When a person owes money to a creditor and refuses to pay after repeated requests for payment, the creditor may take the debtor to court. If the creditor wins his cases, the judge hearing the case will likely award him damages, called a civil judgment. When a creditor has a civil judgment, he can motion the judge to freeze the debtor's bank account. This includes joint bank accounts.
Debt Collection
A person who owes a debt to a creditor is the only person from whom the creditor can seek payment. A creditor is not allowed to attempt to collect payment from any other person besides the person who owes him the money -- and, in the case of a civil judgment, the person named in the civil judgment. However, a creditor may go after assets that are jointly held by the debtor and another party.
Bank Account Seizure
After a civil judgment has been issued, if the debtor still won't pay, the judge may allow the creditor to seize the person's funds held within a checking account. Before the funds are seized, the account will be frozen, meaning the debtor cannot take money out of it. The debtor is allowed to deposit money in this account, but is forbidden from making withdrawals.
Joint Bank Accounts
A debtor may have a joint account with another person, such as a business partner or a spouse. Just because a debtor holds a joint account with another person does not mean this account cannot be frozen. Otherwise, a debtor would have an easy way to hide assets; he would merely have to place another person's name on the account as a joint account holder.
Considerations
While a freeze can be applied to a joint bank account, it cannot freeze assets that belong solely to the account holder who is not the debtor. If a person can show he controls assets in the account that do not belong to the debtor, a judge must remove a portion of the frozen assets from the freeze and allow the account holder not involved in the debt to have access to those funds.
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