What rights do we have against 'civil-forfeiture' when pulled over by the police?

I understand what most of you are saying about "this is America, I shouldn't have to prove anything to the police..." especially when i'm not doing anything wrong. Well, all I can say after 25 years of practicing law is - that USED to be the rule and consensus in America - that IS NOT the reality today.

With the threat of ISIS rising along with all the other "regular" terrorist threats, any person carrying large amounts of cash these days does so at their peril. You can begin with the Patriot Act that was passed after 911. Hardly anyone has actually read that Act and that is probably for the best because that law includes language and provisions that are very scary and open to abuse. Everyone wants to identify potential terrorists and keep America secure but the kind of broad sweeping powers that were given to the federal government post 911 are beyond anything Americans have ever lived with. So stories of official or police abuse will only increase.

If you have done nothing wrong and if you can afford an attorney, you can recover any property seized by any government agent or agency. However, it will take some time to go through the process and you will not be reimbursed for the expenses incurred for enforcing your legal rights. But that is also the case if you are charged with a crime. You can spend thousands of dollars in a criminal defense and when you are aquitted or the charges dropped, you simply walk out of the court house with no charges and a lot less money. That process is also somewhat unfair.

The bottom line for people buying cars and car parts is to find another way to do business other than by cash. The government does NOT like cash for a host of reasons - primarily because tax evasion. And actually, if you're buying a car you would never want to pay cash because you don't have a record of the purchase. A personal check, certified check, debit card, credit card, even paypal - all are preferable to cash. Now buying car parts at a swap meet is a different story. You may need to have cash on hand for these purchases. But even in this case, would you really want to take $10 or $20 thousand dollars in cash to a swap meet? If you have to carry cash try not to have more than $10k dollars. The Patriot Act makes a big deal out of cash above $10k. But if you have to have cash, go to a bank ahead of time and create a paper trail of your withdraw writing down the time, place, branch, teller's name, etc. Also try and get an official bank cash pouch to keep the money in. The bottom line is that the more evidence that you have immediately at hand that proves where you got the money and when the lesser is the chance that you are going to be dragged into a "civil forfeiture" situation.