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Ex Parte Bank Attachments

Freezing your debtor’s bank accounts directly and immediately affects the debtor, even though some other attachments may not. A bank attachment of nonexempt assets provides an immediately liquid form of prejudgment security so that when you win, there is a source for you to immediately recover money. Sometimes, the fact that you have hired the aggressive and experienced Massachusetts collections attorneys  at the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC can lead to settlement discussions, even when the bank attachment does not catch any funds. We also can use bank attachments to help collect post-judgment debts. Contact us by phone at 508-763-6604 or by email to learn more.

A bank attachment is formally called a trustee attachment. A trustee attachment is aimed at funds or assets which are held by one person or entity for the benefit of your debtor. A trustee attachment is not limited to an attachment of a bank account, although bank attachments are the most common form. Unlike a reach and apply injunction, assets subject to a bank attachment or trustee attachment must be absolutely and unconditionally owed to the debtor.

Reasons To Make Copies Of Every Check From Your Customers:

  • Accounting verification
  • Indicating continuous banking changes
  • Affording the collection attorney attachment targets

Once our collections attorneys identify your debtor’s last known bank, they can finalize the complaint – or if the complaint has been filed, seek to amend the complaint, so that they can file a motion for a bank attachment. In some cases, these prejudgment attachments can be sought without notice in regards to what is known as an ex parte bank attachment. Courts may allow you to attach a debtor’s property without notice if all the facts of the case conclude that your debtor is likely to remove the asset in question if given notice of an attachment. Through almost 50 years of combined experience, the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC has found that debtors are highly unlikely to leave money in their accounts if they are given such notice, so we use the “trustee process” to attach your debtor’s account ex-parte when necessary.

The first thing you need to know about ex parte bank attachments or a trustee attachment, which can also be done as an attachment with notice, is that the attachment does not automatically entitle you to the money in the account. Instead, it gives you prejudgment security by having the bank hold money aside for you after you win your case. By doing this, it will be ensured that after you win the battle, you will ultimately win the war and have control over your money.

Ex Parte Bank Attachment Success Story

In this scenario, a doctor had hired a lawyer to help him with the purchase of a high-tech company. The doctor then went on to make sporadic payments despite a promise to pay the attorney’s bill in full. With an outstanding balance of $80,000 built up, the good doctor became Dr. Deadbeat.

This attorney then consulted the experienced Massachusetts debt collection attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC for help getting his money. Once we found out about his scenario, we immediately sued Dr. Deadbeat and got our motion for an ex parte bank attachments approved by the District Court. This attachment only collected a few hundred dollars, so we then sought and obtained a prejudgment real estate attachment on Dr. Deadbeat’s house. Dr. Deadbeat predictably did not file his answer within the court-mandated timeline. The very next day that we could, we filed with the district court a request for a default and default judgment.

Since he was a tenant by the entirety (meaning that he owned the property with his spouse), we could not sell the property, but we still got the prejudgment attachment. We then filed a complaint on the judgment in the Superior Court of Massachusetts. This led to a reach and apply injunction that prevented Dr. Deadbeat from receiving any money from his practice, with the court ordering him to pay his earnings to our client.

Two months went by, and we had not received a single check for Dr. Deadbeat’s court-ordered payments. To remedy this, we scheduled a deposition of his former secretary, who would know the most about his practice. She told us that he had been putting money from his practice into his wife’s account instead of to our client, to the tune of roughly $15,000.

In a last-ditch effort to cheat his client out of the money he owed, Dr. Deadbeat filed for bankruptcy. What he didn’t know was that thanks to our knowledge of the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Code, we were then able to have his home sold and reached and applied his share to pay his creditors – our client! This put Dr. Deadbeat into quite the hole.

Dr. Deadbeat’s lawyer then offered $10,000 to be paid immediately, with another $10,000 to be paid over the next five years. We rejected this offer. Thanks to attorney Cohen’s aggressive negotiations, Dr. Deadbeat finally agreed to cough up almost $70,000 within 60 days, proving the adage that one can run, but can’t hide!

Ex parte bank attachments are just one type of attachment. Here are some other collections tools that our experienced collections attorneys may use to try to get you paid:

For most innovative, aggressive, and effective business debt collections from businesses subject to Massachusetts jurisdiction using bank attachments, a trustee attachment, real estate attachments and /or reach and apply injunctions, contact the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC. Our time-tested experience in ex parte bank attachments can work in your favor so that you collect your money when others don’t.. Our other services range from collections on mechanic’s liens to post-judgment collections and everything in between.

Contact our Massachusetts collections attorneys at 508-763-6604, or contact us online.

FAQs

Why is an ex parte attachment a useful debt collection tool in Massachusetts?

The courts may, when the facts warrant it, allow creditors to place an attachment on a debtor’s property without notice where there is a sufficient likelihood that the debtor would remove or encumber the asset were they to receive notice. A debtor will rarely, if ever, leave money in a bank account when given notice of a bank attachment. The Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC seeks to attach ex parte the debtor’s bank account where appropriate through “trustee process.”