My wife was issued a judgement prior to our marriage in Aug 2002. She ignored the original judgement letter being young and carefree and never went to court or tried to appeal. In Oct 2008 a bank levy removed $3,500 from our joint bank account. All of the deposits in this account were made by my own paychecks and can prove all deposits. She has not worked since we've been married. The judgement was in her name only. The reason that I didn't nothing back in Oct 2008 was because I was told by the bank that they were able to do this. Now that we are in May 2010, can I do anything about this? Were they legally able to levy the joint account? Can I get the money back?

If they had a court order. Which they would have had for the bank to do it. Then yes they had the right to take all the funds. You had the right to dispute it but in waiting so long you can't anymore. Her name your name it doesn't matter. At a minimum they could have taken 1/2 anyway because California is a community propert state.

Hello H

My question to you is why did you not address this judgement when you were first aware of this? A judgement is nothing to play with and here it is 2010 and you knew about it since 2002? You have to learn to be proactive

Thanks for your quick answers. I didn't know about it since 2002. She received the judgement prior to 2002. We got married in 2002 and didn't tell me about it thinking it just went away I guess. I found out about it when the money was removed from my bank account in 2008. I know I should have disputed it but when my bank said there was nothing I could do, I left it at that. Am I able to try to recover half of what they took?

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Originally Posted by havanajoe26

Thanks for your quick answers. I didn't know about it since 2002. She received the judgement prior to 2002. We got married in 2002 and didn't tell me about it thinking it just went away I guess. I found out about it when the money was removed from my bank account in 2008. I know I should have disputed it but when my bank said there was nothing I could do, I left it at that. Am I able to try to recover half of what they took?

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Not anymore. The time to respond and receive a possible refund was back on 2008. Its too late now. Sorry

I figured. The reason I had a fire lit now was because my accountant, which I just found this year told me that I can file a wrongful levy since all the deposits were made solely by me and she had no contributions to the account. Since they did not take the entire amount, can they come after my new bank accounts that are just in my name?

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Originally Posted by havanajoe26

I figured. The reason I had a fire lit now was because my accountant, which I just found this year told me that I can file a wrongful levy since all the deposits were made solely by me and she had no contributions to the account. Since they did not take the entire amount, can they come after my new bank accounts that are just in my name?

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No, they can't get the ones in your name only. The reason they were ale to attach the other one was because it was joint. So they made a grab and then figured if you dispute it then that's when they would deal with it. Banks see a lot of that for child support reasons. The reason why the bank said you could do nothing is because you couldn't. It wasn't up to you how much they took. That was up to them and for you to contest. In California it is a community property state. So just because she isn't working it isn't an excuse. Also they have about 10 years to collect or write it off. Have you received anything from them since they took the money? Or a balance request?

Good thing! Yes, they have sent my wife some letters trying to collect the remaining balance. Since I closed that account just after they collected those funds, and I have not added her to any other account, I guess they have not been able to find any new bank account to attach themselves to. What would happen If I file the petition to recover funds now since they are still trying to collect the remaining balance?

You could try. But I would bet there was a notice of attatchment you received somewhere along and it said how long you had to contest it. Otherwise they could collect and never spend the money if it were indefinite.