Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York

Re: Freezing Joint Bank Accounts

yes it is legal to freeze a joint bank account. You would have to commence a proceeding in court to have the judge determine how much of the frozen funds are subject to the judgment and how much would be exempted. The law assumes a 50/50 ownership. You'd have to show records that more than that was owned by the non-judgmented party. If you do nothing, the creditor who restrained the joint account would have to commence a turnover proceeding which requests an Order from the Court turning over those funds in the joint account which are subject to the judgment...again, if no one appears in opposition to the proceeding, the court will allow half of the funds to be removed.