[UPDATE: The Minnesota AG will sit the fight out, reserving her right to weigh in if/when there’s an appeal.]
Original Post: 9/13/2010:
Over the past year, Minnesota Litigator has covered the Savig v. First National Bank case in which the Minnesota Supreme Court held in April that a judgment debtor is initially, but rebuttably, presumed to own all of the funds in a joint account, and if the presumption is not rebutted, all of the funds in a joint account are subject to garnishment.
Putting that in lay terms, if a debt collector goes after your deadbeat spouse, the debt collector can empty your jointly held bank account even if you, and not your deadbeat spouse, earned and deposited all of the money into it unless you prove that to be the case (that is, “the tie goes to the debt collector”).
One of the Twin Cities’ foremost FDCPA plaintiffs’ lawyers, Nick Slade, has put the State of Minnesota on notice of a constitutional challenge to that state Supreme Court holding.