When given the opportunity, police will seize as much property as possible, saying it will provide evidence of the offence. The process of retrieving the property can be daunting for someone who is unfamiliar with the procedural steps.

Even if your property cannot be seized as part of the criminal investigation, law enforcement may take steps to seize your assets in civil court. Experienced in both criminal and civil actions, the lawyers at Howard C. Cohen & Associates can help you protect your assets from all methods of seizure.

We will bring an application for relief from property forfeiture to help our clients get their property back either before or after the resolution of the criminal case. In successfully restoring seized property to its rightful owner(s), our applications prove the property meets one of the following conditions:

• Not related to the offence: such as a television that we can prove was not stolen or purchased with the proceeds of crime
• Owned by an innocent third party: such as a home in which the accused lived as a tenant, and the landlord did not know of any illegal activities
• Not required for the trial: such as a pair of eye glasses that helped identify a suspect, when the glasses can be documented by photographs
• Not the proceeds of a crime: such as money that can be traced to legitimate origins