Iowa Code 809A.7 – Property management and preservation
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1. Property seized for forfeiture under this chapter is not subject to alienation, conveyance, sequestration, attachment, or an application for return of seized property under chapter 809.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 809A.7
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
- Interest holder: means a secured party within the meaning of chapter 554, or the beneficiary of a security interest or encumbrance pertaining to an interest in property, whose interest is perfected against a good faith purchaser for value. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- Owner: means a person, other than an interest holder, who has an interest in property. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- Proceeds: means property acquired directly or indirectly from, produced through, realized through, or caused by an act or omission and includes any property of any kind without reduction for expenses incurred for acquisition, maintenance, production, or any other purpose. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- Property: means anything of value, and includes any interest in property, including any benefit, privilege, claim, or right with respect to anything of value, whether real or personal, tangible or intangible. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- Prosecuting attorney: means an attorney who is authorized by law to appear on the behalf of the state in a criminal case, and includes the attorney general, an assistant attorney general, the county attorney, an assistant county attorney, or a special or substitute prosecutor whose appearance is approved by a court having jurisdiction to try a defendant for the offense with which the defendant is charged. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- Regulated interest holder: means an interest holder that is a business authorized to do business in this state and is under the jurisdiction of any state or federal agency regulating banking, insurance, real estate, or securities. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- Seizing agency: means a department or agency of this state or its political subdivisions that regularly employs law enforcement officers, and that employs the law enforcement officer who seizes property for forfeiture, or such other agency as the department or agency may designate by its chief executive officer or the officer's designee. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- Seizure for forfeiture: means seizure of property by a law enforcement officer, including a constructive seizure, accompanied by an assertion by the seizing agency or by a prosecuting attorney that the property is seized for forfeiture, in accordance with section 809A. See Iowa Code 809A.1
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
2. The seizing agency or the prosecuting attorney may authorize the release of the seizure for forfeiture on the property if forfeiture or retention of actual custody is unnecessary.
3. The prosecuting attorney may discontinue forfeiture proceedings and transfer the action to another state or federal agency or prosecuting attorney who has initiated forfeiture proceedings.
4. Property seized for forfeiture under this chapter is deemed to be in the custody of the district court subject only to the orders and decrees of the court having jurisdiction over the forfeiture proceedings and to the acts of the seizing agency or the prosecuting attorney pursuant to this chapter.
5. a. An owner of property seized for forfeiture under this chapter may obtain release of the property by posting with the court a surety bond or cash in an amount determined by the court to be reasonable in light of the fair market value of the property. Property shall not be released if any of the following apply:
(1) The owner fails to post the required bond.
(2) The property is retained as contraband or as evidence.
(3) The property is particularly altered or designed for use in conduct giving rise to forfeiture.
b. If a surety bond or cash is posted and the property is forfeited, the court shall forfeit the surety bond or cash in lieu of the property.
6. If property is seized for forfeiture under this chapter, the prosecuting attorney, subject to any need to retain the property as evidence, may do any of the following:
a. Remove the property to an appropriate place designated by the district court.
b. Place the property under constructive seizure.
c. Remove the property to a storage area for safekeeping or, if the property is a negotiable instrument or money, deposit it in an interest-bearing account.
d. Provide for another agency or custodian, including an owner, secured party, mortgagee, or lienholder, to take custody of the property and service, maintain, and operate it as reasonably necessary to maintain its value, in any appropriate location within the jurisdiction of the court.
e. Require the seizing agency to take custody of the property and remove it to an appropriate location for disposition in accordance with law.
7. As soon as practicable after seizure for forfeiture, the seizing agency shall conduct a written inventory and estimate the value of the property seized.
8. The court may order property which has been seized for forfeiture sold, leased, rented, or operated to satisfy a specified interest of any interest holder, or to preserve the interests of any party on motion of such party. The court may enter orders under this subsection after notice to persons known to have an interest in the property, and an opportunity for a hearing, if either of the following exists:
a. The interest holder has timely filed a proper claim and is a regulated interest holder.
b. The interest holder has an interest which the prosecuting attorney has stipulated is exempt from forfeiture.
9. A sale may be ordered under subsection 8 if the property is liable to perish, to waste, or to be foreclosed upon or significantly reduced in value, or if the expenses of maintaining the property are disproportionate to its value. A third party designated by the court shall dispose of the property by commercially reasonable public sale and distribute the proceeds in the following order of priority:
a. For the payment of reasonable expenses incurred in connection with the sale or disposal.
b. For the satisfaction of exempt interests in the order of their priority.
c. Any balance of the proceeds shall be preserved in the actual or constructive custody of the court, in an interest-bearing account, subject to the proceedings under this chapter.