Recently, I learned that Tennessee is a tenancy by entirety state, granting both spouses full, undivided interest in deposited funds. Also, I learned that a garnishment would have to be in both spouses names in order to garnish an account joint with the spouses. Anyway, I'm having a hard time swallowing this pill and am hoping someone with firsthand experience or any knowledge in general on this topic can confirm this. Any comments will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I would consult your legal counsel. But I would opine that if it is a joint account with spouse, you would need a judgement or garnishment against his/her assets as well. You could not garnish any of the spouses assets. example: Both spouses deposits money in account. How do you tell which is which to garnish?

It's always been my understanding that a joint account is 100% owned by each individual. Meaning the husband owns 100% of the funds and the wife owns 100% of the funds in the account at the same time individually. If the ownership of funds is truly based on how much is the wife's and how much is the husband's, you would have to have joint signatures on all withdrawals. Additionally, you would have to have both owners come in to close the account.

ETA: All that to say, I think you can garnish the full account up to the amount of the garnishment on a joint account.

Dani,
My apologize I wasn't clear. The tenants by entirety laws in TN do not address the issue raised by the OP and would need a legal opinion. It does state the real and personal property comes under the tenants by entirety laws.
IMO, you would need to serve notice to both to garnish the account, not just one.

Dani,

That was my understanding too until I went to the TBA's Compliance Conference. There was a deposit session that specifically said a creditor cannot garnish property held in a joint account unless the judgement is against both spouses. This was due to the fact that Tennessee is a tenancy by entirety state.

The session also mentioned non-married owners and that a creditor can garnish the funds held in an account against any joint owner. If this is the case, then at account opening, I guess the bank would have to identify whether or not the joint owners are married? What if they got divorced? Just seems like a lot of risk and exposure for the bank in processing a garnishment.

I think I will email the attorney who taught the session for more details and follow up on here. Thanks for your all input thus far.

Hmmmmm....I was at the conference too, but did not attend that session. I did just go back to the book though and look through his slides. The slide about non-married versus married is confusing. Please post any clarification he gives you.

I'm not certain what the question is, but Tennessee's multiple party account statute does recognize a tenancy by the entireties in a bank deposit. (Most states do not.) If a bank deposit is owned solely by husband and wife, then it cannot be reached by a garnishment in the name of just one of them. However, it could be reached by a garnishment in both their names.

It's unlikely that there is a statute that spells that out, it's just the way that tenancy by the entireties works and your bank's legal counsel should be able to verify that for you. The difficulty the garnishee bank may face on receipt of a garnishment in the name of only one party to a two party account is in determining whether the account owners are married to each other . Banks normally do not note the parties' marital status and having the same or different last names would not be a reliable indicator.

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Ken is correct (per the usual). Here is what the attorney's response was.

1. It is OK to garnish wages from a joint account where the two owners are not married if the garnishment order is only against one of the listed joint owners. However, the other listed owner, if not subject to the garnishment order, has the right to petition the court to establish the funds in the account are his (and not the funds of the individual that is the subject of the garnishment order). If the joint owner can prove that to the court’s satisfaction, the court can issue an injunction stopping the garnishment.
2. For married individuals, account funds cannot be garnished from a joint account unless the garnishment order is against both spouses. If you have an order for only either the husband or the wife and not both, the funds cannot be garnished.
3. A garnishment order can be effected against joint account owners regardless of whether they are married if the court order is effective against both owners.

That is what I understood him to say in the training, but wasn't sure. I have officially been educated. Thanks to all.