§ 140B.103.Conveyance of Property Subject to Forfeiture

The answer to a defendant who disposes of the property before judgment.

Subsection (a): if property subject to forfeiture is conveyed, alienated, disposed of, diminished in value, or otherwise rendered unavailable for forfeiture, the investigative agency may bring an action against the person named in the lien notice under Chapter 68, Property Code, or the defendant in the relevant civil action or criminal proceeding.

"Diminished in value" is the phrase doing unusual work. The other verbs describe disposal; this one reaches a defendant who keeps the property and strips it — mortgaging a building to its full value, stripping a business of its assets.

Where a civil action is already pending, the new action must be filed in that same court, which keeps related claims about the same property before one judge.

Subsection (b) gives the court two routes, and the choice is the state’s to argue.

Either final judgment in an amount equal to the fair market value of the property plus the investigative costs and attorney fees incurred by the agency — a money judgment.

Or forfeiture of any other property of the defendant up to the value of the property subject to forfeiture — substitute assets.

The second is the stronger remedy where the defendant still owns things. A money judgment must be collected; a forfeiture order takes specific property.

Note the asymmetry in what each route recovers. The money judgment includes the agency’s costs and fees; the substitute-property order is capped at the value of what was lost. A defendant who disposes of property does not escape the cost of the pursuit — but only if the state takes the judgment route.