GARNISHMENT
A legal procedure by which a creditor can collect what a debtor owes by reaching the debtor’s property when it is in the hands of someone other than the debtor.
Garnishment is a drastic measure for collecting a debt. A court order of garnishment allows
a creditor to take the property of a debtor when the debtor does not possess the property. A garnishment action is taken against the debtor as defendant and the property holder as garnishee.
Garnishment is regulated by statutes, and is usu-
ally reserved for the creditor who has obtained a
judgment, or court order, against the debtor.
A debtor’s property may be garnished before
it ever reaches the debtor. For example, if a
debtor’s work earnings are garnished, a portion
of the wages owed by the employer go directly to
the JUDGMENT CREDITOR and is never seen by
the debtor.
Some property is exempt from garnishment.
Exemptions are created by statutes to avoid leav-
ing a debtor with no means of support. For
example, only a certain amount of work income
may be garnished. Under 15 U.S.C.A. § 1673, a
garnishment sought in federal court may not
exceed 25 percent of the debtor’s disposable
earnings each week, or the amount by which the
debtor’s disposable earnings for the week exceed
thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage
in effect at the time the earnings are payable. In
Alaska, exemptions include a burial plot; health
aids necessary for work or health; benefits paid
or payable for medical, surgical, or hospital care;
awards to victims of violent crime; and assets
received from a retirement plan (Alaska Stat.
§ 09.38.015, .017).
Because garnishment involves the taking of
property, the procedure is subject to DUE
PROCESS requirements. In Sniadatch v. Family
Finance Corp. of Bay View, 395 U.S. 337, 89 S. Ct.
1820, 23 L. Ed. 2d 349 (1969), the U.S. Supreme
Court struck down a Wisconsin statute that
allowed pretrial garnishment of wages without
an opportunity to be heard or to submit a
defense. According to the Court, garnishment
without prior notice and a prior hearing vio-
lated fundamental principles of due process.
Garnishment may be used as a provisional
remedy. This means that property may be gar-
nished before a judgment against the debtor is
entered. This serves to protect the creditor’s
