California Form MC-200: Deadline, Filing, and Service Steps

California Form MC-200, titled Claim Opposing Forfeiture, is the one-page court filing you use to contest a law enforcement agency’s attempt to permanently keep property it seized in a drug-related case. File it with the Superior Court in the county where the property was taken within 30 days of receiving the notice of seizure, then serve a file-stamped copy on the District Attorney or Attorney General within 30 days of filing. Miss either deadline and you almost always lose the property for good.¹

Who Can File the Claim

Anyone with a legal interest in the seized property can file. You do not have to be the person accused of the underlying crime. Health and Safety Code Section 11488.5 gives standing to any person “claiming an interest in the property,” which covers sole owners, co-owners, lienholders, and secured creditors.¹ A bank that holds an auto loan on a seized car, a business partner who co-owns a seized account, or a family member whose name is on the title all qualify.

Your interest in the property must have existed before the seizure or before you were notified of the pending forfeiture. Interests assigned after the fact will be scrutinized at the hearing. If you are filing on behalf of a business, state your title and your authority to act for the organization in the appropriate field.

The 30-Day Filing Deadline

The clock starts differently depending on how you learned about the seizure. If you were personally served or received the notice by mail, you have 30 days from the date you received that notice. If you were not personally served or mailed notice, your deadline is 30 days from the date the notice of seizure was last published in a newspaper.¹ A court can extend the deadline for good cause, but treat 30 days as a hard wall.

File with the Superior Court in the county where the property was seized. If criminal charges have been filed, you may also file in the county where the defendant was charged.¹

How to Fill Out Form MC-200

Download the form from the California Courts website at courts.ca.gov. A Spanish version is available through the clerk’s office of any Superior Court.² The form is one page, but every field matters.

Your Information and the Case Reference

At the top, enter your full legal name and current mailing address. This is how the court and the prosecuting agency will contact you for the rest of the case. If you move during the proceedings and the court cannot reach you, you risk a default judgment. Below your information, enter the name of the law enforcement agency that seized the property and the case or control number from the notice of seizure.

Describing the Property

Describe the seized property with enough detail that no one could confuse it with something else. For a vehicle, include the year, make, model, color, and VIN. For electronics, include serial numbers. For cash, state the exact amount. For a bank account, provide the institution name and account number. Vague descriptions like “my car” or “some money” invite the court to dismiss your claim as unsubstantiated.

Nature and Extent of Your Interest

This is the most important section on the form. Check whether you are claiming all of the property’s value, part of it, or an unknown amount. Then explain, in the space provided, how you came to own or have an interest in the property. The form uses the phrase “nature of interest,” which means: how did you get it, and what is your relationship to it?²

Be specific. “I purchased this vehicle on March 15, 2024, from ABC Motors and hold the title in my name” is far stronger than “I own this car.” If you are a lienholder, state the loan origination date, the outstanding balance, and the account number. Concrete detail here makes it harder for the government to argue your claim is too vague to proceed.

Signing Under Penalty of Perjury

You must sign the form under penalty of perjury. Everything you wrote carries the same legal weight as sworn testimony, and providing false information is a criminal offense. Print or type all information clearly. Illegible forms can cause processing delays at the clerk’s window.²

Filing Fees

If the property listed in the notice is valued at $5,000 or less, the court clerk cannot charge you a filing fee. If the value exceeds $5,000, you will owe the standard civil filing fee, and you can submit a fee waiver request at the same time if you cannot afford it.¹ Regardless of the property’s value, the court treats every forfeiture claim as an unlimited civil case.

Serving the District Attorney or Attorney General

Filing with the court is only half the job. Within 30 days of filing, you must serve an endorsed (file-stamped) copy of the claim on the District Attorney or the Attorney General, depending on which office is identified in the notice of seizure.¹ This is a separate deadline from the 30 days to file. Do not confuse the two.

Service by mail is the most common method. Under California’s rules for proof of service by mail, someone other than you, at least 18 years old and not a party to the case, must complete a declaration confirming they sealed and mailed the document with postage prepaid. The declaration must include the exact title of the document, the date and place of mailing, and the name and address of the person served as shown on the envelope. If you have an attorney, the attorney can sign the proof of service certificate instead.

Keep a file-stamped copy of every document you submit. If the prosecuting agency later claims it never received your claim, your proof of service and your file-stamped copy are your only protection against the case proceeding without you.

What Happens After You File

Once the District Attorney or Attorney General receives your claim, they have 30 days to file a petition for forfeiture with the Superior Court. If they miss that deadline, the court must order your property released immediately.¹ This is one of the strongest protections in the process.

If the government does file on time, the case moves into pretrial discovery. Expect formal requests from the prosecuting agency asking you to produce documents, answer questions under oath, or admit certain facts. You typically have 30 days to respond to each discovery request. Failing to respond, or ignoring the requests entirely, can result in sanctions, including the court denying your claim and entering judgment for the government.³ Watch your mail carefully after filing. This is where many self-represented claimants lose cases they could have won.

If no claim is filed at all by the deadline, the government can ask the court for a default judgment declaring the property forfeited, and there is generally no further opportunity to contest the seizure.

Mistakes That Get Claims Thrown Out

Most failed forfeiture claims fail on procedure, not substance. The property owner had a viable argument but tripped on a technicality the court could not overlook.

Missing the 30-day filing deadline. This is the single most common reason claims never get heard. The clock starts when you receive notice, not when you decide to act.
Forgetting to serve the DA or AG. Filing with the court but neglecting to serve the prosecuting agency leaves the government free to argue it was never notified. Without valid proof of service, your filing may be treated as incomplete.
Vague property descriptions. Writing “cash” instead of “$3,400 in U.S. currency” or “a truck” instead of the full vehicle description with VIN gives the court reason to question whether your claim matches the seized property.
Weak “nature of interest” statements. Saying “it’s mine” without explaining how you acquired the property or documenting your ownership. Include purchase dates, transaction records, titles, or loan documents.
Ignoring discovery requests. After the DA files a forfeiture petition, the discovery phase begins. Failing to respond to document requests or requests for admissions within the deadline can result in your claim being denied by default.

Filing MC-200 correctly is the first step, but the case does not end there. The forfeiture process is a full civil lawsuit, and the court expects you to participate at every stage. If you are unsure about any procedural requirement after filing, the self-help center at your local Superior Court can direct you to resources, and the Sacramento County Public Law Library maintains a detailed guide to the process.³

1
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 11488.5
2
Judicial Council of California. Claim Opposing Forfeiture
3
Sacramento County Public Law Library. Claim Opposing Forfeiture