Attorney Brian Silber is a Miami civil forfeiture attorney who defends against Government forfeiture to help people get their money back. If law enforcement has seized your money, we may be able to help.
No Attorney Fee/Costs in Cash Seizure Cases Unless We Recover Money
Civil asset forfeiture is a legal process designed to protect your property rights. Under the law, you have the Due Process right to challenge an asset seizure and make the Government prove it is entitled to keep your money.
This is where a talented Civil Asset Forfeiture Attorney comes in.
Before ownership is forfeited to the Government, there must be sufficient proof that the asset was either used (or intended to be used) to commit a crime or is the proceeds of crime. The burden of proof is on the Government to prove guilt.
Along the way, a Civil Forfeiture Defense Attorney may (and should) attack the Government’s case by challenging the legality of traffic stops, illegal search and seizure, unlawful questioning/interrogation, invalid search warrants, circumstantial evidence, inadmissible hearsay, inadmissible character evidence, and others.
There are other defenses we use as well:
- Legitimate Source Defense
- Innocent Owner Defense
- Commingled Asset Defense
- Notice Requirement Defense
- Statute of Limitations Defense
While any one of these defenses may be effective on their own, most cases make use of more than one defense. However, crafting a winning defense depends on the specifics of any one case.
In asset forfeiture cases litigated in Federal court, the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 controls. However, the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act controls cases brought in Florida’s state courts.
How do I get my money back?
Brian Silber is a Miami civil forfeiture attorney with over 17 years experience in the courtroom. Depending on the facts of your case, he may be able to recover all or some of your money.
The first step in any civil forfeiture case is to preserve the client’s rights by filing a valid and timely claim with the seizing agency.
Depending on the agency and the circumstances, a Petition for Remission or a Petition for Mitigation may be a good strategy. In other cases, the best plan may be judicial action or even trial.
Regardless, every case begins with an investigation. To help our clients, we need to know what happened so that we can identify the legal issues and develop defenses.
Initial Questions:
- Who is the true owner of the seized property?
- What kind of property was seized? Bulk cash?
- Where was the property seized?
- When was the property seized?
- What was the seized property used (or intended to be used) for?
- How did you obtain the seized property? What is its source?
- Did you consent to a search?
- Did you talk without an attorney? If so, what was said?
- Are there any witnesses?
- Was this a chance encounter or do you think you may have been under investigation for some time?
As the investigation into your case unfolds, we will collect documents, potentially interview witnesses, obtain police reports and court documents, and preserve exculpatory evidence when possible.
Once we have an understanding of the facts of your case, we will develop a legal strategy. In some cases, the best strategy calls for an aggressive fight in the courtroom. In other cases, the best strategy is an out of court settlement.
Discovery and Trial
Once the initial investigation into your case is complete, the parties will engage in discovery if a settlement is not reached first. During this stage of the case, we will use the Civil Rules of Procedure to issue subpoenas, request additional documents, issue interrogatories, demand admissions, and conduct depositions where we question the Government’s witnesses under oath before a court reporter.
If the case does not settle, it will eventually be set for trial. During trial the prosecution will present their case first because they are the plaintiff. During their case in chief, we will cross-examine their witnesses to challenge their testimony. The best way to challenge a witness on the stand is to show he/she is unreliable, dishonest, inconsistent, or otherwise unbelievable.
After the prosecution rests its case, we will renew all previously made objections and motion the court to issue a directed verdict. If granted, the case will be dismissed. However, this is a rare occurrence and indicates there was a major evidentiary problem.
However, if denied, we will then put on our defense case. During this phase, we typically present witness testimony and admit other evidence, such as bank records, business records, casino earnings, photograph, videos, and other items. Just as cross-examined the Government’s witnesses during their case in chief, so too will they be able to cross-examine ours.
After we rest our case, closing arguments will be made by each side. Assuming the judge does not dismiss the case, she/he will then instruct the jury on how to perform their job now that the evidence is complete, and jury deliberations will begin.
Unless there is a mistrial or the case is dismissed, the jury will review the evidence in private and discuss it among themselves. Ultimately a verdict will be reached, unless there is a hung jury (meaning they disagree and cannot reach a verdict).
Questions? Contact Us!
Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act (FAQ’s)
Nationwide Civil Asset Forfeiture Attorney
Criminal Forfeiture vs. Civil Asset Forfeiture Explained
Updated 08-11-2020