What is your opinion on if you get a writ,levy or garnishment would you hold the funds in a joint account? The account is a joint or account

Each has it's own set of rules, which are further dependent on the ownership classification of the account in question, so there's no one-size-fits-all.

Do you have a specific scenario in mind?

And remember in the Commonwealth of PA, Joint Husband and Wife accounts are considered a separate entity. If you get a order in just the husbands name, you cannot attach it to the joint assets.

Michelle lll

Michelle, Does this rule apply to the Data Match Program? That is when we receive a court order to free assets on an individual that owes child support.

Yes it does. But we let the customer argue their case, per instructions from a July 2002 e-mail from Montgomery County. My notes state they can only seize 50% of the asset balance.

The IRS has fought this in another state. I'll keep looking for the IRS source info and post it when I find it.

Michelle

U.S. v. Craft in 2002. The IRS Issued a ruling notice 2003-60 regarding the Craft Supreme court decision which may answer some of your questions.

Since a FIDM is a state request, and tenancy by the entirety is a state rule, I would say it's not attachable to accounts held in husband and wife title. But the customer must raise that issue with the court, not the bank.

Hope that helps.

Michelle III

I talked to someone at the FIDM yesterday and she said you could place the freeze on a joint account assets and it would be up to the spouse to contact the domestic relations to fight the freeze. In my opinion the domestic relations office expects way too much from the bank when we receive these freeze orders. I had one freeze that was on a chids savings account to pay for another childs owed monies. I could tell that the child was putting her own money into the account, but because her father was on the account, the domestic relations put the freeze on. I called them and they did release the freeze the next day.