What is Forfeiture? Thats what I'm going to tell you. Asset Forfeiture is aprocess that allows the government to take property away from people permanently, without paying for it, if the property or its owner is involved in certain criminal offenses, such as drug offenses or gambling. Any kind of property: cars, boats, airplanes, cash, bank accounts, homes and even businesses, can be forfeited.
             If you are found not guilty in your criminal case or even if they drop the charges you wont necessarily get you r property back automatically. If the government decides to "forfeit" it, you have to win the forfeiture case to get it back. A forfeiture case can take anywhere from a few months to several years.
             What would you do if they say something is going to be forfeited? Start by shopping around for a forfeiture lawyer.You might ask yourself "can i get a court-appointed attorney to defend me in my case?" Well, its not likely. Criminal defendants are entitled to a court appointed attorney paid for by the government, but, so far, this has rarely been extended to civil forfeiture victims. However, a few courts are starting to change there minds about this. But when you find a lawyer ask them how many forfeiture cases he or she has defended. Comparison shop. The lawyer who hasn't handled a forfeiture case before may make mistakes that ruin your chances of winning. Forfeiture procedure is not like ordinary civil procedure, and it shares a few features of criminal law, as well as admiralty law and quaint "in rem" procedures.
             The process you'll have to undergo depends a lot on whether the seizure will be federal or state. Often you wont know at the beginning whether the forfeiture case will be state or federal. Even if the state cops seized your property, they can turn it over to the federal government for forfeiture and get a kickback of up to 80% of the value of the property forfeited, under th
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