Facts
X Inc. requested the sequestration of all assets deposited by AY and BY with Bank Z in Chiasso, in particular the current account 87530/be, for an amount of CHF 218,758.40. The Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Office (DEBA) ordered the sequestration of the assets belonging to AY and BY in this account. AY and BY filed an objection, claiming that the seized assets were their undivided property. The Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Chamber of the Cantonal Court of Ticino upheld their appeals, finding the seizures to be null and void. X Inc. then appealed to the Federal Tribunal to have the judgment annulled and the validity of the seizures declared.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considered that, to the extent that it is not clearly demonstrated that the internal relations between the holders of a joint account with individual signatures consist of common ownership, it is not appropriate to apply the Federal Tribunal's regulation concerning the seizure and realization of shares of communities. In such a case, the sequestration applies to the claim for full reimbursement of the account, which belongs to each account holder vis-à-vis the bank.
The other account holder, insofar as their claim is also sequestered, must have recourse to the claim under Art. 106 et seq. DEBA. However, such a procedure would be meaningless…