Rule 64D.Writ of garnishment

Garnishment reaches property of the defendant that's in someone else's hands — a bank holding an account, an employer holding wages, anyone else holding money or property owed to the defendant. Unlike replevin and attachment, garnishment is available both before final judgment (subject to Rule 64A's prejudgment requirements) and after it. Wages get special protection: the maximum share of disposable earnings that can be seized is the lesser of a percentage cap — 50% for a judgment enforcing child support, 25% for any other judgment — or the amount by which earnings for the pay period exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage multiplied by the number of weeks in that pay period.

Before judgment, the grounds mirror attachment's: the defendant is indebted to the plaintiff, the action is on a contract or against a nonresident or unqualified foreign corporation, the claim isn't already secured by a Utah lien, the garnishee possesses or controls the defendant's property, and the plaintiff has paid the statutory garnishee fee. A post-judgment application instead has to identify the property, note whether it includes earnings, state the judgment balance, name any known claimants, and attach the defendant's identifying information along with a set of interrogatories asking the garnishee about any debts owed to the defendant, property held, deductions being made, and other relevant details about employment and pay.

Once served, the garnishee has seven business days to answer those interrogatories under oath, serve the answers on the plaintiff, and serve the writ, answers, an exemption notice, and reply forms on the defendant and anyone else with a known interest. The plaintiff or defendant can then reply within 14 days, challenging the writ's issuance, disputing the accuracy of the answers, claiming an exemption, or asserting a setoff; an unanswered reply is deemed denied and triggers an evidentiary hearing within 14 days. If nobody replies, the garnishee's answers stand as correct and the property isn't treated as exempt. The garnishee generally has to hold the property for 21 days after serving its answers before delivering it, to give someone time to reply.

A garnishee who follows the rule, the writ, and any court order is shielded from liability unless its interrogatory answers are successfully challenged; one that ignores its obligations can be ordered to show cause and held responsible for the property's value (or the judgment balance, if less), plus costs and fees, though the court can excuse liability if the garnishee's efforts were reasonable. For situations involving recurring payments like wages, a writ of continuing garnishment lets the plaintiff reach periodic payments as they come due, rather than filing a new writ every pay period. It lasts up to a year, or until 120 days after a second continuing-garnishment writ is served, the last payment is made, the judgment is satisfied or vacated, or the writ is discharged — whichever happens first, with the garnishee reporting after each pay period. Continuing-garnishment writs issued for the state's Office of Recovery Services or Department of Workforce Services to recover overpayments get priority over other continuing writs and aren't capped at 120 days.