The Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act of 2025 (FAIR Act) is a comprehensive overhaul of the federal civil asset forfeiture regime. Its core aim is to protect due process rights under the Fifth Amendment by ending nonjudicial (in rem) forfeitures and requiring all property seizures and forfeitures to proceed through a federal district court. The bill tightens the government’s burden of proof in many forfeiture scenarios, strengthens the rights of property owners (including provisions for indigent or financially constrained claimants and an option to rebut government evidence of “not innocent owner” status), and increases transparency around how forfeited proceeds are handled and reported. It also adds targeted updates to related statutes to align disposition of forfeited property with these due-process goals and adds new protections against structuring and other illicit cash practices. In practical terms, if enacted, the FAIR Act would significantly restrict how federal agencies can seize and forfeit property, shift funds from forfeiture proceeds to the General Fund of the Treasury, enhance oversight and reporting, and create procedural safeguards (including new hearings for certain monetary-instrument seizures). The changes would apply to new forfeiture actions and new proceeds after enactment, with the intent of reducing abuses and underscoring constitutional protections for lawful ownership.
Key Points
- 1Abolishment of nonjudicial forfeiture: The bill prohibits any federal seizing agency from conducting nonjudicial (in rem) forfeitures and requires all property forfeitures to be entered only through a United States district court (Section 2(k)). This dramatically expands judicial oversight of asset seizures.
- 2Higher evidentiary standards and innocent-owner protections:
- 3- For certain forfeitures tied to criminal activity, the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that there is a substantial connection between the property and the offense, and that owners used the property to facilitate or knowingly allowed its use in the offense (Section 2(3)).
- 4- The government bears the burden to prove a claimant is not an innocent owner by a preponderance of the evidence, and the owner may rebut that evidence, including showing they did all that could reasonably be expected under the law (Section 2(4)).
- 5Strengthened due process and notices: The bill restructures notices and timelines for who must be identified and when, and includes provisions for appointment of counsel for eligible claimants who cannot afford representation (Section 2(2)). It also tightens procedures around when notices must be sent and how quickly identity can be determined after seizure (Section 2(a)).
- 6Procedural reforms on timing and action: The bill imposes specific timing for related proceedings (including a six-month window to commence certain proceedings following an order) and makes other adjustments to align forfeiture actions with judicial processes (Section 2(5)).
- 7Disposition and funding reforms: Proceeds from forfeited property are redirected toward the General Fund of the Treasury rather than being preserved for agency use or special forfeiture funds. This includes major revisions to the disposition mechanisms in the Controlled Substances Act, Title 18, Tariff Act, and related statutes, and a restructuring of the DOJ’s Assets Forfeiture Fund deposits (Section 3, and Section 4).
- 8Additional compliance and transparency measures:
- 9- Reporting requirements are strengthened to distinguish funds by type of forfeiture (criminal vs civil) and specify how proceeds are derived (Section 6).
- 10- There are new provisions to address structuring of monetary transactions to evade reporting requirements by requiring “knowingly” in relevant sections and adding a probable cause hearing for certain seizures related to monetary-instrument transactions (Section 5).
- 11Prospective applicability: The act applies to civil forfeiture proceedings pending on or filed after enactment and to amounts received from forfeiture after enactment (Section 7).