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Notice of Property Seizure

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AllNewtoUs_1975

Junior Member
NY
My parents bought a house in GA which they decided to rent before they move down there to retire (Tenants moved in last year). About three weeks ago, we learned that the DEA, ICE, and local police raided the house looking for drugs where they damaged parts of the house (They did have a search warrant. However, no drugs were found but allegedly a fire arm) Great!

Today we received a certified letter from the Department of Justice DEA notifying my parents that the "property" was seized by the DEA for forfeiture, because it was used or acquired as a result of a violation of the Controlled Substances Act. What? Needless to say we had no idea about any of this. After the tenants left w/o notice we then focused on repairing the house to either rent or sell after this mess.

We now have to file a petition for remission or mitigation with the Forfeiture Counsel of the DEA within 30 days. My questions:

1. Can we file the petition and do all of this on our own since we can't afford an attorney?
2. Since we don’t live in GA can we do everything from here or should we go there?
3. My parents have put all of their savings into this house. Must we have an attorney in order to file the claim?

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

AMENDMENT:

We just realized that on the very top of the Notice of Seizure where was a description of the following:
Asset ID: XXXXXXX
Case number: XXXXXX
Property: Arms Semi Automatic
Asset Value: $40.00
Seizure Date: XX/XX/09
Owner name: Blank (my parents name doesn't appear here)
Seized from: Tenant

The question now is: Is the DEA refering to the "Seizure" of the ARM or the HOUSE? My sister has full access to the house and a contractor is doing repairs so I am confused as to what they are refering to. Is it just the Fire arm they are refering to?



 


You Are Guilty

Senior Member
Since none of us can read your parents' paperwork through the internet, have you called the DEA and asked them what the notice is in regard to?
Seems like the simplest solution to your problem.
 

AllNewtoUs_1975

Junior Member
I thought it was...

inefficient to post two pages worth or writing here. So what I did was to post the key statements "Property:Fire Arm and Asset Value:$40.00 at the bottom of the initial post which is what we had doubts with . It is hard to post a message that will get the point accross without making it long and boring with every single detail.

I didn't call the DEA on Saturday since I figured they would only take calls during normal business hours. Called today and they said I didn't have to file a claim unless I wanted the property.
Today we got a second notice, but now the property is cash worth almost $20 K. As they advised we wont be making a claim for this one either.

Thanks for reading and for your advice anyway.
 

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