Getting Your Property Back from Law Enforcement

Civil asset forfeiture is a legal tool that allows law enforcement to take private property used or intended to be used in committing certain crimes.

The goal of civil asset forfeiture is to deprive criminal organizations of access to certain tools that they need to commit crimes, such as the money used to fund crime. Another goal is to discourage future crimes by taking away the profits from those crimes. However, civil asset forfeiture is sometimes used to take property from innocent property owners, serving no purpose but to benefit law enforcement.

Visit Texas Appleseed's website to watch videos about civil asset forfeiture in general and the court process.

Law enforcement can seize any type of property.

They can seize physical property like cars, boats, weapons, cash, drugs, drug paraphernalia, houses, and other real property. They may also seize non-physical property such as bank accounts, royalties, and proceeds from crimes. They can even seize property that does not exist yet, such as the future proceeds of crimes that have not yet been earned when the crime takes place.

If the seizing agency is a local or State police force, that agency must submit paperwork to a local District Attorney in the county where the property was taken and ask the District Attorney to file a lawsuit for the agency to keep the property permanently. This lawsuit is called a forfeiture lawsuit and is brought in the name of the State, against the property.

Once the State files a forfeiture lawsuit, you will need to defend against the lawsuit to try to get your property back. If you choose to do nothing, your seized property will be automatically forfeited through a “default judgment.” See Question 38 and Question 39 for more information on default judgments.

If the seizing agency is a federal agency (such as the FBI, DEA, or IRS), that agency must inform you of the seizure and any next steps you can take to attempt to acquire your property.

It is usually possible to temporarily get your property back after it’s seized and before the forfeiture case is decided. Question 14 of the toolkit discusses how to get your property back before the case is decided.