Social Security Benefits Held in Bank Accounts are Exempt

Social Security Benefits Held in Bank Accounts are Exempt from Creditors and Bankruptcy Estate

In Finberg vs. Sullivan, 634 F.2d 50 (3rd Cir. 1980), the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held,  “The money in these accounts was entirely exempt from attachment and garnishment. The Social Security Act provides an exemption for moneys paid as benefits. 42 U.S.C. § 407 (1976). See Philpott v. Essex County Welfare Board, 409 U.S. 413, 93 S.Ct. 590, 34 L.Ed.2d 608 (1973) (exemption protects benefits held in checking and savings accounts).”

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Brian Huckabee

Brian Huckabee is a Tulsa, Oklahoma, attorney with a practice concentrated in bankruptcy and business law. He has handled thousands of business and consumer bankruptcy cases in the past three decades, consisting primarily of chapter 7 and 13 cases, but also including numerous chapter 11 business reorganizations and chapter 12 farm reorganizations. He represents corporate and individual debtors but also has credit union and creditor clients. He has served as an Adjunct Settlement Judge in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. He is a member (2020 chair) of the Board of Directors of the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association. He is licensed in all of Oklahoma’s federal judicial districts, but he concentrates in the Northern and Eastern Districts. He is a member of the Bankruptcy Section of the Tulsa County Bar Association. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors from Oklahoma State University in 1978 and a Juris Doctorate degree from University of Oklahoma in 1981. He has been married for over 30 years to a Tulsa attorney, and he has two grown children, one of whom is a Tulsa attorney. He attends Harvard Avenue Christian Church in Tulsa.