Florida law lets law enforcement take money, vehicles, and property it claims were connected to a crime, and it lets the agency keep the proceeds. The Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act, sections 932.701 through 932.7062, Florida Statutes, governs the whole process, and it is a civil case that runs on its own clock next to any criminal charge. Two deadlines and one burden of proof decide most of these cases, and all three favor the person who acts fast.
The arrest rule, and the cash exception
Since the 2016 reform, an agency generally cannot seize property under the Act unless the owner is arrested for a criminal offense. The exceptions are narrow: an owner who cannot be located, a fugitive or deceased owner, an arrested non-owner where the owner knew, an owner who agrees to cooperate, and the one that matters most in practice, monetary instruments. Cash, checks, and money orders can be seized with no arrest at all, which is why roadside cash seizures continue while nobody is charged.
The fifteen day demand almost nobody makes
After the seizure, the agency must serve notice, and the notice starts a fifteen day window to request an adversarial preliminary hearing. The court must hold that hearing within ten days of the request or as soon as practicable. At the hearing, a judge decides whether probable cause supports the seizure, with the agency’s evidence tested in open court months before any trial. If the court finds no probable cause, the property comes back, and the court may award up to $2,000 in attorney fees. An unchallenged seizure is an untested one, the same principle that decides DHSMV formal review hearings on the license side.
What the agency has to put up
Forfeiture stopped being free for law enforcement in 2016. To file the forfeiture complaint, the seizing agency must pay a filing fee of at least $1,000 and post a $1,500 bond, and the bond is payable to you if you prevail, through appeal. The agency must also proceed promptly. Delay, missing paperwork, and defective notice are not technicalities in this area of law. They are how these cases are won.
Beyond a reasonable doubt, in a civil case
If the case reaches trial, the agency must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the property was used in violation of the Act. That is the criminal standard sitting inside a civil case, and it is one of the strongest forfeiture burdens in the country. The practical effect: an agency that cannot prove the underlying crime to a jury cannot keep the property either, no matter what happened to the criminal charge.
Innocent owners, spouses, lienholders, and rentals
Property held jointly with a spouse generally cannot be forfeited unless the co-owner knew or had reason to know after reasonable inquiry. A rented or leased vehicle cannot be forfeited unless the rental company had actual knowledge, and the agency has to tell the company its vehicle is available for recovery. A lienholder without knowledge keeps its lien. The Act also recognizes the defense that the connection between the property and the violation was incidental or entirely accidental. None of these protections is automatic; each has to be raised and proved.
The records decide it
A forfeiture case is a records case. The tow sheet, the inventory search log, the property receipt, the notice and its service date, the timestamps on each, and the lawfulness of the stop that started it all. If the seizure grew out of an unlawful stop or search, the suppression principles reach the forfeiture too. This is the same discipline this office applies to breath machines and blood draws: pull the records, check each step against the rule that governs it, and make the state prove its case.
Where this fits with a criminal charge
The forfeiture case and the criminal case run separately, and what happens in one affects the other. Statements made fighting the forfeiture can surface in the criminal case, so the two have to be handled together. If your situation involves a business or professional exposure, the pre-file defense and asset forfeiture page covers that side. If your vehicle was taken after a DUI arrest, DUI impoundment is usually a different and shorter process than a true forfeiture, and the difference matters.
Common questions
Can Florida police keep my cash without arresting me?
Cash is the exception that makes forfeiture dangerous. The Contraband Forfeiture Act generally requires an arrest before property can be seized, but monetary instruments, meaning currency, checks, and money orders, are exempt from the arrest requirement. That is why cash seizures happen at traffic stops where nobody is charged with anything.
How long do I have to fight a Florida forfeiture?
Fifteen days. The notice you receive after a seizure starts a fifteen day window to demand an adversarial preliminary hearing, and the court must hold that hearing within ten days after the request, or as soon as practicable. Miss the demand and the case moves forward without that early test of the evidence.
What does the state have to prove to keep my property?
At the preliminary hearing, probable cause that the property was used in violation of the Act. At trial, the seizing agency must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the same standard as a criminal conviction and one of the strongest forfeiture standards in the country. Agencies count on nobody making them meet it.
Who pays the lawyer if I win?
If the court finds no probable cause at the adversarial preliminary hearing, it may award up to two thousand dollars in attorney fees, and the fifteen hundred dollar bond the agency posted when it filed is payable to you if you prevail. Additional fees are possible when an agency proceeds in bad faith.
Can they forfeit a car that is not mine, like a rental or a spouse’s car?
The Act protects innocent owners. Jointly held property generally cannot be forfeited unless the co-owner knew or should have known after reasonable inquiry, rental and leased vehicles cannot be forfeited unless the company had actual knowledge, and lienholders without knowledge are protected. Those defenses only work when someone raises them.
This page is general information about Florida law as of this writing, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Forfeiture deadlines are short and strict; if property has been seized, the fifteen day window may already be running.
