GAR - Seizing Funds & Freezing Accts

GAR - Seizing Funds & Freezing Accts

Overview

This page addresses the following topics:
  1. Configuring Safari for seizing funds (i.e., moving to a GL, or freezing funds in the account)
  2. How users seize funds in Safari
  3. Freezing accounts for continuous levies
  4. Compliance with requirements to seize a multiple of the levy amount
  5. Safe deposit boxes
  6. CDs and similar assets
  7. Recording and identifying whether a 31 CFR 212 Federal Benefit Exemption notice was included.

Configuring Safari

These settings are in the Garnishments section of the Company Setup page and can only be changed by an Owner. 

Choosing How Your Company Seizes Funds

Institutions seize funds one of two ways - set your Default Seizure Method to one of the below options:
  1. Transfer: Funds are moved out of the customer's account into a general ledger account
  2. Hold in Account: Funds stay in the customer's account but are held, so the customer can't withdraw them.
This choice changes what users see. Transactions are either labeled Seize Funds - Transfer or Seize Funds - Hold to match, and the Actions available in a Worksheet name the method your institution uses.
Info
Even if your seizure method is Hold in Account, you can still transfer funds for the purpose of collecting a processing fee. 

Account Numbers 

Two fields govern where money should go when it leaves a customer's account:
  1. Seize Funds Account Number: the general ledger account funds move into. Required only if your Default Seizure Method is Transfer
  2. Processing Fee Account Number: always required. If your institution doesn't use a separate account for fees, enter N/A

Processing Fees

Two fields govern what your institution charges the customer for handling a garnishment:
  1. Processing Fee - Default Amount: the amount your insitution normally charges
  2. Processing Fee - Maximum Amount: users cannot save a fee above this amount.
State law often limits what you may charge, so set the maximum to the lowest figure that's valid across the states you operate in - or use separate Subtypes where limits differ. If a User exceeds the maximum, Safari blocks the save ad displays "Maximum processing fee of xx.xx exceeded." Where your institution uses a ledger, the limit applies to the combined total across all accounts on the matter.

Other Settings

Three additional settings in the Garnishment section affect how users seize funds:
  1. Continuous Levy Hold Tracking: turns hold tracking on or off for your institution
  2. Enable Safe Box Account: controls whether users can add a safe deposit box to a matter
  3. Federal Exemption Amount and control whether exemption amounts must be entered.

Subtype Settings

Two settings that affect seizing funds live in Subtype Settings:
  1. Seize Amount Multiple: set a default multiple for Subtypes in states requiring an over-hold.
  2. Account Location: where the state must be recorded for each account. The default value you set here pre-fills new accounts, saving a step for Subtypes used in a single state.

How to Seize Funds

Seizing funds happens in the Account Review Worksheet. The Events Summary shows you the accounts the Worksheet is where you record amounts.

Opening the Worksheet

Any of the below will get you to the Worksheet:
  1. Click the pencil icon on the Account Review event
  2. Click an account number in the account list - the Worksheet opens with that account expanded
  3. Click the ACH icon for an account - the Worksheet opens with that account's ACH entries expanded

Recording What You're Seizing

For each account you're seizing from:
  1. Enter the Amount Seized, Every account needs a value before you can change the matter's status. $0 is a valid answer, it records that you reviewed and there was nothing to seize.
  2. Enter the Processing fee, if your charging one.
  3. Complete the compliance fields. Account Location and exemption details become required once you enter a seized amount above zero. Accounts you're not seizing from won't ask for them.
  4. Add Account Notes where useful
  5. click SAVE

Correcting an Amount After Saving

Once a seized amount or fee is saved, the field becomes read-only and shows the running total of everything recorded against it. To change it, use the '+' and '-' icons beside the value. '+' seizes an additional amount while '-' reverses part of what was seized. This way you don't have to undo and re-enter original figures.

Account You're Not Seizing From

Set the Excluded toggle on any account you've reviewed and don't intend to touch. Excluded accounts move to the bottom of list and grey out. Note that an account can't be excluded once it has a transaction against it or a hold placed on it. 

Finishing Review

Check Mark Complete and SAVE once complete.

Freezing accounts for Continuous Levies

With a continuous levy you may need to hold funds over time. A hold is set in two places, one for the matter and then for each account you want included:
  1. In the matter header set Hold Accounts to yes.
  2. Enter the Hold Amount. This is the amount to hold in each account, and it must be greater than $0.
  3. Open the Account Review Worksheet and turn on Hold Account for each account you want held.
  4. Click SAVE
Turning on Hold Account for the matter does not automatically place holds on accounts already listed - you choose what accounts are included. 
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Hold tracking must be switched on for your institution (Continuous Levy Hold Tracking in Company Setup) and applies only to continuous levies.
If you change the Hold Amount, Safari reverses the existing hold on every included account and replaces it with the new figure. If you turn Hold Account off for a single account Safari will reverse that hold and if you turn Hold Accounts off at the matter level Safari will reverse every hold on the matter. 

Seeing Held Accounts

An ACCT. HELD indicator appears in the account area of the matter, so you can tell at a glance that a matter has holds outstanding. Accounts placed on hold in an earlier account review continue to appear in later reviews for the life of the levy. 
Alert
Safari won't let you close a matter while Hold Accounts is still enabled, even if no account currently holds funds. This is intentional - closing a matter with a life hold could leave a customer's funds frozen with nothing tracking it. Release the holds and turn of Hold Accounts, then close. 

Freezing an Account

Safari doesn't support freezing an account without specifying an amount. Where you need the practical equivalent - a restraining order, for instance - enter the full levy amount as the Hold Amount. 

Seized Amount Multiple

Idea
VIDEO TUTORIAL (3 mins) - Seized Amount Multiple

The Seized Amount Multiple field is designed to help you comply with specific state laws—such as Hawaii (1.2x) or Florida (2x)—that require an asset hold greater than the base levy amount.
Notes
When Visible: This field appears in a matter only if it has been enabled for that specific Subtype. If you do not see the field on your screen, please check with your Administrator to ensure the Subtype configuration is correct.
When Editable:  The field is editable only when the matter status is TO DO Seize Assets. If your matter is in a different status, change the status to TO DO Seize Assets and click SAVE. The field will then be available to edit.
How it Works
When a matter is has a multiple more than 1, the following features are automatically enabled:

  • Automated Calculation: The system uses the multiplier to calculate the total amount to hold. This allows the Seized Amount to exceed the Levy Amount without triggering validation errors or requiring manual overrides.

  • The "Hawaii Rule" (Rounding Down): To ensure strict legal compliance and prevent freezing more assets than legally allowed, the system always rounds down to the nearest penny.

    • Example: A $1,234.58 levy with a 1.2x multiplier (required in Hawaii) results in $1,481.496. Instead of rounding up to $1,481.50, Safari will ensure the amounts seized does not exceed $1,481.49, to ensure you never exceed the legal maximum.

  • Partial Release Logic: When you perform a partial release, the system uses the defined multiple to automatically calculate the correct amount to be released, maintaining the required statutory ratio throughout the life of the matter.

IdeaEfficiency Tip: To save time and reduce manual entry errors, your Administrator can set a default value at the Subtype level (e.g., 2.0 for a Subtype created specifically for Florida garnishments). This ensures the field is pre-filled correctly every time you create a new matter for that Subtype.

Safe Deposit Boxes

A safe deposit box can be the target of a garnishment, but it isn't an account. Safari tracks safe deposits separately from financial accounts, recording that a box exists and belongs to the debtor. Safe deposit boxes must be enabled for your institution (Enable Safe Deposit Box Accounts in Company Setup). If it is not enabled, this option will not appear. To add a safe deposit box, from the Account Review Worksheet or the Events Summary, choose Add Safe Deposit Box from the Actions menu then record the following:
  1. Number - required
  2. Owner - optional
  3. Location - required only where Account Location is enabled for the Subtype
  4. Branch - optional
  5. Opened Date - optional
  6. Notes - Optional
Safe deposit boxes appear below financial accounts in the list. They have no exemption fields and no financial fields, because neighter applies.

Federal Benefit Exemption Status (31 CFR 212)

Idea
VIDEO TUTORIAL (4 mins): 31 CFR 212 Notice Field and Review

Under 31 CFR 212, an institution receiving a garnishment order has two business days to work out whether federal benefit funds in the account are protected from seizure. What you have to do depends on one thing: whether the agency attached a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal benefits to the order.
  1. If the notice was provided, the federal benefits can be seized and no exempt funds review is needed.
  2. If the notice was not provided, you must review the account for exempt federal benefit funds within two business days.
The 31 CFR 212 Notice Provided field records this and then Safari tracks the rest for you, including the evidence your audit team needs to show the two-day review actually occurred.

Recording Whether a Notice Was Provided 

The field sits in the Primary section of the matter, in the left panel directly below Levy/Order Amount. It has two values, and starts empty until someone - or Safari's AI - sets it:
  1. Yes: the order included a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits
  2. No: the order did not include a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefit

The Account Review Worksheet

Your answer to the above determines whether the federal exemption field is available to you:
  1. Notice Provided =Yes. The EXEMPTIONS - FED field is replaced with read-only text reading $0 - 31 CFR 212 Notice included. There is nothing to enter, because the notice means the benefits aren't protected.
  2. Notice Provided = No. EXEMPTIONS - FED behaves normally and you record any exempt federal amount there as party of your account review. 

Subtypes

Not every garnishment involves federal benefits, your Administrator can switch it off per Subtype by opening the Subtype in System Settings, locating the 31 CFR 212 Notice Provided in the Field Setup twisty setting it to No to hide the field from matters of that Subtype.

Federal Benefit Exemption Status (31 CFR 212) - Automated Identification

Depending on your company's AI settings, Safari can identify whether a 31 CFR 212 notice was included and pre-fill the Federal Benefit Exemption Status for you. 
X9 Levies:
  1. Yes where the levy file references 31 CFR 212.
  2. No where the levy file does not reference 31 CFR 212.
For Garnishment order received outside of the X9 format:
  1. Yes where the order contains 31 CFR 212.
  2. No where the order doesn't reference 31 CFR 212.
  3. Left blank where the order references 31 CFR 212 but the language doesn't match the standard notice closely enough for human review. 
Info
Depending on your company's AI settings, fields filled in automatically show the AI data fill indicator so you can tell the value came from data extraction rather than manual entry. See Setup - AI for more information.

Federal Benefit Exemption Status (31 CFR 212) - Reports

Five report fields cover this, and together they provide evidence of compliance with the 31 CFR 212 obligation. To learn more about creating reports see Reports - Creating Custom Reports.

The following report fields record what the order said and who determined it:
  1. 31 CFR 212 Notice Provided - Yes or No
  2. Business Days to 31 CFR 212 Notice Determination - Business days from the date the order was received to the date the field was first saved.
  3. User Making 31 CFR Notice Determination - The user who first completed the field.
The following report fields record the two-day exempt funds review, for orders arriving without a notice:
  1. Business Days to Exempt Funds Determination - Business days from the date the order was received until whichever of the following happens first: a user saved a federal exemption amount or Mark Complete was saved on the Account Review. This will be blank where notice was provided because no review is required.
  2. User Making the Exempt Funds Determination - The user who took whichever of those two actions came first.

Is there a question we haven't answered? Please send it to us at support@safarilaw.com