§ 708.120.Order Directing Third Person to Appear to Answer Concerning Property Or Debt

Sometimes the assets worth chasing sit with someone other than the debtor. This section lets the creditor go after a third party who holds the debtor's property or owes the debtor a debt over two hundred fifty dollars, getting an order — on nothing more than an ex parte application backed by an affidavit that can rest on information and belief — requiring that third person to appear and answer questions about the property or debt.

Service has two separate tracks with the same ten-day lead time: the third person must be served personally, and the debtor must be served personally or by mail, both at least ten days before the examination date. If the application describes the property or debt clearly enough to identify it, service on the third person also creates a one-year lien on the debtor's interest, unless a court extends or ends it sooner.

The debtor gets a narrow but real chance to protect exempt property. A claim of exemption has to be filed with the court and personally served on the creditor no later than three days before the examination — no separate opposition notice is needed, and the court decides the claim itself. Missing that deadline doesn't automatically forfeit the exemption, unless the order described the property clearly enough and the debtor got at least ten days' notice of the proceeding.

Every order under this section must carry two boldface notices — one warning the third person about arrest, contempt, and attorney's fees exposure for failing to appear, and one telling the debtor what property or debt is at stake and how to claim it exempt. And because the third person is being pulled in through no fault of their own, the order isn't even effective until the creditor tenders mileage fees for travel to the examination, calculated the same way witness mileage is calculated in ordinary civil proceedings.