Description
published 1/11/2017 (c) Brenda Grantland, Esq.
96,237 words. 246 pages in the full sized pdf edition. Also available in epub and mobi. $14.99
Back in 1993, when the first edition of this book was published, federal forfeiture procedure had fewer Due Process protections and more obstacles for forfeiture victims (“claimants”) trying to defend their property. The government had longer deadlines for taking action – or no deadlines at all – while claimants had impossibly short deadlines for taking action. Many forfeiture victims lost all of their rights to contest the forfeiture of their property because they failed to jump through the hoops properly and in time.
Now 23 years later, after massive reform of the statutes in the year 2000, asset forfeiture is as abusive as ever – and more widespread.
The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (“CAFRA”) changed civil forfeiture procedures eliminating the cost bond, changing the burden of proof, and imposing deadlines on the government, and in many ways made the system fairer to victims, but it left gaping holes in the protection. There are new abuses now that we never dreamed of before.
And with the government having over 400 forfeiture triggering offenses to choose from, investors who invest in profit-making properties and businesses may see it seized by the forfeiture squads if they are not careful.
This is not a scholarly legal treatise made for lawyers or a pro se victim self-help book but a victim story driven exploration of asset forfeiture in the past 20 years, and its growing dangers to property owners. It describes the wide range of activities that can trigger forfeiture of your assets, even if you were not involved in any crime.
This is a book investors and property owners should read to help them protect themselves against forfeiture.
