# can the police confiscate your home if they find drugs in it **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876 "2013-07-18T19:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/41 "2013-08-07T16:01:13Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Here is a recent, eye opening [article](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/12/130812fa_fact_stillman?currentPage=all) in the New Yorker on the use and abuse of civil forfeiture. In one, documented case (by the DA!) it was basically give us your money or we take the kids to CPS - and this was an un-ticketed traffic stop… That article _is_ shocking, particularly the testimony of Barry Washington described at the end. > [@dstarfire](#): > > Umm, isn’t a persons primary residence subject to some special protections related to forfeiture and seizure? It’s harder to tie a home to money laundering, drug sales, or racketeering. If you pull over a car full of drugs or cash, well, the car is being used to transport them. If you search a home and find stuff it may only be a storage area, which doesn’t justify forfeiture in some states. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/42 "2013-08-07T18:21:40Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Today is August 7, 2013. The article is dated August 12, 2013. > > 😕 Sorry, sometimes I forget that not everyone on this board is a Time Lord. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Anne\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_K)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/43 "2015-07-23T21:42:15Z")
My husband and I LOANED our travel trailer to an adult son while doctors are testing for severe illness. In spite of his being an adult, we have expressly forbidden ANYONE from using drugs while staying in our travel trailer. I believe my son is actively using marijuana and I’m not blinded to the possibility that other drugs are being used, as well. What would happen to my travel trailer if the occupants were caught doing drugs? Should this occur at or on my property and he’s in possession of enough drugs to be considered by the police to be dealing, can or will they seize our travel trailer? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/44 "2015-07-23T23:06:08Z")
> [@Anne\_K](#): > > My husband and I LOANED our travel trailer to an adult son while doctors are testing for severe illness. In spite of his being an adult, we have expressly forbidden ANYONE from using drugs while staying in our travel trailer. > > I believe my son is actively using marijuana and I’m not blinded to the possibility that other drugs are being used, as well. What would happen to my travel trailer if the occupants were caught doing drugs? Should this occur at or on my property and he’s in possession of enough drugs to be considered by the police to be dealing, can or will they seize our travel trailer? All I can say is that in New Jersey the answer would be no. It is nearly impossible to win at a civil forfeiture hearing if the property belongs to someone other than the defendant. You have to somehow prove that the property is someone else’s in name only which is difficult to do. Almost all the time it’s not worth it to try. Other jurisdictions I can’t say. Laws differ. ---
**Author:** ![Dpn4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7bcc69/32.png) [@Dpn4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dpn4)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/45 "2015-09-17T21:38:40Z")
If you get charged with possession with intent to distribute, or actually get caught selling drugs, whatever you are in when you get arrested, gets seized if you own it and likely even if you don’t. It stays that way til the distribution charge is dropped. If you get convicted of or plead guilty to distribution, the police auction your property unless you can make a deal to get your property back, which is unlikely. You don’t get property seized in Maryland for simple possession, however the quantities required to get charged with distribution of schedule 1 drugs are pretty low. It’s a number of individual packages (13 I think it is) or more than a gram. And it can be constructive possession. Google that. If you are the owner of property where someone gets charged for distribution, you also get charged. It’s pretty easy to get your life wrecked being near a drug dealer or even just a user that has over the required amount of drugs to get charged for distribution. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/46 "2015-09-17T22:19:28Z")
Zombies don’t sell drugs, but they will infest your house. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/47 "2015-09-17T22:21:23Z")
And then there’s this: > **[Las Vegas News | Breaking News & Headlines | Las Vegas Review-Journal](https://www.reviewjournal.com)** > > The Las Vegas Review-Journal is Nevada's most trusted source for local news, Las Vegas sports, business news, gaming news, entertainment news and more. Basically, the Nevada cops had a good idea that the fellow was carrying a large sum of money, so they concocted a reason to stop him again for a full search… And then tried to lie to the courts about it. Definitely legalized theft in this case. the fact that they do this suggests they are motivated - the money must go directly to their department. Maybe they get bonuses too - a perverse incentive if ever there was one. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/48 "2015-09-17T22:29:55Z")
Since this was resurrected to discuss a particular legal case instead of more general legal issues, I’m going to move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/49 "2015-09-18T15:57:37Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Sounds like the old prosecutor tactic of “threaten them with 10 life sentences so they plead guilty to what you want, even if they are not really guilty.” > > It sounds like a Kafkaesque tactic; threaten them with possessing enough for trafficking (which would make them also liable to the trafficking charge, I assume). They plead guilty on a deal, get probation, but now the state can steal their house. > > Note that in the article, a local defense lawyer who dealt with Otah’s cases did say they would “take the house if your kid dealt drugs out of it”. Presumably he was closer to the action than us, and the Derbacher case was by no means an isolated one. If it’s hyperbole, it’s an involved lawyer’s view. Sounds like a flouting of the particularity clause in the 4th Amendment: “Particularly describing the […] property to be seized.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/50 "2015-09-18T15:59:59Z")
That is a requirement for a _warrant_. Civil forfeiture works a bit differently (though there are still substantial constitutional implications). ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876/51 "2015-09-18T16:24:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That is a requirement for a _warrant_. Civil forfeiture works a bit differently (though there are still substantial constitutional implications). Well, there you are. Any defense counsel worth his bar membership could find a way to shoehorn the Particularity Clause in there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-police-confiscate-your-home-if-they-find-drugs-in-it/663876.md?page=2)