Acct.Gar. - Financial-Related Data

Acct.Gar. - Financial-Related Data

The Financials section in the left side of a Matter gives you information about the lien, releases, accounts, seized funds, and payments.  This help page explains all of the fields and buttons in this section.  For a list of garnishment terms, see Account Garnishments - Detailed Workflow Guide.


Lien Amount, Pending Amount, and Currently Seized

[1] Judgment/Lien Amount.  This is the original amount that the garnishment order specifies.  Once entered in Safari, you should not change it.  
[2] Release to Debtor.  Sometimes a garnishee receives a partial or full release from the garnishor.  When that happens, do the following:
  1. Click the RELEASE TO DEBTOR button to the right of the Judgment / Lien Amount field.
  2. Enter the Release Amount, Release Date, and any Release Notes.  (Safari dynamically updates the Pending Amount field as described above.)
  3. Upload a copy of the Release document in the Served folder.
  4. Update the seized funds amounts in Safari reflecting how much is currently frozen (obviously the funds need to be made back available to the customer).
  5. Click  SAVE .
[3] Pending Lien.  This is a read-only, dynamically adjusted value showing you how much of the original lien amount is unpaid.  Safari dynamically modifies the amount as follows:
Pending Lien = Judgment/Lien Amount minus (Release Amount and Total Payments)
For example, assume the original lien amount was $5,000.  Then the creditor notifies you that you may release $1,000 back to the customer/debtor.  Once you enter a Release Amount of $1,000, the Pending Lien shows $4,000.  Then assume that you pay $4,000 to the creditor (and enter that as a payment in Safari).  The Pending Lien becomes $0.
NOTE ABOUT DATA VALIDATION.  Safari ensures that the Pending Lien can never be negative by preventing you from entering a Release Amount and/or Amounts Paid that are greater than the Judgment/Lien Amount.
[4] Currently Seized.  Safari dynamically totals the Currently Seized Amount and the Total Seized as follows:  Currently Seized = Total Seized - Total Payments.
QUICK CHECK FOR CURRENTLY SEIZED.  Note that when the customer/debtor has sufficient funds to cover the lien amount, once you've entered the seized amount(s) in Safari then the Pending Amount should match Currently Seized: 

Accounts and Seized Funds Details

To record the amount of funds that have been seized by account, click the +ACCOUNT button.  
[5] Account Location State.  Shown only if turned on for one of the compliance warnings.  If shown, you need to consult your policy about designating the account location.
[6] Seized Amount.  Amount frozen or moved to a GL account.  
IMPORTANT NOTE: When recording a release, you'll also need to update the Seized Amount manually.  For example, if you had seized $5,000, and then you receive a release from the creditor of $1,500, you should manually change the seized funds to $3,500.
[7] Paste clipboard icon.  Use this icon to quickly save a copy of a screenshot of the customer’s account.  First capture the screenshot of the customer account, then click this icon.  The image file automatically uploads to the Financial folder.
[8]  Create Payment record icon.  See Payments section below.  
[9]  Account Notes.  Use this field to record information about the account or what was seized.  For example, you could document any protected funds and the reason for the exemption.

Payments

To record a payment, do one of the following: 
  1. Paying from customer account:  Click the payment icon to the right of the Seized Funds field.  This automatically creates a payment entry recording the customer account and seized amount associated with the account.  
     
  2. Paying from a GL Account:  Click the +PAYMENT button in the Payments section on the left side.  This automatically fills in a payment amount that equals the Total Seized.  It also prefills the GL account number if your Safari system Owner has created a default in the Company or Entity setup (see Setup - Companies, Entities, and Offices). 
NOTE ABOUT DATA VALIDATION.  When you create a payment record, Safari prefills the amount with the lesser of the Pending Amount or the Total Seized.  Safari won't allow you to make a payment entry that is greater than either of those values.

Other Fees

[10] Creditor Fee.  This is the amount your company has collected from the garnishor for processing the account garnishment.  State law typically requires the garnishor to include this payment with the service of the legal order.
[11] Processing Fee.  This is the amount your company has collected from the customer/debtor for processing an account garnishment.  You must enter this amount manually, and state law may limit it  (e.g., the maximum amount allowed by state law and whether the fee can be collected before the seized funds are paid to the garnishor).

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

    • Related Articles

    • Acct.Gar. - Detailed Workflow Guide

      Account Garnishments - Detailed Workflow Guide The following is a generic guide of issues, tips, and common practices for a garnishment workflow in Safari. REMEMBER to check the Library in Safari for your company's specific version of this workflow ...

    • Acct.Gar. - Agency Electronic Levies

      Electronic Agency Levies: A Game-Changer for Financial Institutions VIDEO TUTORIAL (3 mins) - coming soon This page explains the workflow benefits of setting up electronic levy connections with agencies using Safari, the various types of electronic ...

    • Acct.Gar.-Reports

      Account Garnishment Reporting Net Seized Amounts The Net Seized Amounts report is limited to matters that satisfy these two criteria: Matter Type = Garnishment Net Seized Amount > $0. Use Cases.  This report is specially designed for companies that ...

    • Workflow - Editing Data / Audit History

      Overview This help page gives you information and tips about editing data in a matter, including your ability to look up and auto-populate serving party data. You'll also learn about the audit history that Safari captures for you about any changes to ...

    • Reports - Export CSV Data

      Overview Safari enables you to view and export a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file to keep tabs on when, how much, and by whom the system is being used. Such data exports are useful for recordkeeping review and for assessing security risks from ...