§ 62.023.Required Statement of Rights

A notice requirement written into the writ itself, and it is unusually prescriptive.

The writ must prominently display a statement in these terms: "YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO REGAIN POSSESSION OF THE PROPERTY BY FILING A REPLEVY BOND. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO SEEK TO REGAIN POSSESSION OF THE PROPERTY BY FILING WITH THE COURT A MOTION TO DISSOLVE THIS WRIT."

The statement must be printed in 10-point type and in a manner intended to advise a reasonably attentive person of its contents.

Two requirements, and the second is the substantive one. A specified type size can be satisfied by burying the text; "in a manner intended to advise a reasonably attentive person" cannot.

The provision exists because of who receives these writs. Sequestration commonly takes a vehicle or household goods from a person with no lawyer, who learns of the proceeding when an officer arrives.

The two rights stated differ, and the wording distinguishes them. Replevy is a right to regain possession — post the bond and the property comes back. Dissolution is a right to seek to regain possession — file the motion and a court decides.

That distinction is accurate and worth noticing. Replevy is available to a defendant who can raise a bond; dissolution is available to one who cannot, which is why the chapter states both.

The dissolution route is the more powerful of the two for a defendant without means. Filing the motion stays proceedings under the writ, and the hearing must occur within ten days.

Constitutional considerations sit behind the section. Pre-judgment seizure without notice survives only where the deprived party has a prompt route to be heard, and a right nobody is told about is not one.