Who held title to a vehicle forfeited for a Texas sheriff's use, how was it sold when no longer useful, and where did the sale money go?
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This page answers the general question as of 1988. Ezel answers yours: what it means for your facts, under current Texas law, with citations.
Texas AG Opinion JM-899: Title, Sale, and Proceeds for a Forfeited Sheriff's Vehicle
Plain-English summary
Denton County Criminal District Attorney Jerry Cobb asked three questions about a motor vehicle forfeited for a sheriff's official use under the Controlled Substances Act: whose name belonged on the certificate of title, how the vehicle was disposed of when the department no longer needed it, and where the sale proceeds belonged.
Section 5.08(c) said the department or agency receiving a forfeited vehicle was deemed the purchaser and received the certificate of title. The Attorney General explained that this rule handled vehicle registration and title paperwork. It did not give a sheriff's department ownership separate from the county. A certificate of title was not conclusive proof of actual ownership.
The sheriff's public-auction procedure in section 5.08(b) applied to forfeited property generally, but it expressly excepted property retained for official use under section 5.08(c). A vehicle first retained and used by a law-enforcement department therefore fell under the Local Government Code's general procedures for disposing of surplus public property when it was no longer useful.
The sale money did not go to the county's general fund. Section 5.08(f) required proceeds from forfeited property to be deposited in a special fund administered by the seizing agency or office and used, except as otherwise provided, for investigating alleged violations of Texas criminal law.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1988. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Common questions
Whose name went on the title to a vehicle forfeited for a sheriff's use?
The department or agency receiving the vehicle for official use. Section 5.08(c) deemed that department or agency the purchaser for certificate-of-title purposes.
Did the sheriff's department own the vehicle separately from the county?
No. The opinion said the title provision did not give a subordinate department or agency general authority to own property apart from the political subdivision itself.
Did the sheriff have to auction the vehicle when it was no longer useful?
No. The sheriff-auction rule excepted property that had been retained for official use. The opinion concluded that the Local Government Code's surplus-public-property provisions governed its later disposal.
Could the sale proceeds be deposited in the county general fund?
No. They had to be placed in the special fund described by section 5.08(f) of the Controlled Substances Act.
What was the special fund used for?
The quoted statute said that, unless another part of the section provided otherwise, expenditures were used solely to investigate alleged violations of Texas criminal law.
Background and statutory framework
Sections 5.03 through 5.081 of article 4476-15 provided for forfeiture of property, including vehicles used in connection with violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Section 5.07 authorized a court to forfeit property to the state, a state agency, or a political subdivision authorized by law to employ peace officers. Childress County v. State, 92 S.W.2d 1011 (Tex. 1936), established that a county was a political subdivision, and article 2.12(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure recognized its peace officers.
Section 5.08(c) allowed the receiving political subdivision, department, or agency to maintain, repair, use, and operate forfeited property for official purposes. For a registrable motor vehicle, it deemed the receiving department or agency the purchaser and directed that the certificate of title be issued to it. The opinion read that language as a title-administration rule, not a grant of separate ownership. Pioneer Mutual Compensation Corp. v. Diaz, 177 S.W.2d 202 (Tex. 1944), supported the point that a motor-vehicle certificate of title was not conclusive proof of ownership.
Section 5.08(b) generally directed the county sheriff to sell other forfeited property at public auction, but it excepted property retained for official use under subsection (c). That exception led the opinion to the Local Government Code's general surplus-property provisions when a retained vehicle was later disposed of.
Section 5.08(f) controlled the money. It required forfeited money, property-sale proceeds, and other listed things of value to be deposited in a special fund administered by the seizing agency or office. Attorney General Opinions JM-678 (1987) and JM-550 (1986) supplied related analysis.
Citations
Statutory authority:
- V.T.C.S. article 4476-15, sections 5.03-5.081, 5.07, and 5.08(b), (c), and (f)
- Code of Criminal Procedure article 2.12(1)
- V.T.C.S. article 6687-1, Certificate of Title Act
- Local Government Code provisions governing surplus public property
Cases:
- Childress County v. State, 92 S.W.2d 1011 (Tex. 1936)
- Pioneer Mutual Compensation Corp. v. Diaz, 177 S.W.2d 202 (Tex. 1944)
Prior Attorney General materials referenced: JM-678 (1987) and JM-550 (1986).
Source
- Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-899
- Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0899.pdf
Original opinion text
Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Obvious character-level OCR errors have been corrected, but minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.
I-
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS
May 10, 1988
Honorable Jerry Cobb Opinion No. JM-899
Criminal District Attorney
P. O. Box 2344 Re: Disposition of motor
Denton, Texas 76201-2899 vehicles under article
4476-15, V.T.C.S., the
Controlled Substances Act
(RQ-1239)
Dear Mr. Cobb:
You ask our opinion on the following questions
concerning certain provisions of the Controlled Substances
Act, article 4476-15, V.T.C.S.:
(1) When a motor vehicle is forfeited for
use by the Sheriff as permitted under
section 5.08 of the Act, should the
certificate of title to the vehicle be
issued in the name of the sheriff's
department or the county?
(2) When a motor vehicle forfeited for
use by the sheriff's department is no longer
useful to the department, how is it to be
disposed of? Should the property be sold at
a public auction under the direction of the
sheriff as described in section 5.08(b) of
the Act or at the direction of the Commis-
sioner's Court pursuant to the Local Govern-
ment Code?
(3) What is the proper disposition of the
funds garnered from the disposal of the
motor vehicle? Should they be deposited in
the "special fund" described in section
5.08(f) of the Act or deposited in the
general fund of the county?
,-
Sections 5.03-5.081 of the Controlled Substances Act,
article 4476-15, V.T.C.S., provide for the forfeiture of
C
property, including motor vehicles, used in connection
p. 4431
Honorable Jerry Cobb - Page 2 (JM-899)
with certain violations of the Act. Section 5.07 of the
Act sets out the procedures to be followed by a court in
ordering a forfeiture and section 5.08 provides for the
disposition of forfeited property. See generally Attorney -
General Opinions JM-678 (1987) and JM-550 (1986).
Section 5.07 of the Controlled Substances Act states
in part:
(a) [If the owner of the property does
not file an answer] the court shall hear
evidence that the property is subject to
forfeiture and may upon motion forfeit the
property to the state or an agency of the
state or to a political subdivision of the
state authorized by law to employ peace
officers. . . .
. . . .
(d) If it is found that the property is
subject to forfeiture, then the judge shall
upon motion forfeit the property to the
state or an agency of the state or to a
political subdivision of the state
authorized by law to employ peace officers:
However. for property other than a
controlled substance; raw material, or drug
paraphernalia, if proof at the hearing
discloses that the interest of any bona fide
lienholder, secured party, or other person
holding an interest in the property in the
nature of a security interest is greater
than or equal to the present value of the
property, the court shall order the property
released to him. If such interest is less
than the present value of the property and
if the proof shows that the property is
subject to forfeiture, the court shall order
the property to be forfeited to the state or
an agency of the state or to a oolitical
subdivision of the state authorized by law
to employ peace officers. (Emphasis added.)
A county is a political subdivision of the state,
Childress County v. State, 92 S.W.2d 1011 (Tex. 1936), and
?
it is authorized to employ peace officers. See Code Crim.
Proc. art. 2.12(l).
p. 4432
Honorable Jerry Cobb - Page 3 JM-899)
Section 5.08(c) of the Controlled Substances Act
provides for the use of certain forfeited property for the
official business of law enforcement agencies and
departments of political subdivisions. It provides in
relevant part:
The state or an agency of the state or a
political subdivision of the state
authorized by law to employ peace officers
may maintain, repair, use, and operate for
official purposes all property that has been
forfeited to it. . . . The department or
agency receivina ral forfeited vehicle may
maintain, repair, use, and operate the
property with money appropriated to the
department ox agency for current operations.
If the property is a motor vehicle
suscewtible of registration under the motor
vehicle registration laws of this state. the
deDartment or agency receivina the forfeited
vehicle is deemed to be the purchaser and
the certificate of title shall be .issued to
it as required . . . . (Emphasis added.)
V.T.C.S. art. 4476-15, §5.08(c).
It has been suggested that section 5.08(c) is thus
inconsistent. In one part of the subsection political
subdivisions are authorized to maintain, use, repair, and
operate for official purposes property that has been
forfeited to them. Another part of the same subsection
specifically directs that a certificate of title for a
forfeited motor vehicle be issued to the department or
aaency of a political subdivision receiving the forfeited
property for official use, if such a certificate is
required by the Certificate of Title Act, article 6687-1,
V.T.C.S.1
We do not find that the commands of section 5.08(C)
concerning forfeited motor vehicles to be inconsistent. In
a somewhat different, but nevertheless relevant, context
in Attorney General Opinion JM-678, we noted that a
1. We express no opinion on the application in fact of
the Certificate of Title Act or any of the statutes
dealing with motor vehicle registration to vehicles
forfeited for official use in law enforcement.
p. 4433
Honorable Jerry Cobb - Page 4 (JM-899)
careful review of the legislative intent undergirding
sections 5.07 and 5.08 of the Controlled Substances Act
demonstrates that
[a]lthough Section 5.07 provides in general
terms that property may be forfeited to [a
political subdivision] section 5.08 provides
that some of the forfeited property will be
distributed to a specific officer, agency,
or department of a political subdivision.
. . .
The portions of section 5.08 which requires
distribution of forfeited property to an
office, individual or law enforcement agency
provide further definition of the court
orders of forfeiture authorized by section
5.07. (Emphasis supplied.)
Attorney General Opinion JM-678 (1987). We note further
that the legislative history of-a relevant amendment to
section 5.08(c) underscores our finding that the statute
is not inconsistent with regard to this point. In 1977,
section 5.08(c) was specifically amended to have the same
general meaning which was retained in the 1979 amendment
to the statute.. The analysis accompanying the 1987
legislation noted that the amendment
allow[s] courts to award forfeited vehicles
to the Department of Public Safety or to any
other agency or unit of government which
employs the officer who conducted the
seizure.
Bill Analysis to S.B. No. 1033, prepared for Senate
Committee on Transportation, 65th Leg. (1977) . See Acts
1977, 65th Leg., ch. 492, p. 1270. See also Attorney
General Opinion JM-678.
Section 5.08(c) designates the department or agency
of .a political subdivision receiving a forfeited motor
vehicle as the proper entity-to obtain a certificate of
title, if necessary, for vehicles received for official
use, but the department is "deemed to be the purchaser" of
the vehicle solely for the purposes of the Certificate Of
Title Act. Nothing in the Controlled Substances Act vests
a department or agency of a political subdivision
receiving a forfeited vehicle with any of the muniments of
ownership merely because it obtains a certificate of title
p. 4434
Honorable Jerry Cobb - Page 5 (JM-899)
to the vehicle. A certificate of title to a motor vehicle
is not conclusive proof of the actual ownership of the
vehicle. Pioneer Mutual Compensation Corp. v. Diaz, 177
S.W.2d 202 (Tex. 1944). The bare language of section 5.08
of the Controlled Substances Act, which refers to the
Certificate of Title Act, thus cannot be construed to
grant to a subordinate department or agency of a political
subdivision general authority to hold property as an owner
separate and apart from the political subdivision itself.
Your second question is about the proper method for
the disposal of a forfeited motor vehicle once it is no
longer useful to the law enforcement department or agency
operating it. Section 5.08 provides for the disposal of
different categories of forfeited property in several
different.ways. First, controlled substances, the raw
materials used to manufacture controlled substances, and
drug paraphernalia are to be disposed of as provided for
in section 5.08(a). Second, all
other property that has been forfeited,
except for money derived from the sale,
manufacture, distribution, dispensation,
P delivery, or other commercial undertaking
violative of this Act, and except as pro-
vided [in section 5.08(c)], shall be sold at
a public auction under the direction of the
county sheriff . . . . (Emphasis added.)
V.T.C.S. art. 4476-15, §5.08(b). Finally, section 5.08(c)
provides that law enforcement agencies or departments of
political subdivisions may retain the forfeited property
to be used for official purposes. V.T.C.S. art. 4476-15,
§5.08(c).
Section 5.08(b) provides for public auction of all
forfeited property except "controlled substances, raw
materials, and drug paraphernalia," which are covered by
section 5.08(a), and property retained for use under
section 5.08(c) by law enforcement agencies or departments
of political subdivisions. Since section 5.08(b) specif-
ically excepts property retained for official use under
5.08(c) from the requirement of sale at public auction, it
follows that property retained for use by law enforcement
agencies or departments under 5.08(c) must be subject to
the Local Government Code’s general provisions ,for the
disposal of surplus public property.
- Attorney General Opinions JM-678 (1987) and JM-550
(1986) provide a concise answer to your final question,p. 4435
Honorable Jerry Cobb - Page 6 (JM-899)
which concerns the disposition of proceeds from the sale
of the vehicle. Section 5.08(f) of the Controlled
Substances Act provides in relevant part:
(f) Any money, securities, certificates of
deposit, negotiable instruments, stocks,
bonds, businesses or business investments,
contractual rights, real estate, personal
property and other things of value, and the
proceeds from the sale of items described in
this subsection that are forfeited to the
seizing agencies of the state or an agency
or office of a political subdivision of the
state authorized by law to employ peace
officers shall be deposited in a special
fund to be administered by the seizing
agencies or office to which they are for-
feited. Except as otherwise provided by
this section, expenditures from this fund
shall be used solely for the investigation
of any alleged violations of the criminal
laws of this state. . . : (Emphasis added.)
V.T.C.S. art. 4476-15, §5.08(f).
The proceeds from the sale of the forfeited vehicles
used by the sheriff's department must be deposited in the
special fund described in section 5.08(f) of the
Controlled Substances Act. Attorney General Opinion
JM-678 (1987).
SUMMARY
Section 5.08 of the Controlled Substances
Act, article 4476-15, V.T.C.S., provides
that when motor vehicles are forfeited pur-
suant to that act, to a political subdivi-
sion authorized by law to employ peace
officers, and are received for official use
by a department or agency of that political
subdivision, certificates of title are to be issued
in the name of the department or agency which has the
use of the vehicles. Vehicles forfeited for use
by a department or agency of a political
subdivision are to be disposed of in accord-
ance with the Local Government Code govern-
ing the disposition of surplus public
property. The proceeds from the sale of
property forfeited for official use by a
p. 4436
Honorable Jerry Cobb - Page 7 (JM-899)
department or agency of a political subdi-
vision are to be placed in the special fund
described in section 5.08(f) of the
Controlled Substances Act.
JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas
MARY KELLER
First Assistant Attorney General
LOU MCCREARY
Executive Assistant Attorney General
JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY
Special Assistant Attorney General
RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee
Prepared by Don Bustion
Assistant Attorney General
p. 4437
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