Buying a Vessel at a Forced Sale: Step-by-Step and Underwriting Checklist

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

This playbook sequences the checks a bidder runs before, at and after a forced sale of a vessel. The law behind each step is on vessels, admiralty-arrest-and-marshals-sale, maritime-liens-and-preferred-ship-mortgages and marina-and-storage-lien-sales-of-vessels. Where a cost, time or rule was not verified from a primary source this session it is marked needs_verification rather than estimated.

Step 1 — Identify the sale channel

If the sale is …	The governing instrument is …	Liens cut off	Read
A U.S. Marshal’s sale in an in rem case	The order of sale + district local admiralty rule	All claims existing on the sale date (46 U.S.C. § 31326(a))	admiralty-arrest-and-marshals-sale
A mortgagee’s private/public sale without a court	The mortgage + applicable state law	Mortgagor’s title only; maritime liens and other preferred mortgages unaffected (§ 31325(f)(2))	maritime-liens-and-preferred-ship-mortgages
A marina/boatyard/storage lien sale	State statute (e.g., Fla. Stat. § 328.17)	Interests junior to the lienor; prior perfected liens survive (Fla. § 328.17(11)); maritime liens survive (the-adeline-1918)	marina-and-storage-lien-sales-of-vessels
A police/agency lost-property sale	State statute (e.g., Fla. Stat. § 705.103)	Florida: sold “subject to any and all liens” (§ 705.103(3))	marina-and-storage-lien-sales-of-vessels
A sheriff’s execution or state-court sale	State execution law	Debtor’s interest; maritime liens survive	the-adeline-1918, madruga-v-superior-court-1954
A bankruptcy trustee’s sale	§ 363 order	Per order; maritime-lien extinction contested	bankruptcy-363-sales, in-re-millenium-seacarriers-2005, barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018
A forfeiture sale	Forfeiture order / agency declaration	Per order (needs_verification)	vessels

Step 2 — Pull the title record

1. Is the vessel documented? Check the hull’s official number and name/hailing-port markings (46 CFR 67.121, 67.123) and request a General Index or Abstract of Title (CG-1332) from the National Vessel Documentation Center — “Any person may request” one (46 CFR 67.301); fee USD 25 (46 CFR 67.550). A Certificate of Ownership (CG-1330) costs USD 125. See uscg-national-vessel-documentation-center.
2. If undocumented, pull the state title and lien record. Florida’s DHSMV keeps a public record of notices of lien and satisfactions (Fla. Stat. § 328.15(3)(a)).
3. Search what the abstract will not show. Florida’s marina statute itself requires the seller to run a USCG abstract, DHSMV record, current UCC search, Florida judgment-lien certificate search, and a foreign/other-state registry search (Fla. Stat. § 328.17(5)(a)4.). A buyer can run the same set. Note that a USCG notice of claim of lien can be recorded only against a vessel with an outstanding preferred mortgage (46 CFR 67.255) and expires 3 years after the lien date (46 U.S.C. § 31343(e)) — so most maritime liens are off-record.
4. Flag-state / foreign registry. If the vessel shows foreign identification, a foreign preferred mortgage registered in the flag state is a “preferred mortgage” for §§ 31325–31326 (46 U.S.C. § 31301(6)(B)).

Step 3 — Map the lien stack

For a non-in-rem sale, list each of the following and treat it as surviving unless the sale statute or order clearly cuts it off:

• Recorded preferred ship mortgage(s) and state-title liens (Fla. § 328.17(11)).
• Preferred maritime liens: crew wages, salvage, maritime tort (collision, personal injury), general average, directly employed stevedore wages, and pre-mortgage maritime liens (46 U.S.C. § 31301(5)).
• Necessaries liens — repairs, supplies, towage, drydock (§§ 31301(4), 31342).
• Seaman’s maintenance-and-cure liens (barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018).
• Unpaid derelict-removal or storage costs tied to the prior owner (Fla. § 823.11(3)(a), § 705.103(4) — these attach to the owner and registration privileges; whether they bind the vessel in a buyer’s hands is needs_verification).

For a Marshal’s in rem sale, these move to the registry fund (§ 31326(b)); the remaining title-side checks are documentation eligibility and the order’s terms.

Step 4 — Physical due diligence

• Marine survey. No primary source fixes survey scope or cost (needs_verification for any figure). Access during Marshal custody depends on the Marshal, substitute custodian and court order; E.D. La. lets the Marshal move vessels in custody only as a “prudent administrator” or on all parties’ written authorization (LAR 64.3).
• Official number and markings. A documented vessel’s official number must be permanently marked “on some clearly visible interior structural part of the hull,” and its name and hailing port on the exterior (46 CFR 67.121, 67.123); compare them with the abstract. For state-titled boats, Florida’s title application lists the hull identification number (Fla. Stat. § 328.01(2)(c)).
• Derelict/at-risk condition (Florida). A vessel taking on water without effective dewatering, open to the elements, broken loose, listing, without effective propulsion, or on an unlawful mooring is “at risk of becoming derelict” (Fla. Stat. § 327.4107(2)); a wrecked, junked or “substantially dismantled” vessel (two of steering, propulsion, hull integrity compromised) is “derelict” (§ 823.11(1)(b)). Owners may not leave a derelict vessel on state waters more than 24 hours (§ 823.11(2)(a)).
• Environmental exposure. Fuel, oil and hazardous-substance liability from a vessel is addressed generally on environmental-liens and cercla-environmental-liens-federal; no vessel-specific primary source was retrieved here (needs_verification).

Step 5 — Budget the cost lines

Cost line	Amount / rule	Source
Deposit at the hammer (E.D. La.)	Greater of USD 500 or 10% of bid; full price if bid is USD 500 or less	E.D. La. LAR 64.6(B)
Balance (E.D. La.)	On or before confirmation, within 14 days of adjudication or dismissal of opposition	LAR 64.6(B)
Deposit / balance (S.D. Tex.)	Under USD 1,000: full on acceptance; USD 1,000+: higher of 10% or USD 1,000 now, balance within 7 days (deferrable if objection filed)	S.D. Tex. Admiralty Rule E.2
Keeping costs between sale and confirmation	E.D. La.: from proceeds if unopposed; on the purchaser after 3 days if purchaser delays payment	LAR 64.6(B)
Default	S.D. Tex.: deposit forfeited; court may take second bid or resell	Rule E.3
Marshal’s commission (paid from proceeds)	3% of first USD 1,000, 1.5% of excess; min USD 100, max USD 50,000	28 CFR 0.114(h)
Florida sales/use tax	6% of sales price; occasional/isolated sales of boats that must be titled or documented are taxable; maximum USD 18,000 per boat sale or use	Fla. Stat. § 212.05(1)(a)1.a.–b., (5)
Texas boat sales/use tax	6.25% of total consideration on any “retail sale” (any sale except a dealer buying for resale); max USD 18,750	Tex. Tax Code §§ 160.001(6), 160.021, 160.026
North Carolina	3% of the sales price of a boat “sold at retail,” max USD 1,500 (whether a lien or judicial sale is a retail sale needs_verification)	N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-164.4(a)(1b)
USCG abstract of title	USD 25	46 CFR 67.550
USCG bill of sale filing	USD 8 per page	46 CFR 67.550
USCG exchange of COD (new owner)	USD 84 (commercial or 1-year recreational); recreational multi-year USD 26/year added	46 CFR 67.550
USCG initial COD (if not already documented)	USD 133	46 CFR 67.550
Waiver of bill-of-sale requirement	USD 15	46 CFR 67.550, 67.89
Evidence of deletion from documentation	USD 15	46 CFR 67.550
Moorage/storage pending removal	Market rate; Florida marina lien covers storage and dockage while unpaid	Fla. Stat. § 328.17(4)(a)
Florida derelict removal if left in derelict condition	All removal, storage, destruction and disposal costs, less salvage value	Fla. Stat. §§ 823.11(3)(a), 705.103(4)
Quiet-title in admiralty (non-in-rem purchase)	Cost/time not verified	needs_verification

Step 6 — At the sale

• Bring certified funds for the deposit in the form the local rule demands (E.D. La.: “cash or certified check, or cashier’s check on a local bank”; S.D. Tex.: cash, cashier’s or certified check, “acceptance of cashiers’ checks is conditioned on their payment”).
• Confirm whether credit bids are allowed and whether the credit bidder must guarantee senior liens (see ge-credit-v-drill-ship-mission-exploration-1982).
• Florida marina sale: the sale must match the published notice and be “commercially reasonable” (Fla. Stat. § 328.17(9)); the owner or a lienholder may redeem until the sale (§ 328.17(10)).
• North Carolina: the lienor may buy at a public sale but not at its own private sale (G.S. 44A-4(c), (e)(3)).

Step 7 — Confirmation (court sales)

• E.D. La.: confirmed if no written objection within three business days, provided the buyer has performed (LAR 64.6(B)). S.D. Tex.: objections within 7 days (Rule E.4.1). S.D. Fla.: the clerk enters confirmation on request once the E(17)(g)(i) objection deadline passes with no objection (sample form; rule text needs_verification).
• Get certified copies of the order of sale and the confirmation order.

Step 8 — Record title and documentation

Sale channel	File with NVDC (documented vessel)	Authority
Marshal’s in rem sale	Certified order requiring free-and-clear sale + certified confirmation order (removes recorded encumbrances); certified court order evidencing title passage	46 CFR 67.263(b), 67.77
Mortgagee extrajudicial sale	Foreclosed instrument; foreclosing party’s affidavit (reasons, chronology, statutes, compliance); evidence of substantial compliance; bill of sale as agent for owner	46 CFR 67.83
State-law lien sale (marina)	Copy of statute; affidavit of basis and compliance; evidence of substantial compliance; bill of sale as agent for owner of record	46 CFR 67.91
Forfeiture	Certified forfeiture order, or agency affidavit / Declaration of Forfeiture	46 CFR 67.263(c)–(d)
Missing compliant bill of sale	Waiver request with written explanation and “competent and persuasive evidence of the passage of title”	46 CFR 67.89

Then:

• The existing Certificate of Documentation “becomes invalid immediately” when “[t]he ownership of the vessel changes in whole or in part” (46 CFR 67.167(b)(1)); apply for an exchange.
• The buyer must be an eligible owner (U.S. citizen individual, or qualifying entity) to keep the vessel documented (46 U.S.C. § 12103(b)); a district-court sale of a documented vessel is limited to persons eligible to own one or a mortgagee unless MARAD waives (46 CFR 221.17(a)). A non-citizen buyer of a documented vessel generally needs MARAD approval unless the vessel was operated only for pleasure or fishing (46 U.S.C. § 56101(a)(2)); deletion on foreign transfer requires a statement and, where applicable, MARAD consent (46 CFR 67.171(c)).
• Florida state title after a marina sale: submit the application, fees, the marina’s original bill of sale, copies of the certified letters, and a certified copy of the published notice (Fla. Stat. § 328.17(13)); titling is required within 30 days after transfer for a vessel whose state of principal use is Florida, unless documented (Fla. Stat. § 328.03(1), (2)(a)).

Step 9 — Post-acquisition exposure

• Surviving maritime liens can be asserted by arrest of the vessel in the new owner’s hands (they “accompan[y] the property into the hands of a bona fide purchaser”; barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018 quoting Vandewater). A notice of claim of lien may be challenged by declaratory action in admiralty with possible fee-shifting (46 U.S.C. § 31343(c)(2)).
• Laches remains a defense to stale maritime liens (§ 31343(f)); periods not verified.
• Crew on board. Crew wage claims are preferred maritime liens (§ 31301(5)(D)); a buyer of a commercial vessel at a non-in-rem sale inherits that exposure.
• Florida derelict status after purchase is the new owner’s problem (Fla. Stat. § 823.11(2)(e): the title is “prima facie evidence of ownership”).

Underwriting checklist (summary)

• Channel identified and governing order/statute read
• USCG abstract (USD 25) or state title/lien record pulled
• UCC, judgment-lien and foreign-registry searches run
• Recorded mortgages and lien notices listed; survival determined by channel
• Off-record lien inquiry: crew wages, salvage, collisions/injuries, unpaid yards/fuel/tow
• Survey and official-number / hull-identification check done (access arranged with Marshal/custodian or lienor)
• Derelict/at-risk condition and removal plan assessed (Florida §§ 327.4107, 823.11)
• Deposit, balance deadline, default terms and custody-cost allocation known
• Sales/use tax computed for the state of delivery/use
• Documentation eligibility (citizenship) and MARAD issues cleared
• Recording packet for NVDC or state titling assembled
• Moorage/haul-out/transport from the sale location budgeted
• Insurance available from the moment of transfer (needs_verification for market practice)

▸ For Buyers / Operators — The channel determines lien survival; the abstract will not reveal most maritime liens; and the recording packet differs for court, extrajudicial and state-law transfers (46 CFR 67.77, 67.83, 67.91, 67.263).

▸ For Owners / Debtors — Release and redemption rights before sale: Supplemental Rule E(4)(f), E(5); Fla. Stat. § 328.17(10); N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-4(b)(2). Surplus: registry fund (§ 31326(b)); Fla. Stat. § 328.17(12); Tex. Prop. Code § 70.007; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-5.

Needs verification

• Marine survey scope/cost norms; insurance binding practice at forced sales.
• Cost and duration of a federal in rem action to quiet title after a non-judicial purchase.
• Whether Florida derelict-removal costs bind the vessel (vs. only the prior owner).
• Whether N.C. “sold at retail” reaches lien/judicial sales.
• Vessel-specific environmental liability statutes (e.g., oil pollution) and their effect on a buyer.

Cross-links

vessels, admiralty-arrest-and-marshals-sale, maritime-liens-and-preferred-ship-mortgages, marina-and-storage-lien-sales-of-vessels, uscg-national-vessel-documentation-center, due-diligence-checklist, registering-and-bidding, evaluating-lien-position, bankruptcy-363-sales, environmental-liens, the-adeline-1918, barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018, ge-credit-v-drill-ship-mission-exploration-1982

Sources

• {statute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/31301, retrieved 2026-10-16} — 46 U.S.C. §§ 31301, 31325, 31326, 31342, 31343 (sibling URLs).
• {statute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/12103, retrieved 2026-10-16} — 46 U.S.C. § 12103.
• {statute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/56101, retrieved 2026-10-16} — 46 U.S.C. § 56101.
• {regulation, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-46/part-67, retrieved 2026-10-16 via eCFR API} — 46 CFR 67.77, 67.83, 67.89, 67.91, 67.121–67.123, 67.167, 67.171, 67.255, 67.263, 67.301, 67.303, 67.550.
• {regulation, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-46/section-221.17, retrieved 2026-10-16 via eCFR API} — 46 CFR 221.17.
• {regulation, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-28/section-0.114, retrieved 2026-10-16} — 28 CFR 0.114(h).
• {court rule, https://www.laed.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/local_rules/2022%20CIVIL%20RULES%20LAED%20w%20Amendment%202%204%2025.pdf, retrieved 2026-10-16} — E.D. La. LAR 64.3, 64.6.
• {court rule, https://www.txs.uscourts.gov/sites/txs/files/LR%20September%202025%20Reprint.pdf, retrieved 2026-10-16} — S.D. Tex. Admiralty Rule E.
• {court form, https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/sites/flsd/files/forms/Request%20for%20Confirmation%20of%20Sale.pdf, retrieved 2026-10-16} — S.D. Fla. sample form.
• {statute, http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0328/Sections/0328.17.html, retrieved 2026-10-16} — Fla. Stat. §§ 328.17, 328.03, 328.15, 212.05, 327.4107, 823.11, 705.103 (sibling URLs).
• {statute, https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/TX/htm/TX.160.htm, retrieved 2026-10-16} — Tex. Tax Code ch. 160.
• {statute, https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_105/GS_105-164.4.html, retrieved 2026-10-16} — N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-164.4(a)(1b).
• {statute, https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_44A/GS_44A-4.html, retrieved 2026-10-16} — N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-4.
• {case, https://static.case.law/f3d/889/cases/0517-01.json, retrieved 2026-10-16} — Barnes v. Sea Hawaii Rafting, 889 F.3d 517 (9th Cir. 2018).
• {case, https://static.case.law/f2d/668/cases/0811-01.json, retrieved 2026-10-16} — GE Credit & Leasing v. Drill Ship Mission Exploration, 668 F.2d 811 (5th Cir. 1982).
• {case, https://static.case.law/f/252/cases/0953-01.json, retrieved 2026-10-16} — The Adeline, 252 F. 953 (N.D. Fla. 1918).

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This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. Every forced sale of a vessel is governed by its own order, statute and record. Verify each step against the current primary sources and the specific sale terms, and consult a licensed maritime attorney and a qualified marine surveyor before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-16.