeopardize professional licenses for doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, real estate agents, and others. Non-citizens may face immigration consequences. And if you are in a custody dispute, a conviction can be weighed in child custody determinations. Seen whole, the true price of a DWI is measured in years, not months — which is exactly why the charge is worth fighting from day one.

These Numbers Are Maximums: Here Is How We Fight Them

Everything above is the maximum the law allows. None of it is inevitable. Every DWI case turns on its own facts, and every case gives a skilled defense the opportunity to challenge the state's evidence and fight for a better outcome. The DWI penalties and fines you ultimately face depend on the evidence that survives scrutiny — and evidence does not always survive.