Note to users of the FEAR Brief Bank:  The Brief Bank contains primarily federal motions, pleadings and briefs, but a few are from various states.  If you adapt a federal pleading to a state forfeiture case, or vice versa, please research the applicable law carefully.  See the FEAR Law Library for links to federal and state statutes. The requirements for motions and pleadings vary dramatically -- check the local rules for your court to get the proper format and additional requirements.  State courts often have different names for various things, and procedure may vary substantially -- so do your homework when adapting a motion or brief to another jurisdiction.

Please note that some of the motions and pleadings predate CAFRA (effective August 23, 2000).  If CAFRA changed the law and procedure in your category of forfeiture cases, then you'll need to use the CAFRA version, if there is one.   The pre-CAFRA pleadings which we left on the website can be modified for use in  non-CAFRA "Customs carve-out" cases.   Figure out whether your case is a "CAFRA case" or a "non-CAFRA case" -- and then choose the appropriate version of the sample pleading.