Joint Bank Account problem

[TwoLittlePontipines]

Hi,
This relates to a friend who is separating, so any advice would be gratefully received.

I've just brought her to the bank so she can withdraw some money, and she was told that her husband has written to the bank to stop her from accessing their joint account.
Can he really do this, and what can she do about it?? Especially since it is her wages that have just been lodged to the account, her working tax credits are about to go into it automatically, he is in prison, and it has been her alone putting money in for the past year or more.

She doesn't know what to do....especially at 4pm on a Friday evening, and she has absolutely no cash!

Get her to do the same for him IMMEDIATELY, so he cannot access it either. Freeze the account until wiser heads come along.

she needs to call tc etc to change the acocunt details to a sole account.
also tell her work to pay wages into different account.

short term she might ahave to borrow until monday or try ringing bank ...

A bank can't do that unilaterally- it's a joint account so if it is suspended he can't access money either. She needs to ring tax credits immediately sd they pay her in another way. Then she needs to speak to the bank again to see what can be done about it. oh & crack on with divorce proceedings!

she cannot change it to a sole account but she could open her own sole account and give work those details to pay her wages into.

In divorce sometimes people have all accounts frozen if they think the other person will take out money spend it all waste it. That might be a court order but is more likely that the bank have been told by a joint account holder to freeze the account./

She must get her work and the tax credits people to pay instead to a new account in her sole name - open it now. That is the most urgent thing.

She should also ask the bank on what basis it has frozen the account and take in her pay slips etc to show that it is her money and she has a family to feed and her other half is in prison - the bank might let her law on what is there until next pay day. Technically she could apply for interim emergency maintenance from her husband and part of the emergency order might be unfreezing that account.