When They Take Your Property
Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 12-304 — a complaint within 90 days, or 45 for a car, or the property is released
90 days, or 45 for a car. A forfeiture complaint is filed within the earlier of 90 days after the seizure or 1 year after the final disposition of the criminal charge. For a motor vehicle, it is filed within 45 days after the seizure. Without a timely complaint, the property is promptly released to the owner, if known.
Money. A proceeding about money is filed within 90 days after the final disposition of the criminal proceedings, or the money is returned to the owner on request. If the owner does not ask within 1 year, it reverts to the political subdivision or the State.
Proceeds, and the family home. Property is forfeitable as proceeds only if the State establishes by clear and convincing evidence a listed drug violation, that the property was acquired during or within a reasonable time after it, and that there was no other likely source. A principal family residence may not be forfeited as proceeds unless an owner was convicted, or another provision the section names applies.
Criminal forfeiture ordered as part of a sentence, federal forfeiture, and what may be seized in the first place are set out in other law that is not on this page. Whether a deadline has run, and what follows in a particular case, are questions for a licensed Maryland attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 12-304 — Time for filing a forfeiture complaint
- Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 12-312 — Forfeiture of proceeds
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Maryland attorney.