Art. 2412.Method of Service; Delay For Answering

Article 2412 fills in the mechanics behind the seizure Article 2411 describes. The sheriff serves the garnishee with the citation, a copy of the petition, and a copy of the interrogatories, along with notice that a seizure has been made against any property of, or indebtedness to, the judgment debtor. Separately, the judgment creditor sends the debtor written notice that the garnishment petition was filed, by mail or electronic means, though that notice to the debtor has no bearing on whether the seizure itself is valid.

Garnishing the wages of a state employee within the executive branch follows its own routing rules: employees paid through the statewide uniform payroll office are served there, while other executive branch employees are served through the secretary of their department or that secretary's designee. For every other garnishee, service follows the ordinary rules for serving citation, except that an individual garnishee must be served personally rather than through domiciliary service, unless the individual is evading service, in which case the court can authorize another method.

Once properly served, the garnishee has thirty days to file sworn answers to the interrogatories. That deadline drives the consequences in Article 2413 for a garnishee who misses it.

An amendment effective August 1, 2026 adds a required warning to the notice served on the garnishee. It must state, in boldface type, that failing to file a sworn answer to the interrogatories within thirty days can make the garnishee personally responsible for the entire amount the judgment debtor owes. The change does not alter the thirty-day deadline itself, but makes the personal stakes of missing it explicit on the face of the notice.