Return of property

Return of property – legal assistance

Property rights are inviolable and protected by law Ugrin Svyatoslav

In the modern world, almost every experienced employee of the legal sphere is forced to face regular violations of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine by law enforcement officials, especially with regard to abuse of authority during investigative actions in the case of one or another suspect, accused person. Especially, it is worth noting that without an appropriate decision of the judicial authority, the seizure of property is prohibited. In the decision, the judge must indicate which specific property of the suspect can be seized.

Note that the current Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine provides for a procedure and such a possibility as the return of property. The return of property is procedurally rather problematic, especially when it comes to the seizure of property for an indefinite period. As we noted earlier, often the seizure of property is carried out in violation of the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code. In our article, we will look at these violations and methods of dealing with them.

It is worth saying that the property that is confiscated from a person at the stage of pre-trial investigation by the investigator within the next forty-eight hours must be returned to the owner, or arrested. However, we would like to point out that according to Article 100 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which specifies that all seized property must be returned to the owner as soon as possible, except for cases when it was received under the temporary access procedure, or arrested by an appropriate decision of a judicial authority. The most alternative way to return property at this stage is a written application to the head of the relevant department, or the pre-trial investigation body, which should be considered within the next 72 hours. If the investigation has not proven that your property is related to criminal proceedings, the investigating judge will be obliged to reverse his own decision and return your property in full.

Return of property from someone else’s illegal possession

Note that the possibility of returning property is also provided for in the Civil Code of Ukraine, and has a character called the return of property from someone else’s illegal possession. Namely, in Article 1213, which establishes that the acquirer is obliged to return to the victim the unjustifiably acquired property in kind.

Summing up, we note that the procedure for the return of property is relatively complicated, since everything is influenced by certain situations of seizure of property, for example, those indicated above. If a situation arises in which a law enforcement agency refuses to admit its own wrongness and return your property to you, then in such a situation you will need the help of our specialists, whose experience and skills will help protect your rights and return your property.

IMPORTANT! How to understand that a lawyer is an amateur or not a professional in criminal matters?

• The lawyer takes a passive position. For example, when a criminal lawyer is simply being nearby during a search and does nothing (most likely, because he does not understand anything).
• The lawyer behaves aggressively towards the investigator or operatives. There are situations when a criminal lawyer constantly gets into conflicts, shouts, and frightens law enforcement officers.
• The lawyer is trying to make friends with the investigator. Often this happens when a criminal lawyer asks not to seize something during a search and builds friendly relations with the investigator or operatives. High-quality defense in criminal cases is, first of all, the independence and objectivity of a lawyer.
• The lawyer claims that you shouldn’t do anything, let the investigation look for evidence. This happens in cases of interrogation, when it is recommended to “completely go to Art. 63 of the Constitution of Ukraine ”, instead of fixing the essence of the interrogation and understanding what the person is accused of.
• The lawyer uses common phrases without understanding criminal law terminology. You have to understand that criminal cases are not civil. For example, when a lawyer says “some kind of certificate”, “they took something in court” or confuses the statuses “defendant”, “plaintiff” with criminal “suspect”, “accused”.

A good criminal lawyer is either a former investigator or prosecutor who clearly understands how the investigation works or a lawyer with extensive experience in criminal matters, there is no other way! This is especially important if you are looking for a serious crime lawyer!

The main recommendations by which you can determine that a criminal lawyer is really a professional and will not cheat.

Relationship. A good lawyer or law firm always has clients. Relationships should be built like this – you asked for help, it is not a lawyer who runs after you to lure money out. If the opposite happens, be careful!

Office. A lawyer must have an office and not change it for a certain time (at least a year). There are, of course, different cases, but the most important factor in choosing a lawyer is stability. If a lawyer has been working steadily for a long time, then everything is fine with him, and if everything is fine with him, then most likely you will be fine too.

Reviews. Reviews can be viewed in Google or social. networks. At the same time, do you treat reviews reasonably? Read them and grasp the essence. It happens that competitors or other unfriendly people write negative reviews. And it happens that reviews are clocked for a couple of hundred hryvnia.

Media. Today, each person will be best told by his social networks. Come and see them. This will help you understand how your future lawyer lives, what cases he does, what achievements he has, by whom and where he is recognized as a specialist.

Experience. A lawyer should not only convince you that he clearly understands what is happening in your specific situation, he should put on the table the same or similar cases in which he took part and where a positive result has been achieved. If there are only words and there is no evidence – do not believe, every lawyer wants to take money from you. It is important that this money is for the cause, and not for the words.

Contract. A contract with a lawyer is a very complicated thing. Because he makes them every day, but you do not, and it can be difficult to delve into the whole point. Do not be lazy to read! Pay special attention to the lines of the contract – for how long the lawyer undertakes to provide legal assistance, the amount of work, either in hours, or in specific actions.

Important! A lawyer cannot guarantee a won case – but he can clearly define the scope of work. Pay attention to general phrases “for providing legal assistance” or “comprehensive support of the case” or “all the services of a lawyer at the stage …”.

A situation may arise when you then say – “I paid 5 thousand USD, but you are not doing anything.” And he will say – “I study the materials and prepare one document for the court and I think that this is enough.” And then you will not prove anything and will be forced to look for another lawyer.

Price – a very important criterion especially in criminal cases. A good professional lawyer cannot be cheap. But at the same time, the price must be justified. Again, if a lawyer takes $ 1,000 and does 5 specific actions for this, this is normal. And when he takes the tighter $ 1 thousand and speaks for the complex management of the case and then does nothing, then this is not normal.

Comparison. Never agree to immediately work with the first lawyer with whom you managed to talk. At least 3 interviews should take place. Then you will be able to understand in comparison who is who.

What if you are suspected of or charged with a criminal offense?

• You need a good criminal lawyer. How do you find such a lawyer? Search the Internet, select several lawyers specifically in criminal cases. Choose at least three attorneys who specialize in criminal law.
• Next, you need advice on a criminal case. High-quality criminal counseling will let you know whether or not a professional lawyer is, what to do next and how much the services of this criminal lawyer cost.
• Follow the recommendations of a lawyer, act in concert with him.

 Cost of services of a criminal defense attorney

Depending on what status you are in, there are two payment options for the services of a criminal lawyer:

1. Accompanying individual investigative actions
More suitable for those who are not involved in the case, and are in the case in the status of a witness.

• express consultation of a criminal lawyer by phone without analyzing the situation – 500 UAH, to simply describe your rights in order to understand what you can do, what can not be done and prevent the first mistakes
• preparation of a response to a request to provide documents – 100 USD

It is important to understand that indeed, according to Art. 93 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the investigator has the right to demand the provision of documents. But what if they are not provided? There is no responsibility for this, but it gives the investigator the right to go and take a court order for a search. Therefore, you need to weigh what is more reasonable for you – to give documents for the request or to sit and wait for a search.

• escort during interrogation – 100 USD/hour, but not less than 200 USD for investigative action
• search escort – 100 USD/hour, but not less than 500 USD for investigative action
• return of seized property – from 500 USD or a percentage of the total cost
• other investigative and procedural actions are paid hourly at the rate of – 100 USD hour of the company’s lawyer.

2. Comprehensive conduct of a criminal case at the stage of pre-trial investigation, court of first instance, appeal or cassation.

Comprehensive criminal case management suits a person suspected, accused or convicted. Because it is difficult for a criminal lawyer to immediately determine the scope of work and the strategy of the defense. It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the case to make a protection plan and backup options if the main ones do not work.

The cost of the services of a criminal lawyer for each stage is from 3000 USD. up to $ 10,000 depending on the complexity of the case and its size.

How we work on the integrated management of criminal cases:

• Signing an agreement with a criminal defense attorney and joining the case. This is the first step at which a criminal lawyer in our company’s affairs communicates with you in essence of the case, in order to understand what the essence of the crime is and what exactly I can incriminate you.
• Familiarization with a criminal case by a criminal defense attorney.

At this stage you pay – 1 thousand USD. This is the payment for the entry into the case of the criminal lawyers of our company. Study of the materials of the criminal case and the formation of a plan and strategy for the defense. When we understand how much work needs to be done, we issue an invoice for the remainder of the payment within the amount mentioned above.

• It is imperative to determine the success fee of criminal defense attorneys – this is an additional remuneration for criminal defense attorneys for achieving a positive goal in your case. This is a very important point. Since it additionally stimulates the criminal lawyer to achieve a positive result.

Prikhodko & Partners Law Firm is the best experienced criminal lawyers in Kiev!

Sign up for a consultation, we will definitely find a solution to your problem. If during the consultation we do not convince that we are really professional criminal lawyers, we will refund the money for the consultation!

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