Which place’s debt rules apply—and who can help?

S_MT PASS-22 — Montana ordinary unsecured consumer-debt bank-account garnishment, deposit/benefit exemptions, and tracing

Fresh research session: October 26, 2026, Pacific / October 26, 2026, UTC Mode: Regular Chat with public primary-source browsing Relationship to prior work: Distinct bank-account enforcement component. PASS-21, PASS-18, and the other unreviewed enforcement/litigation passes are not treated as accepted premises. Necessary judgment-execution and court-route provisions were freshly read for this pass.

Component status: PARTIAL. Montana’s ordinary postjudgment bank levy, service, bank response, debtor notice, exemption-hearing route, third-party ownership claim, principal state exemptions, deposited-wage tracing, federal-benefit account-review procedure, joint-account ownership, and major federal tracing authorities are established. Actual account ownership, source tracing, bank records, service dates, order type, benefit coding, account agreement, creditor priority, fee authority, assignment, judgment validity, and local clerk practice remain held.

I. Core determinations

1. An ordinary unsecured creditor cannot freeze a Montana bank account merely because a debt exists, an account was assigned, a consumer entered debt relief, or a judgment was entered. A still-enforceable money judgment, a court-issued writ of execution, and legally sufficient service on the financial institution are required. Montana Rule 62 ordinarily bars execution for 14 days after judgment entry unless the court modifies the stay or another exception applies. (mca.legmt.gov) Montana Code Annotated+1
2. Montana’s ordinary bank levy is a snapshot levy, not a continuing 120-day bank-account freeze. A bank or other third party responds based on assets held at the time the levy becomes effective and delivers responsive assets or payments to the sheriff or levying officer within ten business days. The special 120-day continuing-lien language applies to wages and specified state payments—not ordinary deposit accounts. Montana Code Annotated
3. A Montana writ can be served personally on the bank’s proper officer, supervising employee, or designated processing person. Mail service is valid only if the bank or other entity has consented in writing. At the bank’s direction, mail may go to an out-of-state processing location. Mail service is treated as effective upon receipt, but no later than five business days after mailing. Montana Code Annotated
4. The bank does not ordinarily pay the judgment creditor directly. The bank delivers responsive funds to the sheriff or levying officer. Except for perishable property, the officer holds levied money for ten days—excluding weekends and holidays—after notifying the judgment debtor before the money may be paid onward. Montana Code Annotated
5. The officer must notify the debtor within five days after execution upon the property. The notice must identify the property or money seized, the action and creditor, possible exemptions, and the procedure for claiming an exemption and obtaining a hearing. Personal service or first-class mail to the last-known address is permitted; mailed notice is complete when placed in the mail. Montana Code Annotated
6. **The debtor’s Montana exemption request is due within ten days, excluding weekends and holidays.**Personal service: measured from actual receipt.Mail: measured from the officer’s mailing date, not the debtor’s later receipt.The request must identify the property, explain the exemption, include supporting documents, and be mailed the same day to the creditor or counsel and the officer. The court must hold the exemption hearing within ten days, excluding weekends and holidays, after receiving the request. Montana Code Annotated
7. Montana’s state deadline and the officer’s initial hold do not establish a universal emergency-stay rule. A timely request triggers the statutory hearing route, but the reviewed provisions do not expressly say that filing the request automatically extends the officer’s ten-day hold indefinitely. The court’s actual order and chronology matter. An informal bank complaint, settlement proposal, FDCPA validation request, or regulator complaint does not automatically release or stay the levy. Montana Code Annotated+1
8. A nondebtor co-owner’s claim is conceptually different from the debtor’s exemption claim. Montana provides a third-person ownership route: a third person claiming levied personal property gives the sheriff notice and an affidavit stating the claim, ownership, and property description. Unless the creditor provides an adequate indemnity bond within ten days after receiving notice, the sheriff must deliver the property to the claimant. Whether a particular court applies this procedure to a specific deposit-account dispute depends on the account, ownership evidence, and levy record. Montana Code Annotated+1
9. Montana does not provide a generic bank-account or cash “wildcard” exemption. The value-limited personal-property statute protects specified household goods, one vehicle, and tools of the trade—not an ordinary cash balance simply because the money is needed for living expenses. A deposit-account exemption must come from a protected source, a specific account exemption, traceable proceeds, third-party ownership, or controlling federal law. Montana Code Annotated
10. Montana does protect specified benefits and accounts. Relevant categories include Social Security and local public assistance, veterans’ benefits, disability or illness benefits, specified IRA and rollover assets, medical-care benefits used or to be used for care, maintenance and child support, specified Montana public-retirement benefits, and qualifying medical-care, health-savings, and medical-savings accounts. The account type, contribution timing, source, debt type, and statutory exceptions still matter. Montana Code Annotated+1
11. Montana’s health- and medical-savings-account protection is unusually direct. A qualifying HSA, MSA, or medical-care savings account—including assets, income, and funds paid into or out of it—is exempt from attachment, garnishment, and similar creditor process, except to the extent the process seeks recovery of eligible medical expenses incurred from that account. Montana Code Annotated
12. Deposited exempt wages have a specific 45-day tracing period. Earnings exempt under Montana’s wage-cap statute remain exempt for 45 days after receipt while traceable. The debtor may use first-in-first-out, last-in-first-out, or another reasonable tracing method. This is not a perpetual exemption for all wages once deposited. Montana Code Annotated
13. Montana’s separate six-month proceeds rule is narrower than a general benefit-tracing rule. It protects traceable proceeds for six months when exempt property under §§25-13-608 or 609 was sold, lost, damaged, or destroyed and the debtor was indemnified. It should not be paraphrased as a universal six-month exemption for every benefit deposited into an account. Montana Code Annotated
14. State unemployment benefits remain protected after receipt only while not mingled with other funds. A mixed account therefore presents a statutory problem rather than an automatic tracing victory. Workers’ compensation and public-assistance payments have separate protections and express exceptions. None receives automatic federal Part 212 protection merely because the benefit is exempt under Montana law. Montana Code Annotated+2
15. Joint-account title does not automatically make the full balance the debtor’s property. During the parties’ lifetimes, Montana allocates beneficial ownership in proportion to each party’s net contributions unless clear and convincing evidence shows a different intent. Married parties are presumed to have equal net contributions absent proof otherwise. A POD beneficiary has no present ownership merely from the beneficiary designation, and an account agent has no beneficial right merely from agency status. Montana Code Annotated
16. Part 212 creates a separate federal automatic-review layer for coded direct deposits of specified federal benefits. It applies to all financial institutions and covers protected direct deposits from:Social Security Administration, including SSI;Department of Veterans Affairs;Railroad Retirement Board; andOffice of Personnel Management’s CSRS/FERS systems.

The eCFR was current through October 22, 2026 and reflected amendments through October 15, 2026. eCFR+1

1. Automatic Part 212 protection depends on ACH coding, not merely the historical source of the money. A “benefit payment” is a covered federal payment delivered by direct deposit with the specified Treasury coding. A paper check deposited manually, a cash deposit, or a transfer between accounts does not generate the automatic protected amount merely because the funds ultimately originated from a federal benefit. The underlying federal exemption may still be asserted through the court process if the money is traceable. eCFR+1
2. Before taking other action, the bank has up to two business days to examine the order for a federal Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits. If the United States or a state child-support enforcement agency included that notice, the bank follows its ordinary procedures and does not use the automatic account-review and protected-amount process in §§212.5 and 212.6. Those special support and federal-order routes remain outside this ordinary-debt pass. eCFR
3. If no Notice of Right is present, the bank generally performs an account review within two business days after receiving the order and sufficient identifying information. The review looks for coded covered-benefit deposits during a two-month lookback period and must precede any other action affecting account funds. eCFR+1
4. The automatic protected amount is:

Protected amount=min⁡(covered benefit deposits during lookback,balance when review occurs)\boxed{ \text{Protected amount}

\min \left( \text{covered benefit deposits during lookback}, \text{balance when review occurs} \right) }Protected amount=min(covered benefit deposits during lookback,balance when review occurs)​The bank performs the calculation separately for each account. It disregards commingled nonbenefit funds, co-ownership, multiple beneficiaries, the nature of the underlying debt, and contrary language in the order. eCFR+1

1. The protected amount is immediately and conclusively exempt under Part 212. The account holder needs no exemption filing before accessing it, and the bank may not freeze it in response to the order. Funds above that amount follow applicable state procedure, including freezing where required. eCFR+1

2. The bank’s Part 212 notice is separate from Montana’s sheriff notice. The bank sends its federal notice within three business days after account review only when:a covered benefit was deposited during the lookback period;a protected amount was established; andfunds remain above the protected amount.

   The notice identifies the protected and frozen amounts, any bank fee, and the right to claim a broader exemption. It may be sent to the account holder or a fiduciary receiving communications for the account. eCFR

3. Part 212 does not impose a continuing freeze on future deposits. The bank performs one review for the first service of a particular order and cannot continually freeze later deposits. If the same order is served again after a protected-benefit review, the bank may not repeat the review or take other action on that same order. A new or different order requires a new review. eCFR+1

4. That same-order federal rule can limit Montana’s repeat-levy authority. Montana permits repeated levies under one writ when the first levy is insufficient, but where Part 212’s protected-benefit procedures applied, federal law bars the bank from acting again on the same order. State law is preempted only to the extent inconsistent; compatible or more protective state law remains effective. Montana Code Annotated+2

5. The automatic protected amount is a floor, not a ceiling on federal exemption rights. Money above that amount may still be exempt under Social Security, VA, RRB, OPM, or other law. Part 212 expressly preserves the right to assert a broader exemption and permits consistent state rules that protect more. eCFR+1

6. Social Security and SSI have a broad underlying federal exemption. Section 407 bars assignment and execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, and other legal process, subject only to federal-law exceptions made by express reference. SSI incorporates that protection. In Philpott, Social Security funds deposited in a bank account remained protected where they retained the quality of money and were readily withdrawable. U.S. Code+2

7. VA benefits are likewise protected before and after receipt, subject to federal exceptions. Porter held that deposited VA funds remain exempt while readily available for support and maintenance and retaining the qualities of money; permanent investment or conversion into other property can change the result. GovInfo+1

8. **Railroad and federal civil-service benefits have their own underlying protections.**Railroad retirement annuities are generally protected from garnishment, subject to taxation and family-property/order exceptions.Railroad unemployment and sickness benefits are protected from assignment and legal process.CSRS and FERS payments are protected except as federal law otherwise provides.

   Family support, federal recovery, divorce, tax, and specialized federal-debt exceptions remain outside this ordinary-debt report. GovInfo+3

9. Montana precedent recognizes tracing of commingled Social Security funds. In Dean v. Hoepfner, the Montana Supreme Court protected traceable Social Security funds—including a spouse’s benefits—in a joint account and accepted a reasonable first-in-first-out tracing analysis. The case does not mean every unexplained joint-account balance is exempt; source and transactions still must be proved. Justia Law

10. A bank may not charge a garnishment fee against the Part 212 protected amount. Within five business days after review, a bank may charge a fee from a new nonbenefit deposit only up to that deposit’s amount and only if some independent account agreement or law authorizes the fee. Part 212 limits the source and timing; it does not itself create a fee entitlement or specify a dollar amount. eCFR+1

11. Part 212 gives banks a substantial good-faith safe harbor. A complying bank is protected from specified creditor, account-holder, contempt, and state-law liability, including bona fide errors despite reasonable procedures and specified clearing adjustments. Federal banking agencies enforce Part 212, and the bank must retain sufficient compliance records for at least two years. eCFR+1

12. The safe harbor is not a blanket immunity from every wrongful levy. Montana’s Salminen decision allowed plausible wrongful-levy, conversion, and abuse-of-process theories to proceed where execution and exemption procedures allegedly were mishandled. Liability still requires the actual facts, legal elements, causation, defenses, and any applicable Part 212 safe harbor; restoration or damages are not automatic. Justia Law

II. Court, actor, and account-route matrix

Justice/City Court Rule 23 authorizes statewide execution and requires the creditor to identify the outstanding amount and property. Small Claims enforcement follows the Justice Court route. District writs may be issued to officers in any county, including simultaneously in different counties. Montana Code Annotated+2

III. Montana ordinary bank-levy workflow

The bank’s state response is based on funds held at effective levy. Pending transactions, bank setoff, accepted funds-transfer orders, deposit reversals, or account holds may affect the actual responsive balance; these are not resolved from a displayed ledger total alone. Montana Code Annotated+1

IV. Montana exemption and tracing matrix

The no-wildcard conclusion comes from the exhaustive categories listed in §25-13-609; that statute protects enumerated tangible property and tools, not an unrestricted cash balance. Montana Code Annotated+2

V. Joint accounts, beneficial ownership, and third-party claims

A. State ownership rule

For living account parties:

Beneficial share=party’s net contributiontotal net contributions×current balance\text{Beneficial share}

\frac{\text{party’s net contribution}}{\text{total net contributions}} \times \text{current balance}Beneficial share=total net contributionsparty’s net contribution​×current balanceunless clear and convincing evidence shows a different intent. Charges and interest are allocated proportionally under the statutory definition. Married parties begin with a rebuttable equal-contribution presumption. Montana Code Annotated

This ownership rule is distinct from:

• The bank’s contractual right to honor account instructions;
• Part 212’s automatic benefit review;
• The creditor’s asserted levy amount; and
• The sheriff’s third-party claim process.

B. Third-person ownership route

A nondebtor owner claiming levied account funds may:

1. Give the sheriff notice.
2. Deliver an affidavit describing:the ownership claim;the claimant’s ownership; andthe property.
3. Trigger the creditor’s ten-day period to provide an indemnity bond.
4. Obtain delivery from the sheriff if the creditor does not timely bond. Montana Code Annotated+1

This is not the same as the judgment debtor’s ten-day exemption claim under §25-13-212. The exact local filing package, hearing practice, and treatment of intangible bank deposits were not identified in a current statewide court form.

C. Part 212 treats co-ownership differently

For the automatic federal calculation, the bank ignores the existence of co-owners and counts all coded covered-benefit deposits in the account during the lookback period. Appendix C therefore protects an entire $7,000 balance where $3,000 came from the debtor’s benefits and $4,000 from the co-owner’s covered benefits. eCFR+1

VI. Federal Part 212 account-review matrix

VII. Federal-benefit source matrix

VIII. Debtor and third-party claim procedure

A. Judgment debtor’s exemption claim

B. Nondebtor owner’s claim

C. Bank or third-party adverse-interest dispute

If the bank denies holding debtor property, denies indebtedness, or claims an adverse interest, the court may authorize the creditor to bring a separate action and may restrain transfer pending that action. Supplemental proceedings can require examination of a person or entity believed to hold debtor property or owe the debtor. Montana Code Annotated+1

IX. Bank duties, fees, safe harbors, and potential consequences

A. Bank’s principal duties

B. Fees

No current Montana execution statute reviewed here authorizes a fixed bank garnishment-processing fee or a particular dollar amount. Part 212:

• prohibits charging the protected amount;
• permits collection within five business days from newly deposited nonbenefit funds;
• caps that collection at the amount of those nonbenefit deposits; and
• does not independently create the fee right. eCFR+1

Creditor execution costs, sheriff fees, and recoverability from the debtor were not comprehensively audited in this pass.

C. Safe harbor

The federal safe harbor protects a bank acting in good faith against specified liability to the creditor, account holder, and under state procedural law. It covers:

• account activity during the review period;
• protection or freezing performed consistently with Part 212;
• optional notice information;
• bona fide errors despite reasonable procedures;
• ordinary clearing and settlement adjustments; and
• honoring a postservice dated written instruction from the account holder to apply protected funds. eCFR

This report does not treat the last item as advice to use protected funds or as a waiver valid under every underlying benefit statute.

D. Wrongful levy and delayed release

Salminen confirms that Montana execution is statutory and that mishandled execution or exemption procedures can support claims such as wrongful levy, conversion, or abuse of process when all elements are proved. The decision reversed a pleading-stage dismissal in part; it did not award automatic damages or establish liability for every delay. Justia Law

No standalone private cause of action under Part 212 was established here. Federal banking agencies expressly enforce the regulation. eCFR

X. Material decisions

Philpott: materially printed pages 415–416, zero-based PDF indices 2–3. GovInfo+1 Porter: materially printed pages 159, 161–162, PDF indices 0, 2–3. GovInfo+2 Dean: materially printed pages 7–10, PDF indices 6–9. Justia Law+3 Salminen: materially printed pages 10–11 and 15–16, PDF indices 9–10 and 14–15. Justia Law+3

XI. Official forms and instructions

No current official statewide Montana form specifically titled “bank garnishment answer,” “bank interrogatories,” or “federal benefit account review” was identified in the official form inventory. Search silence is not proof that no local clerk packet, sheriff form, or bank response form exists.

XII. Bounded worked examples

All amounts are hypothetical U.S. dollars. Arithmetic consistency does not establish judgment validity, ownership, exemption, assignment, service, fee authority, or permission to collect.

Example 1 — Ordinary unprotected deposit

Assumptions

• Valid, enforceable Montana money judgment.
• Rule 62 stay has expired.
• Writ properly issued and served on bank.
• No federal benefit deposit in lookback.
• No co-owner, exemption, bank setoff, pending payment order, or competing levy.
• Balance at effective levy: $3,200.00.
• Judgment balance exceeds $3,200.00.

State snapshot amount:

$3,200.00\boxed{$3,200.00}$3,200.00​The bank responds based on the $3,200.00 held when levy became effective and delivers up to that amount within ten business days. Later deposits are not automatically frozen by that service. Montana may permit a later levy while the writ remains active, subject to actual process and federal limitations. Montana Code Annotated

Example 2 — Covered direct deposits and an excess balance

This tracks Part 212 Appendix C.

Assumptions

• Review-time balance: $5,000.00.
• Covered coded federal deposits during lookback: $4,500.00.

Protected amount:

min⁡($4,500.00,$5,000.00)=$4,500.00\min($4,500.00,$5,000.00)

\boxed{$4,500.00}min($4,500.00,$5,000.00)=$4,500.00​Potential state-frozen excess:

$5,000.00−$4,500.00=$500.00$5,000.00-$4,500.00

\boxed{$500.00}$5,000.00−$4,500.00=$500.00​The bank must keep $4,500.00 fully accessible, may freeze $500.00 under state procedure, and must send the federal notice within three business days. eCFR+1

Example 3 — Social Security paper check

Assumptions

• A $1,500.00 Social Security check was deposited manually.
• No coded covered direct deposit appears in the lookback.
• The money remains identifiable in the account.

Automatic Part 212 amount:

$0.00\boxed{$0.00}$0.00​That does not establish that the $1,500.00 is garnishable. Section 407 and Philpott may protect it if its source and continued money character are proved through the state exemption process. eCFR+2

Example 4 — Transfer between accounts

Facts

• $1,000.00 covered benefit was directly deposited into Account A.
• The amount later appeared in Account B by transfer.
• Garnishment order reaches Account B.

Part 212 review of Account B does not trace the transfer back to Account A. Automatic protection in B therefore is not established from the original ACH coding.

The underlying Social Security, VA, RRB, or OPM exemption may still protect the transferred amount if it remains traceable under applicable law. No automatic outcome is supplied. eCFR+1

Example 5 — Commingled deposited wages within 45 days

Assumptions

• Account initially contains $100.00 unprotected money.
• Debtor deposits $400.00 in wages that were exempt from wage garnishment.
• No withdrawals occur.
• Bank levy occurs 30 days after wage receipt.

Balance:

$100.00+$400.00=$500.00$100.00+$400.00=$500.00$100.00+$400.00=$500.00Potential traceable wage exemption:

$400.00\boxed{$400.00}$400.00​Potential ordinary nonexempt amount:

$100.00\boxed{$100.00}$100.00​The wage exemption depends on proof of the exempt payroll component and receipt date. After 45 days, §25-13-610(2) no longer supplies that deposited-wage protection. Montana Code Annotated

Example 6 — Joint account and nondebtor ownership

Assumptions

• Unmarried co-owners.
• Account balance: $6,000.00.
• Debtor’s proven net contribution: $2,000.00.
• Nondebtor’s proven net contribution: $4,000.00.
• No contrary intent and no federal benefits.

Statutory ownership proportions:

Debtor share=$2,000$6,000=33.333%\text{Debtor share}

\frac{$2,000}{$6,000}

33.333%Debtor share=$6,000$2,000​=33.333%Nondebtor share=$4,000$6,000=66.667%\text{Nondebtor share}

\frac{$4,000}{$6,000}

66.667%Nondebtor share=$6,000$4,000​=66.667%Potential debtor-owned amount:

$2,000.00\boxed{$2,000.00}$2,000.00​Potential nondebtor-owned amount:

$4,000.00\boxed{$4,000.00}$4,000.00​The bank may initially respond to the order according to its process, but the nondebtor can assert ownership using account records and the third-person claim route. Joint title alone does not make all $6,000.00 available. Montana Code Annotated+2

Example 7 — Part 212 joint account with both owners’ benefits

This follows Appendix C.

• Balance: $7,000.00.
• Covered deposits to debtor: $3,000.00.
• Covered deposits to co-owner: $4,000.00.

Covered deposits:

$3,000.00+$4,000.00=$7,000.00$3,000.00+$4,000.00

$7,000.00$3,000.00+$4,000.00=$7,000.00Protected amount:

min⁡($7,000.00,$7,000.00)=$7,000.00\min($7,000.00,$7,000.00)

\boxed{$7,000.00}min($7,000.00,$7,000.00)=$7,000.00​No excess is frozen, and no Part 212 notice is required. The automatic result ignores which co-owner received each covered payment. eCFR

Example 8 — Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits

Assumptions

• Order was issued by the United States or a state child-support enforcement agency.
• The required Notice of Right is included.

The bank:

• does not calculate the Part 212 protected amount;
• does not apply §§212.5 and 212.6; and
• follows its customary process for that order.

This is a special federal/support branch excluded from the ordinary consumer-debt result. eCFR

Example 9 — Automatic amount below the full federal exemption

Assumptions

• Review-time balance: $6,000.00.
• Coded benefit deposits in lookback: $2,000.00.
• Additional $2,000.00 consists of older, traceable Social Security deposits.
• Remaining $2,000.00 is ordinary money.

Automatic protected amount:

min⁡($2,000.00,$6,000.00)=$2,000.00\min($2,000.00,$6,000.00)

$2,000.00min($2,000.00,$6,000.00)=$2,000.00Initial excess subject to state freeze:

$6,000.00−$2,000.00=$4,000.00$6,000.00-$2,000.00

$4,000.00$6,000.00−$2,000.00=$4,000.00Potential further §407 claim:

$2,000.00\boxed{$2,000.00}$2,000.00​Potential ultimately nonexempt ordinary money:

$2,000.00\boxed{$2,000.00}$2,000.00​The bank’s automatic calculation protects $2,000.00; the court claim is needed to establish whether another $2,000.00 remains federally exempt. eCFR+2

Example 10 — Debtor discovers notice but trigger is unknown

Facts

• Debtor locates a seizure notice.
• It is unclear whether the notice was personally served or mailed.
• Mailing and receipt dates are unknown.

No calendar deadline is calculated.

Alternative state triggers:

• Personal service: ten days excluding weekends and holidays from actual receipt.
• Mail: ten days excluding weekends and holidays from the officer’s mailing date.

The uncertainty does not authorize adding three mail days or selecting the later date without evidence. Montana Code Annotated

Example 11 — Successive levy and the same federal order

Branch A — no covered benefit in initial review

• First levy captures $500.00.
• Judgment remains unpaid.
• Writ remains active.
• Later money appears.

Montana allows another levy under the active writ, subject to valid service and other law.

Branch B — a covered benefit was found and §212.6 applied

The bank may not repeat the account review or take further action if the same order is served again. A new or different order is required for another review and freeze. Montana Code Annotated+1

Example 12 — Bank fee and protected funds

Assumptions

• Protected amount: $1,000.00.
• No excess funds at review.
• Three business days later, $20.00 in nonbenefit funds is deposited.
• Assume—but do not establish—that the account agreement otherwise authorizes a fee.

Maximum fee source permitted by Part 212:

min⁡(otherwise authorized fee,$20.00)\min(\text{otherwise authorized fee},$20.00)min(otherwise authorized fee,$20.00)The bank cannot charge the $1,000.00 protected amount. Part 212 does not itself authorize any fee or prove the account agreement valid. eCFR+1

Example 13 — Montana unemployment benefits mixed with other funds

Assumptions

• $800.00 Montana unemployment benefits deposited.
• $100.00 ordinary money later deposited into the same account.
• Account balance: $900.00.

The unemployment statute protects received benefits only while not mingled. The mixed account therefore does not receive an automatic $800.00 exemption under that statutory sentence.

Whether another tracing rule or fact preserves some protection remains unresolved on these facts. Montana Code Annotated

Example 14 — HSA account

Assumptions

• Qualifying HSA balance: $2,500.00.
• Ordinary credit-card judgment.
• Debt is not recovery of eligible medical expenses incurred from that HSA.

Protected amount:

$2,500.00\boxed{$2,500.00}$2,500.00​Different result may follow if the proceeding seeks eligible medical expenses falling within §25-13-603(3). Montana Code Annotated

Example 15 — VA funds and a permanent investment

Deposit branch

• $4,000.00 in VA benefits remains in a savings account.
• Funds are readily available for support and maintenance.
• Source remains traceable.

Porter supports continued protection.

Converted-property branch

• The same money was used to purchase a permanent investment or other property.

The bank-deposit exemption does not automatically follow into the new asset. The asset’s own exemption law must be analyzed. GovInfo+1

Example 16 — Pending payment order and levy-time balance

Assumptions

• Ledger balance when writ arrives: $2,000.00.
• Bank had already accepted a $500.00 outgoing funds-transfer order before creditor process.
• No other exemption or setoff.

Potential responsive credit after the accepted order:

$2,000.00−$500.00=$1,500.00$2,000.00-$500.00

\boxed{$1,500.00}$2,000.00−$500.00=$1,500.00​The actual result depends on Article 4A timing, acceptance, bank setoff, settlement, and account terms. This example does not instruct account movement and does not establish that the payment order prevails on different facts. Montana Code Annotated

XIII. Source register

XIV. Claim register

XV. Coverage and remaining-gap table

XVI. Researcher self-check

Freshly read

• Current Montana statutes governing:execution issuance and timing;writ contents;county officer authority;bank/entity service;effective levy;bank snapshot response and ten-business-day delivery;officer hold and repeat levy;debtor notice;exemption request and hearing;third-party ownership claim and indemnity bond;supplemental examination and adverse-interest litigation;state exemptions and tracing;HSA/MSA protection;unemployment, workers’ compensation, and public assistance;joint-account beneficial ownership;Justice/City and Small Claims execution.
• Current 31 CFR Part 212 and Appendix C.
• Current federal statutory protections for Social Security/SSI, VA, RRB, CSRS, and FERS.
• Full or materially complete primary judicial opinions identified above.
• Current Montana Judicial Branch forms and judgment pages.

Arithmetic checks

• $5,000 − $4,500 = $500.
• Joint benefit example: $3,000 + $4,000 = $7,000.
• Joint contribution example: $2,000/$6,000 = 33.333%; $4,000/$6,000 = 66.667%.
• Deposited-wage example: $100 + $400 = $500.
• Accepted-payment-order example: $2,000 − $500 = $1,500.

Access-limited or failed material

• Official Montana Word execution, writ, seizure, and praecipe forms were linked but not machine-readable through the public web route.
• Several Montana opinions were accessed through complete public reproductions rather than an official Montana-hosted PDF.
• No paid citator, private docket, bank record, title search, or county clerk system was used.
• No complete bank setoff, retirement, support, tax, student-loan, bankruptcy, or local-practice audit was performed.

Bounded negative findings

No current primary authority located in this focused pass established:

• A general Montana cash or bank-account wildcard exemption.
• A continuing 120-day ordinary bank-account levy.
• A specific Montana statutory bank-processing fee amount.
• A current statewide ordinary bank “answer to garnishment” or interrogatory form.
• Automatic protection under Part 212 for a paper benefit check or an interaccount transfer.
• Automatic statewide propagation of a bank release or exemption order.
• Automatic damages for every wrongful freeze.
• A universal private cause of action under Part 212.
• A rule making the full balance of every joint account debtor-owned.
• Automatic exemption of every commingled benefit source.
• Automatic stay from an informal dispute, settlement request, or regulatory complaint.

Search limits are not treated as proof that no unpublished order, local form, account-agreement term, special-sector statute, or later authority exists.

Not read or resolved

No actual:

• judgment;
• writ;
• levy service;
• bank response;
• account agreement;
• account statement;
• ACH coding;
• benefit record;
• co-owner contribution ledger;
• representative-payee appointment;
• exemption filing;
• third-party affidavit;
• court order;
• bank fee;
• setoff;
• settlement;
• bankruptcy; or
• private account data

was accessed or inferred.

No filing, levy, account movement, bank instruction, exemption claim, record request, provider lookup, contact, purchase, account change, private-data access, browser control, other-chat access, local write, individualized legal advice, collection approval, independent-review conclusion, component acceptance, Montana acceptance, parent-dossier acceptance, A066 acceptance, operational approval, or publication-readiness determination occurred.

REPORT PARTIAL — the focused Montana ordinary unsecured consumer-debt bank-account garnishment, deposit ownership, benefit exemption, federal account-review, tracing, notice, hearing, and bank-duty component is completed to the stated source, factual, procedural, and currentness limits.

END S_MT PASS-22.