:(I just found out that a creditor has garnished my bank account, I contacted the creditor to inform them that the funds in my account were from social secutity and it was exempt from garnishment all but $396.00the lady said that she didn't care where the money came from they would not release the money. I told her what they were doing was not legal she said "oh well" and hung up on me. I contacted the bank and told them the same thing and was told that the hold on the funds would come off and then it would be available 01/05/2010. I asked what this meant and she told me to contact an attorney. Will I be able to get my money bacK?

First you need to pay more attention to instructions. This was moved from the Forum Help area, which was clearly marked as ONLY for questions about this using this site. What's more you scrolled past a few more appropriate forums like this one.

I think your failure to pay attention to instructions is what got you into this. You had to know you had a judgment against you. You knew that SS income was exempt. But did you not take any steps to protect your account?

Another advantage of finding an appropriate forum is finding posts from other people in similar circumstances. There are several threads that deal with this issue. As soon as you knew there was a judgment, there were steps you could have taken to protect your money.

So far you keep doing things incorrectly. Contacting the plaintiff was the wrong move. Contacting the bank at this point will do nothing. The bank has a valid court order attaching the account. They have to freeze your funds for a period. If they do not receive an order vacating the attachment within that time frame, then they turn the money over to creditor.

So what you need to do now is go to the court that issued the attachment and file a motion to vacate on the grounds that the funds deposited in that account are from exempt income. And you will need to supply proof of that.

Of course the creditor does not care if they can get the money, then too bad, so calling them was either merely a waste of time to start with, or worst, it now lets them know you are tyring to stop them and they may try and rush it as much as possible.

You needed to present this to the bank, and then to the court to stop the attachment of this bank account.

Now you can be asked to PROVE that the only money in there is from SS.

If you knew you had a judgment and you knew your ss was exempt from a bank levy then why did you not take some responsibility and stop putting your social security check in your bank account? Now You will have to prove to the court that the money attached is from social security
This is another example of what can happen when one gets a judgement and ignores it until their funds are frozen.

Because the garnishment has already taken effect, the burden of proof is on you to show your SS funds are exempt. Legally speaking, SS funds and other government benefits can be garnished, but only in matters of tax evasion, alimony, and child support. Assuming none of these apply to you, you might be able to recover your money. Creditors have no knowledge of your bank accounts and source of funds. This is why most debtors will challenge a court order immediately upon receipt, to protect exempted assets or funds. Unfortunately, your task will be extremely difficult (not impossible) since the proceedings have already started. If you can afford it, you might wish to consult with or hire an attorney to make the creditor and court aware you have exempted SS benefits in that account. Keep in mind, the bank will only do what the court tells it. Take care.