judgement

What is the name of your state?
missouri

my husband had a judgement against him from a credit card company for 1,000 dollars. last week i deposited my sons social security check $600 and our federal income tax return $3000. the credit card company took $1055 out of our joint account. is income tax return exempt and if not can they take it out of our account without even notifying us?

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Originally posted by raeannr
What is the name of your state?
missouri

my husband had a judgement against him from a credit card company for 1,000 dollars. last week i deposited my sons social security check $600 and our federal income tax return $3000. the credit card company took $1055 out of our joint account. is income tax return exempt and if not can they take it out of our account without even notifying us?

My response:

None of that money is protected. And, of course you were notified of the withdrawal. You knew, ahead of time, that they could "execute" a writ against that account. You just didn't believe it, or didn't pay any attention to it.

This is what happens when you and your husband don't pay the judgment creditor on a voluntary basis. Instead of paying, you tried to keep the money for yourself, and the judgment creditor had to take their money from you involuntarily.

Isn't the law interesting?

But, at least your husband's debt/judgment is paid - - as it should have been.

IAAL

Originally posted by raeannr
What is the name of your state?
missouri

my husband had a judgement against him from a credit card company for 1,000 dollars. last week i deposited my sons social security check $600 and our federal income tax return $3000. the credit card company took $1055 out of our joint account. is income tax return exempt and if not can they take it out of our account without even notifying us?

I am not an attorney or financial professional, but have a couple of thoughts/suggestions for you as to your son's SS benefits. This is for FUTURE considerations,regarding your son's SS benefits, NOT a suggestion for the present situation.I believe that tax refunds are one of the FIRST things a creditor is permitted to take to settle a debt.
Consult an attorney in your area about what steps you can take to protect your son's SS benefits, such as depositing them in a separate bank account. They are supposed to be exempt from just about any kind of garnishment or seizure,but I strongly suspect that co-mingling them with other income in a joint or family account would pretty much negate that protection, as a practical matter if not a legal one. Hopefully this will never happen again,I have faith in you-but if at some time in the future another judgement situation arises, your son's financial interests can be protected to a certain extent as long as he is receiving SS benefits.

[Ladynred]

The SOURCE of that money was and is exempt. You can probably get it back on that basis, but you'll have to fight it through the courts and show proof of the source of that SSI amount.

In regard to the present situation I don't think that they could fight to get the SS money back since it got co-mingled with the income tax refund and whatever else might have already been in that account. If the creditor had withdrawn all the money in the account they could certainly fight to get back the SS payment. I don't think that happened in this case. However, I could be wrong it might be possible to challenge $600 of the amount the creditor took on the basis that it was exempt. If they succeed, the creditor will simply look for another way to get the $600 they had to give back. Like wage garnishment or seizing non-exempt assets...
My thought was more for future protection of the son's SS benefits,and I think a separate bank account might be the most PRACTICAL way to do that. Or at least expedite recovering the money if it ever WAS seized by a creditor, or the IRS. Hopefully these folks won't ever find themselves in such straits again, but it pays to be prepared.