not married same bank acct. creditor took my money & it's not my bill

[MigTig]

What is the name of your state?Md
I have a checking acct. with a friend, she is the primary on the acct. She had a judgment placed against her and the creditor got her and I's bank acct. info. and put a lien on the acct. and took my paycheck that was directly deposited in this acct. I have a check stub proving how much money was deposited into this acct. with my name on it and I don't have anything to do with her credit card they are collecting for and they will not return my money to me. Do they have a right to do this, and if not what can I do to get it back?
Thank You,
Crazed in MD.

[shawnintennesse]

Originally Posted by MigTig

What is the name of your state?Md
I have a checking acct. with a friend, she is the primary on the acct. She had a judgment placed against her and the creditor got her and I's bank acct. info. and put a lien on the acct. and took my paycheck that was directly deposited in this acct. I have a check stub proving how much money was deposited into this acct. with my name on it and I don't have anything to do with her credit card they are collecting for and they will not return my money to me. Do they have a right to do this, and if not what can I do to get it back?
Thank You,
Crazed in MD.

Yes they do have that right. Under a joint account you as second. Your freind had the responsibility of the account.
So your money is gone. You wont get it back under the account agreement.

[Chien]

Do they have a right to do this, and if not what can I do to get it back?

Yes, they have a right to do it. You need to file a claim of exemption with the marshal/sheriff/court that took the funds. This would be a third-party claim for the funds that are yours alone and only if there are any. From the facts posted, it's not clear that you could do that or that the funds that were "yours" originally didn't become "ours", once in the account. If funds in the account were equally accessible to you both, you can't. You could hypothetically protect your separate property, but commingling funds in a joint account works against you. We don't know the nature of the relation, but you can't protect more than what you can prove to be separate property.

[mommyto4]

actually shes out of luck...

once funds go into a "JOINT" acct the money becomes property of both parties and in return is able to have a lien placed on it.

Get your own checking acct.

[zippysgoddess]

No, Chien is correct, there are exceptions, you just have to be able to prove the money was yours, and you are in no way responsible for the debt, or named on the judgment, then contact the courts, or sherrif that served, and see if you can do this in your state, and how to get your money back. However, be prepared for a lot of paperwork, and a lot of time to get your money back, once they get their hands on it, creditors don't like to give it up easily.


If you can't do this in your state, you are out of luck for this money.

But either way, get your own account, in your name only, and change that direct deposit.

[mommyto4]

This is not the information that we were told when this happened to us with My MIL.

We did all of that, provided proof that the funds were ours, but we were informed that since the acct was in a joint name that the money becomes joint property and cant be held to pay the debt of any party listed on the acct. this information was given two us by the bank and an attorney

[Chien]

This is not the information that we were told when this happened to us with My MIL.
mommyto4

mommyto4 - I think that I owe zippysgoddess one more "thank you". I thought about not posting that reply - maybe a little esoteric - and was not going to comment on your unequivocal response. But, from a "been there" perspective, I assure you that it can be done and it can be "avoided". It can be hard. It can be expensive. Whether it's done in a community property state is an issue. It's facilitated by a collateral agreement between the account owners and a congruent course of conduct between the account holders. One or more of these factors may have been an absolute impediment to you.

In short, it's a steep, long, expensive road. I would guess that no foundation was laid or can be established in this instance. But the original post didn't descibe the exact nature of the relation between the account owners or the exact nature of the account. I thought there might be chance of a light at the end of the tunnel.

[mommyto4]

There is nothing that is wrong with my answer. Providing light at the end of the tunnel is great but to give false hope when 99% of the time it can not be done is a different matter.

We were told the same thing "it can be done" so after a year of filing, providing proof and paying fees to the lawyers we were told flat out that we were out of luck on 3600.00. We did everything that was provided here and per what the bank and a lawyer informed us there was nothing that we can do. Why? because money becomes joint property when placed in a joint acct unless it is a SSI or other Federal payment.

If they are able to then more power to them.