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Question
Hi,
I have recently had experienced my bank account being levied. This was from an old debt I had owed 5 years ago or so. I am currently unemployed and my whole unemployment check was taken out of my account.I live in CA. My questions are listed below:
1. Can they levy a joint account? My spouse is also on this account and he was not around when I had incurred this debt in the first place.
2.Can they garnish an unemployment check?
3. Do I have any rights that will protect me from levy or garnishment due to my unemployment status? I am on the verge of losing my home and car.
Most of the answers to your questions are state specific. I'm not an attorney and I certainly don't know all the California laws so the best I can do is tell you where to find the answers to your questions for the most part. First of all you ask whether or not they can garnish a joint account. If I remember correctly California is a community property state but if you put that phrase in Google it will give you a list of community property states. If it is then yes, they most certainly can. They can do it in any state for that matter and if CA is not a community property state then your husband would have to go to court and prove that all the money in the account was his money and that you never contributed any money to the account but merely used it to pay household bills. That might work in a non-community property state. I really can't tell you whether they can garnish an unemployment check or not. Some government benefits cannot be garnished. I'm pretty certain they can't garnish it directly from the unemployment bureau but once the money hits your bank account it is fair game. If the check is mailed to your home then you can cash it elsewhere so it don't hit your bank. If you are on the verge of losing your home and car you might want to file a motion for a hardship exemption from garnishment and the court might grant that until you are employed once again. I'm sure the court has forms to do that so you don't have to hire a lawyer to file a hardship exemption plea. Ask the clerk of the court about that.
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Answers by Expert:
Creditwrench
Expertise
Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.
Experience
I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.
Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.
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