[csikora]

A little history. I live in Michigan. My husband and I had purchased an automobile together and we had to let it go because we couldn't afford the car anymore. This was back in 2006 that it was repo'd We have not been able to pay for it so finally they started garnishing his wage back in April of 2010. We filed our taxes and the check was deposited on Friday of last week. On Monday of this week they levied our bank account. Also on Wednesday of last week my husband received a bonus check from his employer direct deposited into our joint account. I have no income so the only deposits made to the account are my husbands wages which are being garnished already. I was informed yesterday that the financial institution levied our bank account for the total amount of our balance in the checking account which was more than the tax refund check. They sent the bank garnishment to our credit union in my name only. The question I have is this, since my husbands payroll check is already being garnished at the full 25 percent and the amount they are trying to levy from my bank account is more than the tax refund amount, shouldn't the payroll part of the account be exempt from the levy since it is already being deposited. Here are the dollar amounts. My husbands payroll bonus was $2574 and the tax refund was for 7245. I had paid some bills but the total they took from my account was $8272. Shouldn't they only be able to take the 7245 that was the actual tax refund and leave the rest because it was already garnished at the paryoll department. If they take the whole amount then effectively they are taking 100 percent of his payroll which is against garnishment law.

Any advice on this would be helpful.

[smoothy]

Short answer.. yes. There are some very specific exceptions. SSI disability income being one.

But if your name is part of it... you are part owner and they can attach it. And it was done through a court ordered writ of Garnishment.

THere are percentage limits for garnishing paychecks as you were aware... but they can take up to the full amount of their Writ when its sitting in a bank.

[kcomissiong]

A paycheck in a bank account is no longer your paycheck, its an asset. Yes, they can take all of it. Once you deposit it, its fair game.