Writing for the court, Judge David Gustafson explained that under Massachusetts law, petitioner Ann Marie Minihan had a half ownership interest in the joint account with her then spouse, John Minihan Jr., and she had a right to bring a post-seizure action under Internal Revenue Code Section 6015(g)(1) to establish her rights in the seized property and seek a judgment against the seizing creditor for the amount of the joint account that she owned.

Gustafson ruled Ann Marie's “refund claim is a post-levy assertion of her rights in the levied property and an avenue for her to recover what may belong to her.” He said “[t]he money in the joint account came from the sale of the couple's long-time marital house, in which they had made a home together during almost two decades of marriage.”