The seizure of bank accounts is something common, when there is a debt that is not paid, and the creditor (to whom we owe) files a lawsuit and the court does not pay an administration. what happens if the bank account has 2 holders? or if it has 4?
The only thing that can be seized by a Court or an Administration (remember that the Treasury, Social Security, City Councils, County Councils, etc., all can also seize), are the debtor’s assets. The assets of other persons cannot be seized. The co-owners of the accounts should not and cannot assume the seizure. Case law has made this very clear over time.
The seizure of bank accounts is common in civil executions. That is, when there is a debt that is not paid, the creditor (to whom we owe) files a lawsuit. If we do not defend ourselves or defend ourselves and lose, the civil foreclosure will begin. Despite its terrifying name, civil foreclosure is what is popularly known as garnishment.
Garnishments are of the assets of the foreclosed party, i.e. the defendant who has lost the lawsuit and now the court can search for assets to comply with the payment of the debt. The most basic thing that the court will pursue is cash, and for this purpose it will do a sweep of bank accounts.
In these cases, we must ask ourselves: what happens if the bank account has 2 holders, or if it has 4?
The only thing that can be seized by a court or an administration (remember that the Treasury, Social Security, City Councils, Provincial Councils, etc., all can also seize), are the debtor’s assets. The assets of other persons cannot be seized. The co-owners of the accounts should not and cannot assume the seizure. Case law has made this very clear over time.
The Civil Procedure Law provides that it is presumed that in a 50% account, half of the funds belong to one person, and the other half to the other. This is unless it can be shown that person A has provided 100% of the funds and person B has provided 0%. If this were the case, it would be possible for the money in the bank account to be seized at both 100% and 0%.
Therefore, the main advice is: never let a garnishment come to you, always try to control the outcome. Garnishments are horrible because they block people’s lives. Therefore, it is always better to reach a payment agreement than to have liens that will make your life difficult and give you unnecessary shocks.
However, if the result is uncontrollable, and you receive a surprise seizure in an account with several holders, the idea is to appear with lawyer and solicitor if it is a judicial body, or to go to the public administration if it is the seizing body.
A certificate of ownership must be provided, a certificate of balance and movements of the last 6 months must be provided. Even if you have a salary, pension or unemployment, and you are already being seized, you must go to the seizure to have the seizure lifted and 100% of the funds returned to you. Let’s remember that a person can only have one garnishment in his life, he cannot have more than one.
If I already have my paycheck, pension or benefits garnished, they cannot garnish more. It is recommended that you seek professional help to stop the garnishment and that justice is done.
For further information, please contact Legal Advisory.
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