Sample Answer to Writ of Garnishment: Deadline, Disclosures, and Service

An answer to a writ of garnishment is the sworn document a third party — typically an employer or bank — files with the issuing court to disclose what money, wages, or property it holds that belongs to the debtor. It is filed by the garnishee, not by the debtor, and it has to be filed on time. Under federal law the deadline is 10 days from service of the writ, and a garnishee that fails to answer can have judgment entered against it personally for the full nonexempt value of the debtor’s property.¹

Who Actually Files the Answer

The writ is directed at the garnishee, which is the third party holding the debtor’s money. That’s the employer withholding wages, or the bank holding account funds. The garnishee files the answer. The debtor does not.

This is where people get stuck. A debtor who has just learned that a paycheck or bank account is being garnished often starts looking for a “sample answer” to file, when the correct document for the debtor is an objection or a claim of exemption. Those are separate filings with separate deadlines and separate purposes. If you are the debtor, skip to the end of this article; the body below describes the garnishee’s filing.

Deadline to Answer the Writ

Under the federal garnishment statute, the garnishee must answer within 10 days of being served with the writ.¹ State courts set their own clocks. Some give the garnishee 20 or 30 days; others are shorter. The writ itself will state the deadline, and that date controls.

The consequence of missing it is severe. If the garnishee fails to answer or fails to withhold property as required, the court can enter judgment against the garnishee for the full value of the debtor’s nonexempt interest in the property.¹ The employer or bank becomes personally liable for the debt. Ignoring the writ is never cheaper than answering it.

What the Answer Must Include

An answer to a writ of garnishment is a structured court filing, not a letter. The specifics come from the statute under which the writ was issued and from the local court’s rules, but the backbone is consistent across jurisdictions.

Case Caption and Document Title

The top of the answer identifies the court, the case number, and the names of the parties, matching the information on the writ exactly. The document title should match the terminology the issuing court uses — commonly “Answer to Writ of Garnishment.” Local rules sometimes require the court division or department. Copy these details directly from the writ to avoid mismatches that can cause the clerk to reject the filing.

Sworn Disclosure of Property or Wages

This is the substance of the answer. Under the federal statute, the garnishee must state under oath:

Whether the garnishee has custody, possession, or control of any property belonging to the debtor
A description of that property and the garnishee’s interest in it
Any prior garnishments already in effect against the same property
The amount the garnishee anticipates owing the debtor in the future, whether or not already due¹

In practice, an employer answering a wage garnishment lists the debtor’s pay schedule and disposable earnings. A bank discloses account balances. If the garnishee holds nothing for the debtor, the answer says so plainly — a “no funds” or “not employed” answer is still an answer, and still has to be filed.

Disposable earnings, for wage garnishments, means what remains after amounts the law requires to be withheld, such as federal and state income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare.² Voluntary deductions like health insurance premiums, 401(k) contributions, and union dues are not subtracted. They stay part of disposable earnings for garnishment purposes.

Prior Garnishments and Priority

If other garnishments are already withholding from the same wages or account, the answer must disclose them. When more than one creditor is garnishing the same paycheck, the total withheld cannot exceed the federal cap, and the earlier-served garnishment generally takes priority. Family support orders take priority over other garnishment types regardless of when they were served. The answer should make the current state of play visible to the court so priority can be sorted out correctly.

Verification Under Oath

The answer must be made under oath. In most jurisdictions that means signing before a notary public, who then stamps and signs the verification block. This is not a procedural detail to brush past: false statements in a sworn court filing can lead to perjury charges and contempt sanctions. Notary fees are set by state law and typically run from $2 to $25 per signature, though a handful of states let notaries set their own rates.

Serving the Answer on Everyone Else

Filing with the court is not the whole job. The garnishee must also serve copies of the answer on the debtor and on the creditor’s attorney. Then a certificate of service goes to the court proving service was completed.

The certificate identifies the document served, each person or entity served, the method of delivery (personal delivery, mail, email, or fax), and the date. Which methods are acceptable varies by court, so check local rules before relying on email. An answer that was filed but never properly served can be treated as defective, which can leave the garnishee exposed as if no answer had been filed at all.

Employer-Specific Obligations

Beyond filing the answer, an employer must correctly calculate the debtor’s disposable earnings, withhold the proper amount under the applicable cap, and in many jurisdictions file follow-up responses showing what was withheld each pay period. Federal law also prohibits firing an employee because wages are being garnished for a single debt, and that protection applies regardless of how many levies or proceedings are brought to collect that one debt.³ The protection covers one debt. If garnishment orders arrive for two or more separate debts, the federal termination shield no longer applies. Some states extend broader protection; federal law does not.

Employers who violate the termination rule face fines and civil liability. Employers who miscalculate withholding or ignore the writ face the same risk every garnishee faces: judgment against the employer for the full garnishment amount.

Bank-Specific Obligations

A bank served with a garnishment order on an account that receives direct-deposited federal benefits must perform an automatic review before taking any other action on the garnishment. The bank looks back two months and calculates a protected amount equal to the federal benefits deposited during that window, and the account holder keeps full access to that protected amount without filing anything. Covered benefits include Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, veterans’ benefits, Railroad Retirement, Civil Service Retirement, and Federal Employee Retirement System payments.⁴ A bank that freezes exempt funds without performing the review can face a lawsuit from the account holder, so the review belongs in the bank’s workflow before the answer is drafted.

If You’re the Debtor, Not the Garnishee

If your wages or bank account are being garnished, the document you need is not an answer. It’s an objection or a claim of exemption, filed with the court clerk and served on the creditor, the garnishee, and any law enforcement officer involved in execution. The debtor carries the burden of proving the grounds for the objection.¹

Under federal law, the debtor has 20 days after receiving the garnishee’s answer to file written objections.¹ State deadlines for claims of exemption are often tighter, sometimes as little as 10 days from notice. Common grounds include exempt funds (Social Security, SSI, veterans’ benefits, and similar protected federal payments⁵), the statute of limitations having expired, prior satisfaction of the debt, incorrect amount, or procedural defects in service or jurisdiction. Documentation wins these hearings; the judge will not reconstruct your argument for you.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 3205 – Garnishment
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1672 – Definitions
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act
4
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
5
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can a Debt Collector Take or Garnish My Wages or Benefits?