When They Take Your Property
42 Pa.C.S. 5805 — 30 days to answer, and clear and convincing proof from the Commonwealth
Thirty days to answer. A copy of the forfeiture petition is served personally or by certified mail on the owner and each person in possession at the seizure. A claimant files a written answer setting forth a right of possession within 30 days of service; without one, a decree of forfeiture is entered.
A stay while charged. Before answering, a claimant who has been criminally charged in an associated case may move to stay the forfeiture, and the motion is granted. The claimant then has 30 days from when the stay is lifted to answer.
The burdens. The Commonwealth first establishes that the property is subject to forfeiture. The claimant then shows by a preponderance of the evidence ownership or a documented interest, lawfully acquired. The Commonwealth must then prove by clear and convincing evidence that the property was unlawfully used or possessed, and, where the claimant says they did not know, that it was used by the claimant or with the claimant's knowledge and consent.
Too much, or acquitted. The claimant may ask the court whether the forfeiture is constitutionally excessive, and if it is grossly disproportional to the offense, the court reduces or eliminates it. An owner acquitted of every crime that authorizes forfeiture has a rebuttable presumption that the property was lawfully used or possessed.
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 Pennsylvania attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- 42 Pa.C.S. 5805 — Forfeiture procedure
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Pennsylvania attorney.