Writ of Garnishment in Florida

A writ of garnishment in Florida is a court-issued order under Chapter 77 of the Florida Statutes that directs a third party to turn over money or property belonging to a judgment debtor. The third party, called the garnishee, is typically a bank, employer, brokerage firm, or any other person or entity holding the debtor’s assets or owing the debtor money. Service of the writ immediately triggers the garnishee’s obligations: a bank must freeze the debtor’s accounts, and an employer receiving a continuing writ must begin withholding wages.

Florida courts construe the garnishment statutes strictly against creditors. Procedural defects in filing, service, or notice can result in the writ being dissolved and frozen funds released, even when the underlying debt is valid and the creditor is otherwise entitled to collect. This strict construction creates meaningful protections for debtors who understand the procedural requirements and respond within the statutory deadlines.

Who Can Obtain a Writ

Any person or entity that has filed a lawsuit to recover a debt, or that has already obtained a money judgment, may apply for a writ of garnishment under § 77.01. The right is not limited to any particular type of creditor. Credit card companies, medical providers, business partners, and private individuals holding judgments can all pursue garnishment.

A creditor does not need to show that other collection methods have failed. Garnishment can be used alongside execution and levy, judgment liens, and proceedings supplementary. There is no statutory limit on the number of writs a creditor may seek in a single case. Florida courts have permitted multiple simultaneous writs against the same debtor, including writs directed at different banks and a continuing writ against the debtor’s employer, all running at the same time.

Filing the Motion and Issuance

The creditor files a Motion for Writ of Garnishment with the clerk of the court that entered the judgment. The motion must identify the judgment, the total amount owed including accrued interest and costs, and the garnishee to be served. The creditor must also pay the clerk’s filing fee and deposit funds into the court registry to cover the garnishee’s costs. Under § 77.28, the creditor must pay $100 to the garnishee upon issuance of the writ to cover attorney’s fees for answering.

The clerk issues the writ once the motion meets statutory requirements. No judge’s permission or separate court order is needed for a post-judgment writ. The creditor then arranges service on the garnishee through the sheriff’s office or a process server. The clerk’s filing fee and sheriff’s service fee (typically around $40) are recoverable as costs of collection.

Effect of Service on the Garnishee

Service of a writ of garnishment creates an immediate lien on all of the debtor’s property in the garnishee’s possession under § 77.06. For a bank, this means every account bearing the debtor’s name is frozen, including joint accounts, business accounts where the debtor has signatory authority, and accounts that may hold entirely exempt funds. Florida law shields banks from liability for freezing accounts later found to be exempt, so banks freeze broadly rather than risk personal liability for releasing funds that should have been held.

The amount the garnishee may retain is capped under § 77.19 at double the amount specified in the creditor’s motion. If the creditor’s motion states the judgment balance is $50,000, the bank cannot freeze more than $100,000 of the debtor’s funds. Any amounts beyond that cap should remain accessible to the debtor.

For bank accounts that receive direct-deposited federal benefits such as Social Security, the bank must perform an automatic review under 31 CFR Part 212 before freezing funds. This federal regulation requires the bank to identify and protect an amount equal to two months of federal benefit deposits without requiring the debtor to take any action. The protected amount remains accessible to the debtor even while the rest of the account is frozen. This automatic protection applies only to electronically deposited federal benefits, not to benefits received by paper check and manually deposited.

Notice to the Debtor

Under § 77.041, the creditor must mail several documents to the debtor’s last known address by first-class mail: a copy of the motion for writ of garnishment, a copy of the writ, and a Notice to Defendant that explains the debtor’s rights and includes a Claim of Exemption form. The mailing deadline is five business days after the clerk issues the writ, or three business days after the writ is served on the garnishee, whichever is later.

Missing this mailing deadline is one of the most common procedural errors creditors make. Courts have consistently held that failure to timely mail the notice documents is grounds for dissolving the writ, regardless of whether the debtor was otherwise aware of the garnishment.

The Garnishee’s Answer and Default

The garnishee must file a written answer within 20 days of being served. The answer must state whether the garnishee holds money or property belonging to the debtor, the amounts involved, how accounts are titled, and whether the garnishee knows of any other person holding the debtor’s property. For bank garnishments, the answer typically lists every account bearing the debtor’s name and each account’s balance at the time the writ was served.

If the garnishee fails to answer within 20 days, the creditor may obtain a default against the garnishee under § 77.081. Upon entry of judgment against the debtor, a final judgment can then be entered against the defaulted garnishee. The judgment against the garnishee cannot exceed the judgment against the original debtor.

However, Florida courts have held that even after default, the garnishee is entitled to notice and a hearing on the amount of damages before a final judgment is entered against it. The practical consequence of default is significant: a bank that ignores a writ can become personally liable for the full judgment amount, creating a strong incentive for garnishees to file timely answers.

Post-Answer Notice and the Creditor’s Reply

Within five days after the garnishee serves its answer, the creditor must mail the debtor a copy of the answer along with a notice under § 77.055 advising that the debtor has 20 days to file a motion to dissolve the writ if any allegation in the creditor’s motion is untrue. Failure to provide this post-answer notice is an independent ground for dissolution.

If the creditor is not satisfied with the garnishee’s answer, the creditor may challenge it by filing a reply under § 77.061 within 20 days, denying specific allegations. The court then schedules a hearing to determine the facts. If the court finds the garnishee’s answer was false or incomplete, the garnishee may be held liable for the amount the garnishee should have disclosed. If the creditor does not file a reply, the garnishee’s answer is taken as true under § 77.082, and the garnishee may surrender any disclosed property and be discharged from further liability.

Claiming Exemptions

Garnishment exemptions in Florida are not automatic. The debtor must affirmatively claim each exemption by filing a Claim of Exemption form with the court and delivering copies to the creditor and the garnishee within 20 days of receiving the garnishment notice. The form must be notarized. The debtor must also certify that copies were mailed or hand-delivered to both the creditor and the garnishee.

The most frequently claimed exemptions include head of household wages under § 222.11, Social Security benefits protected under 42 U.S.C. § 407, disability payments, retirement account distributions, annuity and life insurance proceeds, and bank accounts held by married spouses as tenants by the entireties when the judgment is against only one spouse.

Each exemption has distinct requirements. The head of household exemption requires the debtor to provide more than half the support for a child or other dependent. Entireties protection requires the account to be held jointly by a married couple, and under § 655.79, any account in the names of both spouses is presumed to be an entireties account unless otherwise specified in writing. Head of household wages deposited in a bank account retain their exempt status for six months if the debtor can trace the funds to exempt earnings.

The Exemption Hearing

Once a debtor files a Claim of Exemption, the creditor has 8 business days to object if the claim was hand-delivered, or 14 business days if it was mailed. If the creditor fails to file a timely objection, the writ is automatically dissolved and the garnished funds are released. No hearing is required.

If the creditor objects, the court schedules an evidentiary hearing. The burden of proving the exemption rests on the debtor. Evidence typically includes tax returns showing dependent status for head of household claims, bank statements tracing the source of funds for traced wage claims, and account agreements or signature cards establishing entireties ownership.

Joint Accounts and Non-Debtor Owners

When a writ of garnishment reaches a joint bank account, the non-debtor co-owner’s funds should not be subject to collection. However, the bank will freeze the entire account because the debtor’s name appears on it. The non-debtor must then intervene and prove ownership of specific funds in the account.

The burden of proof falls on the non-debtor to demonstrate which portion of the frozen funds belongs to them. This typically requires bank statements, deposit records, and other documentation showing the source of each deposit. Commingled funds create tracing difficulties. If the non-debtor cannot establish which dollars are theirs, the court may allow the creditor to reach the entire account balance.

For married couples, tenants by the entireties ownership provides a complete defense if the judgment is against only one spouse. Under § 655.79, joint accounts held by married couples are presumed to be entireties accounts. However, if the bank’s customer agreement affirmatively states that joint accounts are not held as tenants by the entirety, the contractual language may override the statutory presumption. Married couples should confirm that their bank’s account documentation does not disclaim entireties ownership.

Bank Account Garnishment

A bank garnishment attaches only to funds in the account at the time the writ is served. Unlike a continuing writ of wage garnishment, a bank garnishment does not capture future deposits. If the creditor wants to reach newly deposited funds, the creditor must obtain and serve a new writ. There is no limit on the number of successive writs a creditor may file.

Under § 77.081, if the creditor does not file a motion for final judgment within six months of filing the writ, the writ automatically dissolves by operation of law and the bank must release the frozen funds. The creditor may file for a single six-month extension with proper notice, bringing the maximum duration to twelve months. Courts have held that this time limit is jurisdictional. Any activity on the record after the deadline does not revive a dissolved writ, and the garnishee cannot waive the automatic dissolution by amending its answer or otherwise acting after the deadline has passed.

Continuing Writ of Wage Garnishment

A continuing writ of garnishment under § 77.0305 applies only to wages, salary, and commissions. Federal law under 15 U.S.C. § 1673 limits the garnishable amount to the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Disposable earnings are calculated after mandatory deductions for taxes, Social Security, and Medicare. The employer may deduct up to $5 from the debtor’s first garnished paycheck and $2 from each subsequent paycheck for administrative costs.

A continuing writ remains in effect until the judgment is satisfied, the debtor’s employment with the garnished employer ends, or the court orders dissolution. The creditor does not need to file new writs for each pay period. Continuing writs apply only to wages. Payments such as rents, independent contractor compensation, and accounts receivable cannot be garnished on a continuing basis and require a separate writ each time.

If the employer ignores the writ or withholds incorrectly, the employer faces potential liability to the creditor. Under § 77.081, failure to answer can result in a default judgment against the employer. An employer who answers but fails to withhold the correct amount may be liable for the difference between what should have been withheld and what was actually remitted.

Dissolving a Writ of Garnishment

A writ can be dissolved on two independent grounds: exempt status of the garnished funds or procedural defects in the creditor’s prosecution of the writ.

If the garnished funds are exempt, filing a timely Claim of Exemption is the standard remedy. If the creditor does not contest the exemption within the statutory deadline (8 business days for hand-delivery, 14 for mail), the clerk must dissolve the writ automatically without a hearing.

Courts have dissolved writs for procedural failures including failure to mail required notice to the debtor within the deadline under § 77.041, failure to include the Claim of Exemption form with the garnishment papers, failure to serve the garnishee’s answer on the debtor within five days under § 77.055, failure to include the 20-day dissolution notice with the answer, and failure to file for final judgment within the six-month limit under § 77.081. A single missed deadline or omitted document can be sufficient to dissolve the writ and release all frozen funds.

If the writ is dissolved due to the creditor’s procedural errors, the creditor may be liable for the garnishee’s attorney’s fees and costs under § 77.28. The debtor may also recover costs associated with challenging the improper garnishment. Dissolution does not prevent the creditor from filing a new, procedurally correct writ, but it does release the frozen funds in the interim.

Pre-Judgment Garnishment

Florida permits garnishment before a final judgment under § 77.031, but only in actions sounding in contract, not tort. The creditor must file a verified motion or affidavit alleging specific facts about the debt and must post a bond equal to double the amount claimed. The bond protects the debtor from damages if the creditor does not prevail. Pre-judgment garnishment is rare because most creditors are unwilling to post the required bond. The debtor retains all rights to claim exemptions and challenge the writ on procedural grounds.

Asset Protection Before Garnishment

The most effective response to garnishment risk is advance planning rather than reacting after a writ is served. Strategies that reduce exposure include maintaining bank accounts as tenants by the entireties with account documentation that does not disclaim entireties ownership, keeping exempt funds in separate accounts to preserve traceability, and ensuring that wage income qualifies for the head of household exemption with documentation of dependent support readily available.

Business owners should consider structuring business interests through multi-member LLCs with charging order protection so that business assets are not directly reachable through garnishment. The Florida asset protection guide provides a broader overview of strategies for structuring finances before claims arise., procedurally correct writ, but it does release the frozen funds in the interim.

Pre-Judgment Garnishment

Florida permits garnishment before a final judgment under § 77.031, but only in actions sounding in contract, not tort. The creditor must file a verified motion or affidavit alleging specific facts about the debt and must post a bond equal to double the amount claimed. The bond protects the debtor from damages if the creditor does not prevail. Pre-judgment garnishment is rare because most creditors are unwilling to post the required bond. The debtor retains all rights to claim exemptions and challenge the writ on procedural grounds.

Asset Protection Before Garnishment

The most effective response to garnishment risk is advance planning rather than reacting after a writ is served. Strategies that reduce exposure include maintaining bank accounts as tenants by the entireties with account documentation that does not disclaim entireties ownership, keeping exempt funds in separate accounts to preserve traceability, and ensuring that wage income qualifies for the head of household exemption with documentation of dependent support readily available.

Business owners should consider structuring business interests through multi-member LLCs with charging order protection so that business assets are not directly reachable through garnishment. The Florida asset protection guide provides a broader overview of strategies for structuring finances before claims arise.