There are different situations in which your property may be wrongly taken from you. For instance, maybe your landlord doesn’t return your belongings, or a debt collector unfairly takes your items without an order. Whatever the situation, it’s important that these items are recovered. There are two ways to do this, which is through replevin or detinue.
Replevin is when you aim to get your property back, along with possible damages. This case has to be filed in District Court and fees tend to be less expensive. In addition, the court has the ability to order the item to be returned before trial at a pretrial Show Cause Hearing. Detinue, on the other hand, seeks to get the property back, or its value. This case can be filed in the District Court or Circuit Court, depending on the value of the property. Detinue cases tend to be more expensive than replevin, and the court cannot order the item to be returned until after trial.
So, how do you file for a replevin or detinue trial? The first step is to hire a real estate lawyer in NYC. Once you do that, you and your lawyer can file the Complaint form with the court. If you’re filing for a replevin, you also have to file the Request for Service and the Show Cause Order. The next step is to pay the filing fee. Then, the court will issue a Writ of Summons and/or a Show Cause Order to notify the defendant that a suit has been officially filed. Once the accused has been served, there will be a court hearing.
In court, the judge will make a decision on if the property or value will need to be returned. If the decision was beneficial to you, you should get your property or value of the property back. If the defendant doesn’t return the property, another case will need to take place.
When it comes to receiving your own property back, you need to make sure you are well represented with a real estate lawyer in NYC. Gary Wachtel has experience in this area; in fact, he uses legal tactics to obtain court orders that require the return of his clients’ property. For more information, contact us today.
