The Criminal Justice System is no longer just about crime. We have restraint proceedings, confiscation proceedings, enforcement proceedings and even situations where you are forced to claim back your own assets because the crown court wants to take it because someone else has been found guilty of of a crime

This is what the Prosecuting Authority will use to keep assets safe for a confiscation order. Usually the prosecutor will ask for a restraining order in larger cases and they will not give anybody notice of the application. The immediate impact on the person affected is instant and critical.
If convicted of an acquisitive crime (profit motive) then in many cases the court will proceed to consider confiscating assets to deprive the defendant of the proceeds of his or her crime. However, the meaning to be given to the proceeds is not what the ordinary person would recognise. A regular complaint by defendants is that their lawyers did not fight the proceedings sufficiently so that they were left with too high an order.
The main type of enforcement proceedings has to be those that are taken to enforce a confiscation order. The order always comes with a default term that will be served if the order is not paid. There are limited ways in which these can be defended. The proceedings are conducted in the Magistrates’ Court and you can apply for legal aid but you have to make an application to the Legal Aid Agency as the Crown Court legal aid does not cover it.
Since the Serious Crime Act 2015 those who claim a share or full ownership of an asset can now be a party to confiscation proceedings in the Crown Court. This would permit an earlier decision on the subject which could help to add certainty to a fraught situation.