§ 9-16-9.Seized property not subject to replevin, conveyance, sequestration, or attachment; release of property; assignment of complaint for forfeiture; custodian of property

Once property is attached or seized under this chapter, this section takes several ordinary civil recovery tools off the table — a claimant can’t get it back through replevin, conveyance, sequestration, or attachment. Those routes stay closed while the forfeiture process runs its course.

That doesn’t mean the property is locked in place until trial. The seizing law enforcement agency or the state attorney has discretion to authorize its release if forfeiture or continued retention turns out to be unnecessary, and either can also transfer the case itself to a different agency or state attorney by discontinuing the original proceeding in favor of one brought elsewhere.

The section also addresses how a forfeiture case sits alongside a related criminal matter. A complaint for forfeiture may be assigned to the same judge already hearing another complaint or a criminal proceeding involving substantially the same parties or property, consistent with the Uniform Superior Court Rules. And throughout, the property itself is treated as being in the custody of the State of Georgia — meaning it answers only to the orders and decrees of the superior court with jurisdiction over the case, not to self-help by any private party.