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?

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

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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).

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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.

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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