Nevada Revised Statutes

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 179.121 (2026)

Forfeiture of personal property and conveyances used in commission of crime

✓ current as of July 2026

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NRS 179.121 Forfeiture of personal property and conveyances used in commission of crime.

1. All personal property, including, without limitation, any tool, substance, weapon, machine, computer, money or security, which is used as an instrumentality in any of the following crimes is subject to forfeiture:

(a) The commission of or attempted commission of the crime of murder, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, invasion of the home, grand larceny or theft if it is punishable as a felony;

(b) The commission of or attempted commission of any felony with the intent to commit, cause, aid, further or conceal an act of terrorism;

(d) The commission of any crime by a criminal gang, as defined in NRS 213.1263; or

(e) A violation of NRS 200.463 to 200.468, inclusive, 201.300, 201.320, 201.395, 202.265, 202.287, 205.473 to 205.513, inclusive, 205.610 to 205.810, inclusive, 370.380, 370.382, 370.405, 465.070 to 465.086, inclusive, 630.400, 630A.600, 631.400, 632.285, 632.291, 632.315, 633.741, 634.227, 634A.230, 635.167, 636.145, 637.090, 637B.290, 639.100, 639.2813, 640.169, 640A.230, 644A.900 or 654.200.

2. Except as otherwise provided for conveyances forfeitable pursuant to NRS 453.301 or 501.3857, all conveyances, including aircraft, vehicles or vessels, which are used or intended for use during the commission of a felony or a violation of NRS 202.287, 202.300 or 465.070 to 465.086, inclusive, are subject to forfeiture except that:

(a) A conveyance used by any person as a common carrier in the transaction of business as a common carrier is not subject to forfeiture under this section unless it appears that the owner or other person in charge of the conveyance is a consenting party or privy to the felony or violation;

(b) A conveyance is not subject to forfeiture under this section by reason of any act or omission established by the owner thereof to have been committed or omitted without the owner’s knowledge, consent or willful blindness;

(c) A conveyance is not subject to forfeiture for a violation of NRS 202.300 if the firearm used in the violation of that section was not loaded at the time of the violation; and

(d) A forfeiture of a conveyance encumbered by a bona fide security interest is subject to the interest of the secured party if the secured party neither had knowledge of nor consented to the felony. If a conveyance is forfeited, the appropriate law enforcement agency may pay the existing balance and retain the conveyance for official use.

3. For the purposes of this section, a firearm is loaded if:

(a) There is a cartridge in the chamber of the firearm;

(b) There is a cartridge in the cylinder of the firearm, if the firearm is a revolver; or

(c) There is a cartridge in the magazine and the magazine is in the firearm or there is a cartridge in the chamber, if the firearm is a semiautomatic firearm.

4. As used in this section, “act of terrorism” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 202.4415.

(Added to NRS by 1983, 1135; A 1985, 638, 1239; 1989, 656, 1187, 1188, 1241, 1242, 1453; 1991, 210, 2287, 2288; 1995, 1150, 1424; 1997, 639; 1999, 2711; 2003, 2952; 2005, 90, 1199; 2007, 1269; 2009, 575; 2013, 1857, 2248, 2420; 2015, 2311; 2019, 2634; 2021, 447)

FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY RELATING TO TECHNOLOGICAL CRIMES

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 1988–1992 · leading case: City of Sparks, Police Dep't v. Nason, 807 P.2d 1389 (Nev. 1991).

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City of Sparks, Police Dep't v. Nason, 807 P.2d 1389 (Nev. 1991). · cites it 14× “I believe that characterization of a forfeiture action as civil or "in rem" has no bearing upon the NRS 179.121 prerequisite that a felony must be committed.”

Pellegrini v. State, 764 P.2d 484 (Nev. 1988). “3 See NRS 179.121. The prosecutor conceded this advice was erroneous at the penalty hearing.”

State v. Am. Bankers Ins., 782 P.2d 1316 (Nev. 1989). · cites it 2× “506-548, are merely procedural, the implication being that these sections are not substantive because they do not create the right to be enforced. The State distinguishes from the sections governing bail bond forfeitures other actions for forfeiture such as an action based on…”

Schoka v. Sheriff, 824 P.2d 290 (Nev. 1992). · cites it 2× “The district court found that forfeiture was proper under NRS 179.121. 1 Specifically, the district court found that the state *91 proved that Schoka used the car and the account as instrumentalities in the commission of various felonies.”

Sheriff v. A 1983 Datsun 280ZX Sedan Vin Jnihz 04S0DX562727, 794 P.2d 346 (Nev. 1990). · cites it 2× “NRS 179.121 (2)(b) provides; *420 A conveyance is not subject to forfeiture under this section by reason of any act or omission established by the owner thereof to have been committed or omitted without his knowledge or consent .”

— Nev. Rev. Stat. § 179.121(2) — 1 case

City of Sparks, Police Dep't v. Nason, 807 P.2d 1389 (Nev. 1991). “I believe that characterization of a forfeiture action as civil or "in rem" has no bearing upon the NRS 179.121 prerequisite that a felony must be committed.”

— Nev. Rev. Stat. § 179.121(2)(c) — 1 case

Sheriff v. A 1983 Datsun 280ZX Sedan Vin Jnihz 04S0DX562727, 794 P.2d 346 (Nev. 1990). “NRS 179.121 (2)(b) provides; *420 A conveyance is not subject to forfeiture under this section by reason of any act or omission established by the owner thereof to have been committed or omitted without his knowledge or consent .”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.