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CBP Seizure Notice: 4 Things to Do in the First 7 Days

October 2, 2026
CBP Seizure Notice: 4 Things to Do in the First 7 Days

A CBP seizure notice means U.S. Customs and Border Protection has taken legal custody of your property and started a clock on your right to get it back, usually a limited deadline to file a response, often about a month. The single most urgent step is to find the date of mailing on the notice, calendar the last day to file, and start preserving every document tied to the seized item before you do anything else.

TL;DR:

  • Filing a response within roughly 30 days of mailing is critical; missing this deadline leads to automatic, permanent forfeiture without recourse.
  • The notice's case number, applicable law citation, and the filing address must match precisely, or your petition risks rejection or being treated as never received.
  • You can choose among administrative petition, judicial claim and bond, settlement offer, or abandonment, depending on case value, legal strength, and desired finality.
  • Evidence collection and proof of mailing are essential in the first week to support your case; improper submission or delays can ruin your chances.
  • Special rules may apply for currency, drugs, intellectual property, or export seizures, each with distinct timelines, documentation, and legal procedures.
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Table of Contents

What a CBP seizure notice contains and why each element matters

The notice is a legal document, not a form letter, and every line on it tells you something about how to respond. At the top you will find an FP&F case number, a reference to the Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures office that now controls your file, and the port address where that office operates. That address matters because filings sent to the wrong location can be treated as never received, and CBP's petitions guidance makes clear that the Election of Proceedings and case number are the coordinates your entire response has to match.

The notice also cites the statute or regulation CBP believes was violated. That citation tells you which body of law controls your case: ordinary Title 19 customs provisions or the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA), which governs many currency seizures differently. Reading that line first saves time, because the statutory basis determines your deadlines, your evidence burden, and whether an expedited procedure applies.

Most notices include an Election of Proceedings form. This is where you tell CBP which path you intend to take, and each choice shapes everything that follows.

  • Administrative petition: asks FP&F to return the property or mitigate the penalty without going to court.
  • Claim and cost bond: forces the case into federal court as a judicial forfeiture action.
  • Offer in compromise: proposes a settlement, often a payment, to close the matter.
  • Abandonment: gives up any claim to the property and ends the case immediately.

Finally, look at the description of the property and any appraised value listed. That figure often anchors the bond amount if you choose judicial forfeiture, and it becomes the baseline CBP uses when weighing remission or mitigation.

Deadlines and timelines: the 30-day rule, expedited paths, and exceptions

Under 19 CFR § 171.2, you generally have a regulatory deadline of about a month from the date of mailing of the notice of seizure to file a petition for relief with the FP&F office that issued it. Missing that window does not just delay your case, it can result in permanent forfeiture with no further administrative recourse.

The 30-day window under 19 CFR § 171.2 starts running from the date of mailing, not the date you opened the envelope, so confirm that date against the postmark or the date printed on the notice itself, as the regulation states.

Some cases move faster or slower than the standard track.

  • Certain controlled-substance seizures for personal-use quantities carry expedited procedures under the regulation, which can shorten or alter the standard timeline.
  • CAFRA seizures, common in currency cases, follow a different statutory framework than ordinary Title 19 seizures, and the notice will usually say which regime applies.
  • 19 CFR Part 171 lays out additional filing mechanics and notice requirements that FP&F offices must follow, so read the full notice language rather than assuming the standard 30-day rule automatically controls your case.

Verify your deadline two ways. First, check the printed date of mailing against any envelope or cover letter you received. Second, search Forfeiture for a published notice tied to your case, since published notices often confirm the filing address and can help you document when the government's clock actually started. If you cannot reconcile the dates, do not guess: file early and keep proof of mailing for your own submission.

Response options explained: petition, claim and bond, compromise, or abandonment

CBP's Election of Proceedings form gives you four real paths, and each one trades speed, cost, and finality differently.

  1. Administrative petition for remission or mitigation. This is usually the fastest and least expensive option, and it stays inside the agency rather than moving to federal court. CBP describes this relief as discretionary, meaning FP&F can grant, partially grant, or deny it based on the facts and the petitions guidance it applies.
  2. Claim and cost bond. Filing a claim and posting a bond (typically calculated against the appraised value on the notice) forces the case out of the administrative track and into federal judicial forfeiture. This path gives you the procedural protections of a court case, including discovery and a judge, but it is slower and costs more upfront.
  3. Offer in compromise. This is a negotiated settlement, often a payment in exchange for closing the case without a full remission fight. It tends to make sense when the evidence against you is strong but the penalty feels disproportionate to the underlying conduct.
  4. Abandonment. Walking away stops the proceeding immediately and requires no further filing, but you permanently lose any claim to the property. It is rarely the right move unless the item's value is genuinely not worth the time or legal cost of a fight.

Pro Tip: File your Election of Proceedings choice in writing even if you plan to call FP&F first; a phone conversation does not stop the clock, but a timely written petition does.

Most people facing a first seizure default to the administrative petition because it is cheaper and faster, and that instinct is usually right when the seizure rests on a paperwork problem or a good-faith import mistake. Claim and bond makes more sense when the government's legal theory is weak, the property's value justifies litigation costs, or you expect FP&F to deny relief regardless of the facts you present. An offer in compromise fits cases where you would rather pay to close the matter than spend months proving a negative. Abandonment belongs only in the smallest-value cases where any response would cost more than the property is worth.

How to prepare and file a petition or claim: step-by-step checklist

A petition succeeds or fails on documentation, so build your evidence file before you write a word of the petition itself.

  1. Gather the paper trail. Pull together invoices, bills of lading, supplier correspondence, import paperwork, and any prior compliance history that shows the property was lawfully acquired or imported.
  2. Draft a sworn statement. Petitions typically require a signed, sworn statement of facts, so write it in plain, factual language and avoid speculation about what CBP believed or intended.
  3. Check the filing format the notice requires. Some FP&F offices still ask for petitions in triplicate or with specific attachments, so match the notice's instructions exactly rather than using a generic template.
  4. Address the envelope to the exact FP&F office and case number on the notice. Cross-reference that address against forfeiture.gov's published notices for your case if you have any doubt, since claims and petitions generally must go to the agency office that issued the notice.
  5. Get proof of mailing. Certified mail with return receipt, or a courier with tracking, gives you a record that you filed on time if the question ever comes up later.

Pro Tip: Keep a copy of everything you send, including the envelope and postage receipt, in the same file as your evidence, so your timeline is provable without relying on memory.

The most common mistakes are avoidable. People send petitions to the wrong port address because they used an old CBP letterhead instead of the address printed on their specific notice. Others submit an unsigned or unworn statement, which FP&F can reject outright. Still others choose the wrong Election of Proceedings box, locking themselves into judicial forfeiture when they meant to file an administrative petition. Read the notice twice before you file anything, and if your case involves an alleged federal offense tied to the seizure, a federal and border defense lawyer can review the filing before it goes out.

Seizure notice filing checks illustrated

Special-case rules for currency, drugs, IP, and export seizures

Not every seizure follows the same script, and the type of property involved often changes both the deadline and the paperwork.

  • Currency seizures are frequently governed by CAFRA rather than standard Title 19 procedures, which can mean different claim windows and a shift toward judicial forfeiture as the default path if you contest the seizure.
  • Controlled-substance seizures sometimes carry expedited petition routes under the personal-use provisions referenced in 19 CFR Part 171, along with specific sworn-statement requirements that differ from a standard property petition.
  • Intellectual property seizures often involve coordination with the rights holder and additional documentation proving authenticity or licensing, since CBP's enforcement role here intersects with a separate legal framework beyond ordinary customs law.
  • Export-control seizures can draw in other federal agencies depending on the goods involved, and the documentation needed to contest them usually includes export licenses or compliance records specific to the regulated item.

The fastest way to identify which special rules apply to your case is to read the statute cited on the notice itself, since that citation tells you whether you are in standard Title 19 territory, CAFRA currency rules, or a specialized regime tied to the type of property. 19 CFR § 12.40 also addresses disposition procedures for certain prohibited articles and confirms that a notice of seizure must be sent to the consignee or addressee in those cases, which is worth checking if your seizure involves a restricted or prohibited item.

What happens after you file: reviews, referrals, and likely outcomes

Once FP&F receives your petition or claim, the office performs what CBP calls a legal sufficiency review, checking whether the seizure holds up under the statute cited and whether your evidence changes that analysis. From there, the case can go a few directions.

  • FP&F can grant full remission, returning the property or penalty amount in full.
  • FP&F can grant partial mitigation, often returning the property in exchange for a reduced penalty or a compliance condition.
  • FP&F can deny the petition outright, leaving forfeiture in place unless you pursue further remedies.
  • In cases involving larger stakes or criminal exposure, FP&F can refer the matter to the Office of Chief Counsel or the U.S. Attorney's office, which shifts the matter toward judicial forfeiture and a different set of procedural rules entirely.

If your petition is denied, you are not necessarily out of options. Some cases allow a supplemental petition, and a deadline of about two months is often applied for filing one in certain contexts, though you should confirm the specific deadline against your denial letter rather than assuming a uniform rule applies. A judicial appeal or a claim and bond filing (if you had not already elected that path) may still be available depending on where your case sits procedurally.

If the property is ultimately forfeited, the consequences extend beyond losing the item itself. CBP can destroy or auction forfeited property, and a completed forfeiture on your record can increase scrutiny on future shipments or border crossings. That is part of why the deadline at the front end of this process matters so much: once it passes without a filing, your practical options narrow sharply.

Immediate checklist: what to do in the first 7 days after receiving the notice

The first week after a seizure notice arrives sets the trajectory for everything that follows, so move through these steps in order rather than trying to do everything at once.

  1. Confirm the date of mailing and calendar the deadline immediately. Set reminders at the 7-day, 14-day, and 28-day marks so you are never scrambling in the final 48 hours.
  2. Preserve every document connected to the property. Import records, invoices, receipts, custody records, and any correspondence with CBP officers should be copied and stored somewhere you will not lose them.
  3. Avoid making additional statements to CBP inspectors or anyone else about the seizure. Anything you say or write can become part of the record FP&F reviews, so keep communications minimal until you understand your options.
  4. Contact counsel experienced in CBP and FP&F matters and prepare for an initial intake. Bring the notice itself, your documentation, and a clear timeline of events so the consultation can move efficiently.

Pro Tip: Photograph the notice, the envelope, and any postmark the day you receive it, before anything gets misplaced in the scramble to gather other paperwork.

Skipping any one of these steps rarely kills a case by itself, but skipping several at once often does. The deadline is the hard constraint, but the documentation you preserve in this first week is usually what determines whether your eventual petition or claim has any real chance of success.

How a federal and border defense lawyer triages a seizure notice

Not every seizure notice needs a lawyer, but several signals make counsel close to essential: criminal exposure alongside the civil forfeiture, a high-value seizure where a bond decision carries real financial weight, evidence that requires expert interpretation, or any indication the case has drawn interest from federal prosecutors rather than staying purely administrative.

When a case does call for representation, the early work tends to follow a predictable pattern. Counsel triages the deadline first, confirming the date of mailing and the exact filing window so nothing is missed. Next comes an evidence audit, going through invoices, import records, and correspondence to see what actually supports the petition or claim. From there, communication with FP&F paralegals and calculating a realistic bond figure if judicial forfeiture is on the table round out the early intake work.

At the Law Office of Logan Noblin, that triage process draws on experience across federal drug importation and federal drug smuggling matters, where seizure issues often overlap with criminal exposure.

What the conventional advice on seizure notices gets wrong

Most guides on this topic treat the administrative petition as the default answer for everyone, and that advice undersells how often the statute cited on the notice, not personal preference, should drive the choice. A petition makes sense when the facts are genuinely on your side and you want a faster, cheaper hearing. It makes far less sense when the government's legal theory is thin and a judge would likely see through it faster than an FP&F reviewer with a full caseload.

The bigger gap I see is in sequencing. People fixate on choosing the right response option before they have even confirmed their deadline or preserved their documents, and that order is backward. The deadline is unforgiving and the evidence degrades with time, while the choice between petition, bond, or compromise can often wait a few days for a clearer picture. Calendar the date first, protect your paperwork second, and only then decide how you want to fight the case. Readers who reverse that order tend to make a decision under pressure that they later wish they had more time to think through.

— Logan Noblin

How the Law Office of Logan Noblin can help with seizure notices

A CBP seizure notice rarely stands alone. It often signals a federal investigation, a border-crossing allegation, or exposure that goes beyond the property itself, and that is where a defense lawyer familiar with both the criminal and administrative sides of these cases earns their fee.

Logancriminaldefense

The firm's practice covers the ground a seizure case typically touches.

  • Federal and border defense for cases where the seizure connects to an alleged import violation or criminal charge.
  • Review and preparation of administrative petitions, claims, and cost bond filings.
  • Representation if a case is referred toward judicial forfeiture or federal prosecution.
  • Diversion program guidance for cases involving military service members or mental health considerations that intersect with a seizure matter.

Bring the seizure notice, any correspondence with CBP, and a rough timeline of events to your first consultation. From there, the firm can map out which response option fits your facts and how quickly you need to move. Visit the Law Office of Logan Noblin to start an intake or reach the federal and border defense team directly.

Sources

Confirm every deadline and filing detail in this article against the primary sources rather than relying on secondhand summaries.

This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified lawyer. Consult a qualified legal professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.

FAQ

Can I ignore a customs seizure letter?

No. Ignoring the notice does not stop the clock, and once the deadline under 19 CFR § 171.2 passes without a filing, the property is generally subject to permanent forfeiture. Responding, even with a simple petition, preserves options that disappear once the window closes.

How can I tell if customs seized my package?

CBP typically sends a written notice of seizure by mail to the address on file for the shipment, listing an FP&F case number and the statute involved. If a package simply stops showing tracking updates for an extended period with no delivery, checking forfeiture.gov for a published notice tied to your shipment or contacting the port of entry can confirm whether a seizure occurred.

What is a customs letter of seizure?

A customs seizure notice is the official document CBP sends when it takes legal custody of property, typically identifying the FP&F case number, the statute allegedly violated, a description of the goods, and an Election of Proceedings form listing your response options. It is the trigger for the statutory deadlines described under 19 CFR § 171.2.

What happens if US customs seizes your package?

Once CBP seizes a package, the property is held while FP&F reviews the case, and you generally have 30 days from the date of mailing to file a petition, claim and bond, or offer in compromise under 19 CFR § 171.2. If no timely response is filed, the property can be forfeited permanently and later destroyed or sold at auction.