What is a Garnishment?

Garnishment is a court procedure through which a debtor’s money or property that is in the hands of a third party (the garnishee), may be subjected to the payment of the creditor’s claim.    Typically judgment creditors garnish wages, bank accounts and accounts payable.     Simply put, when a creditor gets a money judgment against a defendant, and the defendant does not have the money to immediately satisfy the judgment, the creditor can apply to the court to have the defendant’s wages garnished.   This means as an employer of the defendant you would be under order to remit a specified portion of the defendant’s paycheck to the creditor every pay period until the writ expires.    The creditor can also garnish the defendant’s bank accounts, tax refunds or other assets in the hands of third parties, including amounts owed by the defendant to the garnishee.

Garnishment Procedures

When you receive a Writ of Garnishment, it will be approved by the clerk of the court.  The Writ of Garnishment will contain a verified statement the Creditor has obtained a money judgment against the defendants.   Also included will be identifying information such as the defendant’s social security number, employee identification number or federal tax number.    Carefully examine the date the Writ was issued to ensure that 91 days after issuance have not expired.   If you are served more than 91 days after the Writ was issued, it is invalid.

After you have received the Writ and verified its timeliness, you must send a copy of the Writ of Garnishment to the defendant within 7 days.  As the garnishee have 14 days to file with the court clerk a verified disclosure indicating what (if anything) you owe to the defendant.    You must also send a copy of the verified disclosure form to the creditor and defendant, who will both be listed on the Writ of Garnishment.   At this point a judgment as already been entered and you are not the arbiter of the fairness of it.     If there has been an error, then it is the defendant’s attorney’s responsibility to investigate it, not yours.   Explain to the employee that you have no choice in the matter.

If you fail to respond to the Writ of Garnishment, the creditor can take a default judgment against you.  As a result of the default you will become liable for the entire debt owed by defendant, even if you had no involvement whatsoever with the creditor before that. We have seen this happen before, and it is not easy to get a default set aside.   Don’t let this happen to you.

After you have given the defendant a copy of the Writ, the defendant has 14 days in which to file an objection with the court.  Any objections will be resolved by the Court.

If the garnishment is for wages, you are required to begin making the deductions from the defendant/employee’s paycheck when the Writ of Garnishment is received.   The Writ will inform you the amount and to whom the payment must be directed.     A Writ of Garnishment only lasts 91 days, and a new one must be issued should the judgment not be satisfied within that time period.   For garnishees with weekly, biweekly, or semimonthly pay periods, withholding shall commence with the first full pay period after the Writ was served.    Withholding shall cease upon the end of the last full pay period prior to the expiration of the Writ.

Every time a payment is withheld, the garnishee must provide the following information to the creditor and the defendant:  case number, date and amount withheld, and the balance due on the Writ.    After 28 days from the date of the service of the Writ on the garnishee, unless an objection to the Garnishment is pending with the Court, the garnishee shall transmit all withheld funds to the creditor unless the garnishee has been notified that objections have been filed.

The creditor also has the right to issue interrogatories to the garnishee regarding amounts owed and other creditors who have attempted to garnish the funds.   A garnishee only has to comply with one garnishment at a time for the same creditor.    If there are multiple garnishments, contact us to determine which garnishment holds the higher priority under the Michigan Court Rules.

Compliance is Vital

Should you fail to comply with the dictates of the Writ of Garnishment, your company will become liable for the judgment against the defendants.    While possibly tedious, full compliance is necessary because the penalties are far too stringent otherwise.   As always, if you ever have any questions on the process contact us.

This article was written by Michael R. Dorfman, Senior Associate at Demorest Law Firm. Click here to view his professional resume.