Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri
Garnishing Bank Accounts
Can a joint checking account with your spouse be garnished when you were the only debtor in a judgement that occurred prior to your marriage?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Garnishing Bank Accounts
Unless the joint account is subject to some specific contractual right of the bank to treat the funds as the funds of either individual, then the answer is no.
The most recent case on this subject is Edgar v. Ruma, 823 S.W.2d 59, 61 (Mo.App.1991) (holding that in a garnishment action �[a]n execution arising from a judgment against the husband alone ordinarily cannot affect a bank account or other property held by a husband and wife as tenants by the entirety�).
In other words, since a joint account is the property of both persons, and the debt is the debt of only one person, and specifically if the spouse was not named in the lawsuit, then the bank account cannot be garnished.
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