Stow Municipal Court Clerk of Court

What is Garnishment?

Garnishment is a process which lets the creditor claim and take a debtor's money that is currently being held by a third party. For example, an employer might be required to pay to the Court a portion of those wages earned by the debtor employee in order to satisfy a debt owed to a judgment creditor. Likewise, if a bank, savings and loan, credit union, or someone holding money earned on commission, has money being held in an account that belongs to the debtor, any of these might be required to pay that money into a court to satisfy the debt owed to the creditor.

1. To begin the process of a wage garnishment, a "Notice of Court Proceedings to Collect Debt" must be mailed to the debtor. A certificate of mailing receipt must be obtained from the Post Office to show proof of mailing. The creditor must wait 15 days after mailing this notice before a wage garnishment can be filed. This notice is not to be mailed out for non-wage garnishments. A bank account attachment is an example of a non-wage garnishment.

2. When either a wage or non-wage garnishment is filed, all appropriate forms are to be filled out, and all required costs are to be paid to the Clerk. In addition to the regular court costs, the garnishee fee remains $1.00 for non-wage garnishments. Once the garnishee receives the garnishment, he or she must respond to the court within a specified time period, that varies depending on whether a wage or non-wage garnishment was filed. If the garnishee has no money to send to the Court, that means the garnishment was unsuccessful. A new garnishment may be filed at a later date when more or different information is received. The garnishment is successful if the Clerk receives an answer from the garnishee indicating he is withholding money. The money being held will be paid to the Court, and the Clerk will issue a check to the creditor.

Under Ohio garnishment law, which became effective March 30, 1999, a garnishment on wages can remain in effect until the judgment is paid in full. The only way the wage garnishment does not remain in effect until the judgment is paid in full is if the garnishee receives a subsequent garnishment order from a different creditor against the same debtor, or receives a garnishment of higher priority. A garnishment of higher priority can be a garnishment from a court of higher jurisdiction, a child support order, a tax levy, etc. In most cases, however, a garnishment will be valid for at least 182 days from the date the garnishee began to process it. If a wage garnishment is filed by a different creditor against the same debtor, the 182 days of the first creditor have expired, and all the first creditor's money has not been collected, the first creditor need merely file a new garnishment to get back in line for his next 182 days of collecting. Numerous non-wage garnishments may be filed. However, a non-wage garnishment differs from a wage garnishment in that it is a one-time deduction only. Please note: AT ALL TIMES, IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE JUDGMENT CREDITOR TO REMAIN AWARE OF THE STATUS OF HIS OR HER GARNISHMENT.

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