What is this letter I've received?

[cncn78]

What is the name of your state? NY

Received a letter today from Wolpoff and Abramson in regards to an old credit card debt. The front of the letter has a "Notice To Judgment Debtor Or Obligor- Money or property belonging to you may have been taken or held in order to satisfy a judgment or order which has been entered against you" notice, followed by the types of money or property that cannot be taken to satisfy a judgment. On the back is a "Restraining Notice", highlighting Section 5222(b) of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, and stating that I am "forbidden to make or suffer any sale, assignment or transfer of, or any interference with, any such property or pay over or otherwise dispose of any such debt except as therin provided".

I am a bit confused by the legal-ese in this letter. Does this mean that I cannot sell or transfer any property that I own? Any help would be appreciated.

[Chien]

The exempt property remains under your custody and control (if it's not at the moment, you can regain it by filing a claim of exemption), and you can dispose of the exempt property, as long as you can later prove that it was exempt and any distribution was confined to that. But I'm confused. I just read your other posts. Didn't you go through something similar a year ago? Is this so different and why?

[Chien]

Have your circumstances changed radically? It appears that, a year ago, generally everything that they could reach was exempt and you were able to regain it eventually. What has been seized or frozen now?

[cncn78]

So far, almost nothing has been taken- My circumstances have not changed, my only income is a Social Security check and a small, part-time $75/week wage. Wolpoff has recently started to garnish 10% of my wages, but I called my employer's Legal Services department and am in the process of getting that stopped, due to my wages not being high enough to legally garnish. I just worry about a bank-account freeze, if that's what the letter's actually notifying me of.

[Chien]

I'm not NY and there are NY members. I'd want to double-check the section to be sure, but my educated guess is that would be be included and is likely to be the first target. If you are not aware of the physical seizure of any other property, I would say it's already happened or that papers were served on you and the bank concurrently. They're not going to give you advance notice.
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I've read it now. It appears to be in the nature of a notice that would be served on a bank in conjunction with a garnishment, as well as on you, to prevent the disposition of non-exempt property, as I had speculated.

[Ladynred]

Social Security money is 100% exempt, however, if you co-mingle your wages in the same account as the social security income, then you make it nearly impossible to exempt the money. You should be keeping your SS money in a SEPARATE account that is used ONLY for that purpose. That way if/when they take it - and they will certainly do so - you will have a much easier time claiming and proving the SS funds are exempt.