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How can I have hold on my joint bank account release for the money that was entirely mine?
Anonymous1 views4 answers
All the transactions on the joint bank account is done by me which i can provide proof if i need to. not even one transaction is ever done for my dad. but his name was added later on my account due to his old age. I was not aware of a creditor judgement which may be taken in late 1990s against my dad. i found out NCO portfolio as a collection agency and their lawyer firm is Pressler & Pressler. Few days back the entire balance was zeroed out with NJ legal order on my account. I have excellent credit and always made on payments on time. So I am very very naive in this court matter. Kindly advise me. How can I get the money released from the bank account? What documents and things I need to have in order for it?
Bring proof of where all the money in the account came from, and that all deposits came from you. Pay stubs for direct deposits, copies of checks and statements from who gave them to you that they were to you only, for example. You ask "how can this happen" but it happened because it is a joint account, as you are aware. You also have defenses that no one served your father or notified him of the court date, which unfortunately our legal system has not seen fit to punish seriously enough the debt collectors for.
Mr. Popovich's answer is pretty thorough.
This happened because your dad had a judgment against him and you added him on to your bank account. And because you did that, the law presumes that its your dad's money as well as your own, and therefore they can garnish the bank account.
You will have to file the appropriate court papers to release the funds and prove that none of the money in the account belongs to your dad and its all yours; and that you added your father to the account as a convenience. That's a steep burden.
I suggest you retain a lawyer and you can do so by clicking on "Find a Lawyer" above and locating an attorney in your area who handles debt collection defense work.
You'll need to file an objection to levy at the courthouse in Paterson and mail a copy to Pressler's office. You'll assert in the objection that all of the money in the account was yours and the you are not the judgment debtor. In your copy of your proofs (which you'll attached to the objection), be sure to hide most of any account numbers (only show the last 4 digits) and any Social Security numbers (only show the last 3 digits).
The court will set a hearing date when you'll need to come back. If you can, also bring your Dad so that he can confirm that none of the money is his.
This is a complicated and complex matter. You need to retain an experienced attorney to assist you. Without an attorney your chance of success is slim.
