The goal of Weed and Seed is to help local communities restore order and provide assistance in neighborhoods afflicted with high crime rates or other serious problems. The proposed use of any property to be transferred must support community-based drug treatment, crime prevention, education, improving housing, enhancing job skills, and other activities that will substantially further the Weed and Seed strategy. The property must be suited to the proposed use and the use must be consistent with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and ordinances.

Any proposed transfer must have the potential for significant benefits to a particular community and these benefits must outweigh any financial loss or adverse effects to the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund.

All requests for sharing of real property pursuant to the Weed and Seed Initiative must be submitted on the DAG-71 and must follow the established sharing procedures outlined in The Attorney General's Guidelines on Seized and Forfeited Property (JM Chapter 9-118.000). The appropriate official in the federal investigative agency and the United States Attorney in the judicial district where the property is located must concur with the request. Where real property is forfeited in one judicial district by a United States Attorney from another district, the United States Attorneys in both districts should recommend the transfer. Final approval authority for a transfer of forfeited real property rests with the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.

In addition to the forms DAG-71 and DAG-72, a request for a Weed and Seed transfer requires the submission of the following to MNF: (1) a written request from the United States Attorney or the U.S. Marshal recommending the transfer, explaining the factual and procedural history of the case and the proposed use of the property by the requested Weed and Seed recipient; (2) a draft Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by the United States Attorney and authorized representatives of the federal agency that processed the forfeiture, each state or local agency that would otherwise receive sharing were it not for the Weed and Seed transfer, and the organization that is contemplated to be the ultimate recipient of the transferred property, whether that recipient is a sharing agency or a qualified public or private non-profit organization; and (3) a Lead-Based Paint Declaration. Both the written request and memorandum should fully describe the entity to which the property is proposed to be transferred and the use to which that entity intends to put the property. See Chapter 6 of the Asset Forfeiture Policy Manual.

[updated January 2026] [cited in JM 9-2.400; 9-119.010]