Creditors can garnish jointly owned savings and checking accounts. A creditor can take money from your joint savings or checking account even if you don’t owe the debt.

Can a lien be placed on my house for a spouse’s debt in Florida?

In a community property state most debts are considered joint marital debts and a spouse may be liable for the debts of the other spouse. In general, a creditor with a Florida judgment against only one spouse cannot collect any part of the judgment from the non-debtor spouse’s separate property.

What is considered marital debt in Florida?

Marital debt includes mortgages, joint credit cards, car loans, and other debts acquired during the marriage. Both premarital and non-marital debt is considered separate debt and are not split between the spouses in a divorce. Only one spouse will be responsible for debts classified as premarital or non-marital.

Can a bank garnish a joint account with a spouse?

If you have a joint account with a spouse in a common law property state and that debt is not owned as tenants by the entirety, here’s what happens: In some states, a creditor can garnish that account, even if you were never individually liable on that debt.

Can a judgment debtor garnish a bank account in Florida?

Under Florida law, a creditor can repeatedly levy, or garnish, a bank during the life of the Florida judgment. While the creditor cannot harass a judgment debtor, repeated levies or garnishments of bank accounts, alone, do not constitute harassment, especially if the funds in the bank account are generally not exempt.

Can a creditor garnish a credit card account?

In some states, a creditor can garnish that account, even if you were never individually liable on that debt. However, the creditor can only garnish up to half of the funds in the account.

Can a debt collector garnish interest on a joint account?

In general, a debt collector can garnish the debtor’s interest in a joint bank account. The creditor has this ability even if the joint owner is not liable on the judgment.