From the information you have given us, the citation to discover assets is seeking a sole proprietorship account owned by the judgment debtor. Because the judgment debtor is the sole proprietor of the “John’s Auto Repair” business, the business account should be considered the debtor’s assets and should be frozen. (Note that a sole proprietorship may still have a separate taxpayer ID from the owner’s social security number. For example, the business owner may have obtained a separate employer identification number (EIN) for payroll tax purposes.) Because the citation to discover assets requires your institution to freeze any accounts in which the debtor “has or had an interest,” we believe it would be prudent to freeze the business account to protect your institution — your institution could be liable for any assets or accounts of the judgment debtor that it fails to freeze. 735 ILCS 5/2-1402(f).

Also note that federal law may protect the debtor’s public benefit payments, provided that the payments were made by direct deposit, tagged as public benefit payments, and were deposited within a two-month “look-back period.” 31 CFR 212.1 et seq.