Garnishment of Bank Account

It is one of those skeletons-in-your-closet type of scenario. Just when you thought you were through with your whole debt problem and ready to start life anew, someone goes and opens that damned closet and the whole pile of bones falls out. Figurative speaking aside, if you've had some debts left over, your creditor can take you to court and if deemed fit, the court sides with your creditor and allows the man to bite of chunks of your bank account in which you've methodically stacked up some savings.

An Explanation on Garnishment

So while a few years ago you were genuinely unable, unfit and improper to pay off the debts you owed to others, the purpose of garnishment of bank account is that now you are, so pay up. With that in mind, your creditor goes to the court, proves to the judge that he is owed some money and you now have it. The court will examine your financial status and then accordingly belt out a judgment. If the court deems that you indeed are fit and proper now to pay the dues owed to your creditor, your bank account or wages will be garnished accordingly, so that your outstanding debts may be paid.

Now you may have gathered from the above paragraph that there are two basic types of garnishment: wage garnishment and garnishment of bank account. Usually, if you are a salaried employee or an employee on wages, the court will order that a portion of your monthly income will be accorded to your creditor. But what if you're unemployed and have no sources of income? This is where the garnishment checking account comes in. If you have a sizable chunk of cash parked in some bank account, the court will order garnishment of that account.

Garnishment Checking Account

It is clearly a pretty ironic looking scenario where the word 'garnishment' is concerned. While 'garnish' means 'to add' or 'to decorate' or some such, this basically adds zilch to your financial position, but on the other hand, takes away the precious little which you have. Who can garnish bank account? Pretty much any creditor who can obtain a court order for garnishment can do so.

Which accounts can be garnished? The court can review your whole financial position and slap an order on pretty much any account except those which boast of some sort of government benefit. The bad news for your spouse is that if there is an account which is held jointly by you, the indebted party, and your spouse, that account too is liable. Although most of the time, accounts held jointly by the indebted party with anyone else other than the spouse will not get garnished. Oh, and if you think you can be smart and transfer all the funds out of your bank account once the court orders garnishment, think again. The creditor can use a skip trace to trace your funds and then reel them in. And yes, once the court orders garnishment, your account is frozen and you cannot do much about it anyway.

Stop Garnishment: Bank Account

It can be a pretty hard deal, especially when you're unemployed and the bank account is really all that you have left. So you can appeal against it by somehow proving to the court that the account is exempt from garnishment.

This is generally used as a last resort by the creditor. The first choice is of course to place a lien on your assets. So the best way to stop garnishment is to muster up some assets which you wouldn't mind getting rid of and pay back your creditor.