If the authorities in California have seized your property, they will send you a notice of seizure. This notice informs you that your asset has been subject to seizure and faces forfeiture. You are on the verge of permanently losing your property when you receive this notice. You have a specific period to file a remission petition or claim contesting the forfeiture and try to recover or abandon the property. If you plan to recover it, you must act fast in petitioning. Most importantly, you need legal counsel from an asset forfeiture lawyer.

Recovering seized property can be an uphill task. At Asset Forfeiture Attorney, we understand this and are willing to do everything possible to help you. We have enabled several clients in California and nationwide to regain their assets and will not hesitate to do the same for you. Our lawyers will develop a compelling defense to show that forfeiture is not necessary and you should receive your property back. Call us to share the specifics of your case. Our experienced asset forfeiture lawyers will strive to obtain the best possible outcome.

Asset Forfeiture Overview

Asset forfeiture occurs when state or federal authorities gain permanent possession of your property since they suspect it was either acquired through criminal activity or used in perpetrating an offense. Forfeiture can only happen after civil proceedings, whereby the authorities file a lawsuit against the asset itself and not you, the asset owner. For the authorities to prevail in the suit, they must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the asset was linked to illegal activity.

Note that the authorities can take your assets before you are convicted of an offense. However, they often cannot forfeit those assets until the court convicts them of an offense.

To forfeit your assets allegedly linked to a crime, forfeiture agents generally:

  • Take physical control of your assets like cash, cars, or drugs.
  • Order brokers and banks to freeze your accounts to prevent you from withdrawing money.
  • Record forfeiture notices on your real estate to prevent you from mortgaging, transferring, or selling it

After the seizure of your assets, you will no longer control or benefit from them unless the judge eventually denies the forfeiture and directs that the assets be returned to you and the legal title cleared.

California asset forfeiture statutes allow the authorities to confiscate most properties. The most prevalent examples of seizable properties are:

  • Any real or personal property interest obtained via a series of criminal profiteering activity
  • Illegal narcotics or the land, buildings, or machinery utilized to make those drugs
  • Machines are utilized to violate the law. For example, utilizing a machine to produce counterfeit trademarks
  • Planes and boats
  • An automobile used to perpetrate a crime, like distributing drugs or transporting stolen property
  • Animals if found guilty of animal cruelty or abuse
  • Raw materials
  • Computer or telecommunications used to perpetrate a computer-related crime, like internet fraud
  • Weapons, like a firearm involved in an assault with a deadly weapon case
  • Securities, bank accounts, money, and other financial instruments

Generally, anything the police believe is connected to the perpetration of an offense can be seized and forfeited. The precise property the authorities can seize depends on the particular case and the crime committed.

The authorities might not confiscate your residential home. The same applies to property you co-own with someone who did not know criminal activity happened there. In other words, properties that face forfeiture fall into any of these categories:

  • Facilitators, including items used to further criminal activity, like a getaway vehicle
  • Exchanges, including cash and other assets traded for (or meant to be traded for contraband)
  • Contraband involved in unlawful activity (like firearms or narcotics)
  • Proceeds from contraband or other unlawful activity, like real estate or cash

Notice of Seizure and Forfeiture Guidelines

Asset forfeiture is a complicated legal procedure. Authorities might seize your assets at will, no doubt. However, they must follow due process for the seizure to change to permanent asset forfeiture. To uphold your rights, they must follow several guidelines.

As mentioned above, the government will send you a notice of seizure if it has confiscated your property. A notice of seizure is an official notification informing you that the government has taken your assets, and they might be forfeited. If the government intends to forfeit the asset permanently, it must accompany the notice of seizure with an official notice of a forfeiture proceeding. The government must send these documents via mail or personal delivery or publish them in your area newspaper’s legal notices section.

The notice of seizure generally:

  • Describes the confiscated property
  • The reasons for its seizure
  • The date the seizure happened
  • The ID of every owner and lien holder (if it applies)
  • The timeframe within which you must file a petition or claim
  • Details on how you will file the petition or claim

Receiving the notice of seizure and notice of a forfeiture proceeding allows you to bring a remission petition or claim to challenge the forfeiture. Generally, you have three options after you receive the notices:

  • Bring a claim asserting your interest in or ownership of the asset
  • Bring a remission petition requesting the government to return the property to you
  • Opt to abandon your claim to the asset

If you wish to file a petition or claim, you have 30 days. The clock on this period starts ticking from receiving these notices through mail or personal delivery. You may fail to receive mailed or personal notice. In that case, you must bring your petition or claim within thirty days after the last time the notice is published in a newspaper. Failure to respond within the stipulated period will lead to you forfeiting the property to the government.

You must file your petition or claim in the county where the asset was seized. Within thirty days of bringing your petition or claim, you must give a copy of the same to the attorney general or district attorney. The copy must have the court clerk's filing stamp. Filing a petition or claim triggers a court process. There will be a trial by the jury to decide on the asset forfeiture.

In California, unlike a few other states, the burden of proof lies with the government. It must prove why you should forfeit your property. Generally, the government must successfully demonstrate the following facts:

  • The asset in question is connected to illegal activity. It could prove this in either of these ways:
    • The asset was utilized to perpetrate an offense
    • The asset was derived from or acquired as the proceeds of an offense
  • Everyone with an interest in ownership of the assets understood they were being utilized to perpetrate an offense and agreed to that utilization.

These guidelines allow you your day in court. You will have the opportunity to persuade the judge or jury against asset forfeiture. You have the best chance of retaining your property if an attorney represents you in the court proceedings. An asset forfeiture attorney who understands the necessary procedures and laws about forfeited property can make all the difference.

Remember, forfeiture laws can be intricate and with deadlines. Generally, the regulations and laws are meant to make it challenging for persons to recover their property. Should you miss the deadline for submitting even something trivial to the government, you might permanently lose your opportunity to regain your property. A lawyer can help you navigate the strict timelines and intricacy of the available regulations.

What Becomes of Forfeited Assets?

You might lose your rights to object if you do not go to court to contest the forfeiture against your property. In that case, you will lose your assets permanently. The government will not compensate you when that happens. The same applies if you lose the hearing for contesting the forfeiture.  

Should the court permit the authorities to retain your assets via forfeiture, they will more likely sell them at an auction and have the profits. California enacted Senate Bill (SB) 443 to protect residents against this process. However, law enforcement agencies continue with equitable sharing for forfeiture cases that involve criminal convictions.

Equitable sharing is when state law enforcement agencies pass the assets taken by forfeiture to the federal police. When this happens, the assets will fall under federal guidelines. Thus, they will be managed under the federal forfeiture statutes, which are more strict than California guidelines.

Nonetheless, under the equitable sharing process, the police keep at most 80 percent of the proceeds generated via the forfeiture. The percentage adds up to a revenue of tens of millions of dollars for police agencies yearly in California. Due to the substantial profit incentive, law enforcement agencies will try harder to ensure you forfeit your assets. You need a compelling defense strategy to help retain it.

Fighting Back After Receiving a Notice of Seizure

There are several ways to defend against asset forfeiture, but they are not apparent at first glance. An experienced lawyer can help you navigate the process, telling you what you should expect and your likelihood of winning the case. At the same time, they defend your rights against the government. Even more importantly, a skilled lawyer will understand how crucial it is to meet the deadlines different asset forfeiture systems impose at the state and federal levels. From here, they can assist in identifying the ideal way to pursue your interests and recover your property.

If you are a lienholder or third-party owner, you will have the most compelling defense you can assert. Also, you may validly claim your property if, as the owner, you are innocent, but another person used the property to perpetrate an offense. In this case, you must prove that:

  • You were not aware of the crime or
  • After knowing about the crime, you attempted to stop the illegal activity

Consider this example: You and your spouse jointly own an automobile. Your spouse then begins transporting drug-manufacturing chemicals in the vehicle, and the police seize the car. In this case, you can still recover the auto if you prove you knew nothing about the transportation.

Like the innocent-owner defense, you can also prove your own innocence if you are accused of committing a crime. Put otherwise; you can prove that you did not commit any offense to begin with. A more powerful instrument in these two contexts is proving the police unlawfully acquired the assets or evidence. Unlawful search and seizure violates your rights per the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution. In that case, you may recover your property.

Apart from the above legal defenses, an experienced lawyer can negotiate with government lawyers or forfeiture agents to recover assets in exchange for cash. The government might agree after considering the following:

  • The money and time necessary to fight the case
  • The risk of losing the property altogether
  • Other mitigating circumstances

Successful negotiations depend on various factors. They include specific case facts, the strength of the presented defenses, and government policies.

You can also use other legal channels to recover your assets, at least briefly. Some federal asset forfeiture statutes allow the police to briefly return an asset to a person if losing it will cause substantial hardship. In this case, substantial hardship involves homelessness, missed work, or other serious repercussions. Eligibility for assets the police can return varies under different federal laws.

You can also pay a bond for the property value in exchange for having it back pending litigation. These ways, even if they are only temporary, can provide you relief if asset forfeiture has caused difficulty.

Contact a Competent Asset Forfeiture Attorney Near Me

If the government has sent you a notice of seizure and notice of forfeiture proceedings, you want to seek counsel from a skilled lawyer immediately. A lawyer can help you successfully contest the forfeiture of the property. They can help you file a claim or petition on time so you do not miss out on lighting for your property.

At Asset Forfeiture Attorney, we boast the resources and experience to help you navigate the asset forfeiture process. We have helped clients both in California and nationwide, fighting for them to recover their property. We will ensure you have peace of mind while we explore each of your legal options and defenses. Whether you face state or federal forfeiture, we can help you. Call us at 888-571-5590 to talk to one of our competent lawyers.