QUESTION
If you are being sued by creditors, can they garnish your social security disability check and or your bank account?
Asked on Aug 17th, 2017 on Bankruptcy - California
10 ANSWERS
It depends on who the creditor is. If the creditor is a government agency, like a branch of the state or the federal government, the creditor absolutely can garnish your social security disability check. Once this check hits your bank account, unless the disability check is the only money that goes into this account, it can lose its protection from non-government creditors if you commingle money from any other source into this account. So do not deposit a birthday check or bingo winnings into your bank account, because one little mistake can make an otherwise protected account vulnerable.
Answered on Aug 22nd, 2017 at 3:49 PM
1 Award
They can not garnish your social security but they can garnish your bank account. If they happen to garnish your bank account and the money in the bank was Social Security, then you will need to file a form called a "Challenge to garnishment" with the court to get your money back.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 7:53 PM
Social Security benefits are 100% exempt from creditors.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 7:53 PM
Bankruptcy Attorney serving Cleveland, OH
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Benson Law Firm
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SSDI is exempt from collection unless it is mixed with nonexempt funds. So keep it separate.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 7:52 PM
Your disability income is exempt from creditors, subject to a few exceptions. Exceptions. The federal government can garnish your Social Security disability benefit to recover money owed to it, such as back taxes or defaulted student loan payments that have been guaranteed by the federal government. As for your bank account creditors can get a judgment to seize your account for monies owed.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 1:30 AM
Commercial & Bankruptcy Law Attorney serving Powell, OH
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Ronald K. Nims
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Only a few creditors can garnish a social security check: -child support -taxes -some other government debt. If all the money in your bank account is for SSDI, it can't be garnished.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 1:30 AM
Bankruptcy Law Attorney serving Livingston, NJ
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Law Office of Stuart M. Nachbar, P.C.
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Yes and no. A bank account yes, but if those funds are social security then no. You have to be able to show solely SSD.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 1:29 AM
Very few creditors can garnish social security disability, and it has to be a debt owed to the government or for domestic support. However, bank accounts can be garnished if you commingle social security funds with other funds. Therefore, it is a good idea to segregate the social security money from everything else and be sure that your bank knows it's strictly social security funds.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 1:29 AM
Bankruptcy Attorney serving Madison, WI
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Richard B. Jacobson & Associates, LLC
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A bankruptcy, of course, stops all garnishments. Generally Social Security payments are not subject to garnishment. Wages are subject to garnishment to over your state's exemption limit.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 1:29 AM
They cannot garnish SSI, but an account is fair game.
Answered on Aug 21st, 2017 at 1:29 AM