U.S. Federal Income Tax

To seize the property of an individual and retain it until an obligation is performed. The taking of the goods and chattels of a tenant by a landlord in order to satisfy an unpaid debt.

Distrain is a comprehensive term that may be used in reference to any detention of personal property, lawful or unlawful.

The seizure of personal property for the satisfaction of a demand.

The process of distress, sometimes called distrain, began at common law wherein a landlord had the right to confiscate the chattels of a tenant who had defaulted on a rent payment. Today, it is regulated by statute, and is used to mean the taking of property to enforce the performance of some obligation.

A warrant of distress is a writ that authorizes an officer to seize a person's goods. It is usually used in situations where a landlord has the right to obtain a lien on a tenant's goods for nonpayment of rent.

If personal property is seized to enforce the payment of taxes and then publicly sold if the taxes are not subsequently paid, the sale is called a distress sale. Distressed goods are chattels sold at a distress sale.

• Distraint and distress are virtually synonymous.
• Distraint and distress are processes of seizure.
• A warrant of distress (or a warrant of distraint) is required BEFORE property can be seized.
• Since the IRM tells us that levy and seizure are legally the same, then a warrant of distress (or a warrant of distraint) is required BEFORE property can be seized (levied).

Forcible possession; a grasping, snatching, or putting in possession.

In criminal law, a seizure is the forcible taking of property by a government law enforcement official from a person who is suspected of violating, or is known to have violated, the law. A search warrant usually must be presented to the person before his property is seized, unless the circumstances of the seizure justify a warrantless search and seizure. For example, the police may seize a pistol in the coat pocket of a person arrested during a robbery without presenting a warrant because the search and seizure is incident to a lawful arrest. Certain federal and state laws provide for the seizure of particular property that was used in the commission of a crime or that is illegal to possess, such as explosives used in violation of federal law or illegal narcotics.

In the law of civil practice, the term refers to the act performed by an officer of the law under court order when she takes into custody the property of a person against whom a court has rendered a judgment to pay a certain amount of money to another. The property is seized so that it can be sold under the authority of the court to satisfy the judgment. Property can also be seized if a substantial likelihood exists that a defendant is concealing or removing property from the jurisdiction of the court so that in the event a judgment is rendered against her, the property cannot be used to pay the judgment. By attaching or seizing a defendant's property, the court prevents her from perpetrating a fraud on the courts.

"Seizure." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. The Gale Group, Inc, 1998. Answers.com 06 Nov. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/seizure-legal-term

• A criminal law seizure requires a warrant of probable cause.
• A civil law seizure requires a court order (writ or warrant) BEFORE seizure of property.