Legal Question in Banking Law in Georgia

what federal or georgia stae law allows banks to freeze accounts from a garnishment without that person being on the account when the bank received their notice on 4/10/13 I did not receive any notice of the garnishment until 4/17/13 when they froze my spouse federal tax refund I was added to the account 4/11/13 unaware of the garnishment on the account. I'm a homemaker I dont contribute to the account my spouse does, and the bank is trying to give me the run around about they can hold a garnishment for 30 days if that's true they would have been holding it on a single account not a joint account without my name on it because they had no way of knowing our plans to add me.


Asked on 4/23/13, 3:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Adding you was a bad idea. There is no specific law like you think. A judgment was entered against your husband which he knew about. The law relating to garnishments permits a judgment creditor to seize assets belonging to a judgment debtor. You adding your name was not wise, but I don't see why you are now complaining as you admit that your husband's income is the only source of funding for the account. Your husband needs to stop putting money into the account NOW. If you want to have a separate bank account, then you can do so as long as there are no judgments against you. Your husband needs to consider doing his banking online or going on a cash only basis or on having his pay direct deposited into an account that is just in your name (if the bank and employer will permit it).

It is unclear from your post as to whether the tax refund was intercepted or whether the refund was issued, hit the bank account and was subject to garnishment. If the latter, it does not surprise me. There are companies that were marketing a tool to figure out when tax refund checks would hit the bank accounts and they were advising creditors when to execute on the accounts.

There is no specific tax intercept unless your husband owes arrears in child support or for something like this. However, such monies would be garnished from the tax refund, not the bank account.

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Answered on 5/06/13, 9:56 pm


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