Forced Sales of Vehicles, Aircraft, Vessels, Equipment and Businesses

Hub page. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-16.

An owner is made to sell far more than real estate. A U.S. Marshal sells an arrested ship; a bankruptcy court approves the auction of an airline’s aircraft or an entire operating business; a sheriff levies on and sells a judgment debtor’s car; a marina in Florida sells a boat for unpaid storage with no judge involved; a garage sells a car under its repair lien; the IRS sells a seized truck. The mechanics differ by asset because title lives in a different place for each — a state certificate of title, the FAA Aircraft Registry, the Coast Guard’s National Vessel Documentation Center, a UCC filing office, the USPTO — and because each asset class carries its own lien regime.

This section covers all of those forced sales, and separates them by who is selling and on what authority, because the buyer’s title differs with each:

• Court sales — execution (sheriff, constable, marshal), judicial foreclosure, admiralty, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial forfeiture.
• Administrative sales — a government authority without a court: IRS levy and seizure, state tax seizures, abandoned-vehicle and derelict-vessel disposals, customs and administrative forfeiture.
• Lienholder sales — a creditor under a statutory or contractual power, no court: UCC Article 9 dispositions, towing, storage, repair, marina, hangar and self-storage lien sales.

Start with court-ordered-administrative-and-creditor-sales, which compares the three channels; state-by-state rules are in personal-property-execution-sales-by-state and in section 12 of every state page (e.g. florida, texas, oregon).

Pages in this section

All channels

• court-ordered-administrative-and-creditor-sales — the three channels side by side: who conducts, notice, title conveyed, what survives, how a sale is undone.
• personal-property-execution-sales-by-state — 50 states + DC: execution-sale notice and procedure, redemption, vehicle titles, lien sales.
• forfeiture-and-government-seizure-sales — federal and state forfeiture, IRS levy sales, impound auctions.

Motor vehicles and equipment

• motor-vehicles — cars, trucks, motorcycles and trailers: certificate-of-title mechanics by channel.
• ucc-article-9-dispositions — repossession and resale of vehicles and equipment.
• towing-storage-and-mechanics-lien-sales — tow, storage, repair and self-storage lien sales.
• equipment-and-machinery — construction, farm and industrial equipment; leases, fixtures, UCC searches.
• Playbooks: buying-a-vehicle-at-a-forced-sale · buying-equipment-at-a-forced-sale

Vessels

• vessels — ships, yachts and boats across every channel.
• admiralty-arrest-and-marshals-sale — the in rem sale that clears all maritime liens.
• maritime-liens-and-preferred-ship-mortgages — 46 U.S.C. chapter 313.
• marina-and-storage-lien-sales-of-vessels — state self-help sales (e.g. Fla. Stat. § 328.17) and what survives them.
• uscg-national-vessel-documentation-center — documentation and abstracts of title.
• Playbook: buying-a-vessel-at-a-forced-sale

Aircraft

• aircraft — airplanes, helicopters and engines across every channel.
• aircraft-title-liens-and-the-faa-registry — 49 U.S.C. §§ 44107–44108, 14 CFR parts 47 and 49.
• cape-town-convention-aircraft — the International Registry and the Aircraft Protocol.
• aircraft-mechanics-liens-and-non-judicial-sales — state mechanic’s, hangar and airport liens.
• faa-aircraft-registry — the agency.
• Playbook: buying-an-aircraft-at-a-forced-sale

Businesses and intangibles

• businesses-and-going-concerns — § 363 going-concern sales, plan sales, receiverships, ABCs, Article 9 sales.
• receivership-sales · assignment-for-the-benefit-of-creditors · ucc-article-9-sales-of-a-business
• equity-interests-stock-llc-charging-orders — stock levies, LLC and partnership interests.
• intellectual-property-and-licenses — trademarks, patents, copyrights, domains, liquor and FCC licences.
• Playbook: buying-a-business-at-a-forced-sale
• Real-estate-focused companion: bankruptcy-363-sales

Cases

• Vessels: the-adeline-1918, madruga-v-superior-court-1954, ge-credit-v-drill-ship-mission-exploration-1982, in-re-millenium-seacarriers-2005, barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018
• Aircraft: philko-aviation-v-shacket-1983
• Vehicles, forfeiture and self-help: flagg-bros-v-brooks-1978, united-states-v-whiting-pools-1983, bennis-v-michigan-1996, timbs-v-indiana-2019, city-of-chicago-v-fulton-2021, culley-v-marshall-2024
• Businesses and IP: nlrb-v-burns-international-security-1972, calpine-v-obrien-environmental-energy-1999, perlman-v-catapult-entertainment-1999, sugar-busters-v-brennan-1999, network-solutions-v-umbro-2000, in-re-cybernetic-services-2001, in-re-world-auxiliary-power-2002, in-re-trans-world-airlines-2003, kremen-v-cohen-2003, in-re-chrysler-2009 (vacated), olmstead-v-federal-trade-commission-2010, elliott-v-general-motors-2016, mission-product-holdings-v-tempnology-2019, moac-mall-holdings-v-transform-holdco-2023

▸ For Buyers / Operators — the first question for any lot is which channel: only some sales clear the liens on the asset (an admiralty sale clears all maritime liens; a marina’s lien sale does not), and the paperwork that will produce a title differs by channel and state.

▸ For Owners / Debtors — notice requirements, exemptions and redemption rights differ by channel and state; personal-property-execution-sales-by-state and each state page’s section 12 set them out.

Legal information, not legal advice. This page summarizes federal and state law for research purposes. Statutes and procedures change; verify against the cited primary sources on each linked page and consult a licensed attorney in the relevant jurisdiction before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-16.