With every collections case, there are several ways to collect on the judgment to make the debtor pay up on the money they owe. Many of our clients believe that levying a bank account is the easiest, quickest way to get them cash—but like most things in collections law, a bank levy isn’t always so simple. There are several aspects of a bank levy that need to be understood to keep expectations in check and eyes focused on the goal of collecting the total judgment.

What is a bank levy?

Once you have a judgment and want to collect against the debtor, we can reach into the judgment debtor’s bank accounts (or safety deposit boxes) and take the money out of those accounts. It’s a one-shot deal, though—whatever is in the bank accounts at the time of the levy is the money you get from it. 

What’s the process?

In order to carry out a bank levy, the first thing we need to do is file a writ of execution. It’s essentially a form we fill out with the amount of the judgment plus interest, and any payments we’ve received that have reduced the principle. We complete it, submit it, and wait for it to be issued by the court.

After we have that writ of execution in hand, we can begin the process of levying on the bank account. To do this, we send the original writ of execution along with instructions to the sheriff of the county we’re levying.

The process sometimes gets more complicated because of the banks, though. Often, we have to get multiple writs of execution issued because the debtor has accounts with multiple banks, with each bank having a centralized location where the levies must be served. If those centralized locations are in different counties, we must get a writ issued for each county in which the centralized locations are located.

Once the sheriff serves the levy on the bank, all money held in the debtor’s checking accounts, savings accounts, payroll accounts, market accounts, certificates of deposit, market accounts, safety deposit boxes, and any other deposit accounts within that bank are immediately frozen. If none of the property is exempt, the money is sent to the sheriff’s office and then forwarded to us.

It doesn’t always work so smoothly, though. There are a few hiccups that sometimes occur:

• The writ of execution can take a long time to be issued. It can often take months, because courts are backed up and consider the request to be of low importance. Some courts allow e-filing, which greatly expedites the process.
• The court clerk or sheriff will sometimes reject the writ of execution. Most of the time it’s a misunderstanding on the other person’s part and when this happens, Fickel & Davis has a dedicated expert to call either party and explain or clarify the situation to get the issue resolved quickly.
• The bank account we’re trying to levy is shared with a third-party. If that person can prove all the money in that account is theirs, and there’s been no co-mingling of the money, we can’t take those funds. In a lot of cases, that’s hard to prove, and for the most part, we’re able to levy the accounts when they’re under the spouse’s name or shared with a third party.
• Even when you levy an account, there’s usually minimal money there. And once we levy an account and take the money, we’ve tipped off the debtor that we’re trying to collect the judgment. We usually go into a bank levy not expecting to collect much and instead recognize that the most valuable aspect of a bank levy is to apply pressure to the debtor. 

How does a bank levy fit into a judgment payout?

Getting money out of a levied bank account is typically a good thing, but we don’t ever bank on collecting the entire judgment amount from that action. People with judgments against them simply don’t keep very much money in their accounts—knowing someone is trying to take money from them. Because of that, we like to focus on how the bank levy fits into the entire process of collecting the judgment.

In the grand scheme of things, bank levies are great for applying pressure. Nobody likes having money taken from them without notice—especially if they’re using the account for business or paying bills, because then they have to change their system and habits. It gets their attention, and the added pressure is what gets the debtor to settle, which is usually what it takes to collect because they’ll rarely have a huge asset we can just go and take.

How can Fickel & Davis help?

We know the ins and outs of filing for writs of execution and the entire process following our submission for one. We understand the rules, what needs to be included, when the clerk is wrong, and how to rectify issues swiftly.

A bank levy is just one tool in getting the debtor to pay the judgment amount. If you’re struggling with a debtor who won’t pay up, Fickel & Davis will apply the pressure for you and help recover the money you deserve.

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