28 USC 3102 – Attachment
(a)
Terms Used In 28 USC 3102
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Court: means any court created by the Congress of the United States, excluding the United States Tax Court. See 28 USC 3002
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Debt: means &mdash. See 28 USC 3002
- Debtor: means a person who is liable for a debt or against whom there is a claim for a debt. See 28 USC 3002
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- Earnings: means compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program. See 28 USC 3002
- Judgment: means a judgment, order, or decree entered in favor of the United States in a court and arising from a civil or criminal proceeding regarding a debt. See 28 USC 3002
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Person: includes a natural person (including an individual Indian), a corporation, a partnership, an unincorporated association, a trust, or an estate, or any other public or private entity, including a State or local government or an Indian tribe. See 28 USC 3002
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Property: includes any present or future interest, whether legal or equitable, in real, personal (including choses in action), or mixed property, tangible or intangible, vested or contingent, wherever located and however held (including community property and property held in trust (including spendthrift and pension trusts)), but excludes&mdash. See 28 USC 3002
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- State: means any of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, or any territory or possession of the United States. See 28 USC 3002
- Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
- Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
- United States: means &mdash. See 28 USC 3002
- United States marshal: means a United States marshal, a deputy marshal, or an official of the United States Marshals Service designated under section 564. See 28 USC 3002
- Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
(2) The value of property attached shall not exceed the amount by which the sum of the amount of the debt claimed by the United States and the amount of interest and costs reasonably likely to be assessed against the debtor by the court exceeds the aggregate value of the nonexempt interest of the debtor in any—
(A) property securing the debt; and
(B) property garnished or in receivership, or income sequestered, under this subchapter.
(b)
(1) in an action on a contract, express or implied, against the debtor for payment of money, only if the United States shows reasonable cause to believe that—
(A) the contract is not fully secured by real or personal property; or
(B) the value of the original security is substantially diminished, without any act of the United States or the person to whom the security was given, below the amount of the debt;
(2) in an action against the debtor for damages in tort;
(3) if the debtor resides outside the jurisdiction of the United States; or
(4) in an action to recover a fine, penalty, or tax.
(c)
(2) Several writs of attachment may be issued at the same time, or in succession, and sent to different judicial districts until sufficient property is attached.
(3) The writ of attachment shall contain—
(A) the date of the issuance of the writ;
(B) the identity of the court, the docket number of the action, and the identity of the cause of action;
(C) the name and last known address of the debtor;
(D) the amount to be secured by the attachment; and
(E) a reasonable description of the property to be attached.
(d)
(2) In performing the levy, the United States marshal may enter any property owned, occupied, or controlled by the debtor, except that the marshal may not enter a residence or other building unless the writ expressly authorizes the marshal to do so or upon specific order of the court.
(3) Levy on real property is made by entering the property and posting the writ and notice of levy in a conspicuous place upon the property.
(4) Levy on personal property is made by taking possession of it. Levy on personal property not easily taken into possession or which cannot be taken into possession without great inconvenience or expense may be made by affixing a copy of the writ and notice of levy on it or in a conspicuous place in the vicinity of it describing in the notice of levy the property by quantity and with sufficient detail to identify the property levied on.
(5) The United States marshal shall file a copy of the notice of levy in the same manner as provided for judgments in section 3201(a)(1). The United States marshal shall serve a copy of the writ and notice of levy on—
(A) the debtor against whom the writ is issued; and
(B) the person who has possession of the property subject to the writ;
in the same manner that a summons is served in a civil action and make the return thereof.
(e)
(2) The return shall describe the property attached with sufficient certainty to identify it and shall state the location where it was attached, the date and time it was attached, and the disposition made of the property. If no property was attached, the return shall so state.
(3) If the property levied on is claimed, replevied under subsection (j)(2), or sold under section 3007 after the return, the United States marshal shall immediately make a further return to the clerk of the court showing the disposition of the property.
(4) If personal property is replevied, the United States marshal shall deliver the replevin bond to the clerk of the court to be filed in the action.
(f)
(2) Such lien shall be ranked ahead of any other security interests perfected after the later of the time of levy and the time a copy of the notice of levy is filed under subsection (d)(5).
(3) Such lien shall arise from the time of levy and shall continue until a judgment in the action is obtained or denied, or the action is otherwise dismissed. The death of the debtor whose property is attached does not terminate the attachment lien. Upon issuance of a judgment in the action and registration under this chapter, the judgment lien so created relates back to the time of levy.
(g)
(2) The court shall order a part of the property to be released, if after a hearing the court finds that the amount of the attachment is excessive or unreasonable or if the attachment is for an amount larger than the sum of the liquidated or ascertainable amount of the debt and the amount of interest and costs likely to be taxed.
(3) The court shall dissolve the attachment if the amount of the debt is unliquidated and unascertainable by calculation.
(4) If any property claimed to be exempt is levied on, the debtor may, at any time after such levy, request that the court vacate such levy. If it appears to the court that the property so levied upon is exempt, the court shall order the levy vacated and the property returned to the debtor.
(h)
(i)
(j)
(1)
(2)
(3)