Garnishment Time Limits in Florida

Florida’s garnishment statute imposes strict time limits on every party involved in a garnishment proceeding. A writ of garnishment against a bank account automatically dissolves if the creditor fails to file a motion for final judgment within six months. The debtor must file a Claim of Exemption or a motion to dissolve within tight deadlines or risk losing the right to contest the garnishment entirely. Courts have consistently held that these deadlines must be strictly followed, and judges have very little discretion to waive them regardless of the circumstances.

Understanding the full set of garnishment deadlines is critical for both creditors and debtors. A creditor who misses a single procedural deadline can lose access to frozen funds. A debtor who fails to respond in time may forfeit otherwise valid exemptions.

The Six-Month Rule for Bank Garnishments

The most important time limit in Florida garnishment law is found in § 77.07(5). If the creditor fails to file either a dismissal or a motion for final judgment of garnishment within six months after filing the writ, the writ automatically dissolves. The garnishee is discharged from all further liability under the writ, and any frozen funds must be released to the account holder.

This deadline is not a soft guideline. Florida courts have consistently applied the rule that Chapter 77 garnishment procedures must be strictly construed. In Williams v. Espirito Santo Bank, the Third District Court of Appeal held that statutory garnishment rules admit no equitable exceptions. A creditor who misses the six-month window cannot argue that the delay was caused by ongoing litigation, settlement negotiations, or the debtor’s own discovery disputes.

The six-month clock begins running on the date the writ of garnishment is filed, not the date the bank receives it or freezes the account. If the writ is filed on January 15, the creditor must file a motion for final judgment or a dismissal by July 15. Filing even one day late results in automatic dissolution of the writ by operation of law.

Extension to Twelve Months

The creditor has one opportunity to extend the writ for an additional six months, bringing the maximum total duration to twelve months. To obtain the extension, the creditor must serve a notice of extension on both the garnishee (the bank) and the defendant (the debtor) and must file a certification of service in the underlying proceeding.

Both requirements are mandatory. A creditor who serves the notice of extension but fails to file the certification of service with the court has not validly extended the writ. Similarly, a creditor who files the certification but fails to actually serve the notice on the garnishee and the debtor has not met the statutory requirements. If the creditor does not properly complete both steps before the initial six-month period expires, the writ dissolves automatically and cannot be revived.

After the extension period, the maximum duration of a bank account garnishment is twelve months from the date the writ was filed. If the creditor has not obtained a final judgment of garnishment within that period, the writ expires permanently.

Litigation Does Not Toll the Clock

A common misconception is that the six-month deadline pauses or extends when the garnishment case involves active litigation. It does not. If the debtor files a Claim of Exemption, the creditor objects, and the court schedules a hearing that takes months to resolve, the six-month clock continues running throughout the process.

A federal court in the Middle District of Florida addressed this issue directly when a creditor filed its motion for final judgment more than a year after the writ was issued. The court denied the motion and held that the writ had automatically dissolved under § 77.07(5). The creditor argued that the delay was caused by the procedural requirements of the case, but the court applied the statute as written without exception.

This means a creditor facing an exemption dispute must manage two parallel tracks simultaneously: litigating the exemption issues and ensuring that a motion for final judgment is filed within six months (or twelve months if properly extended). Failing to do so means the entire garnishment effort was wasted, and the creditor must start over with a new writ if the underlying judgment is still enforceable.

Continuing Writs for Wage Garnishment

The six-month time limit applies to writs of garnishment served on banks and other holders of property. It does not apply to continuing writs of garnishment against wages under § 77.0305.

A continuing writ of wage garnishment operates differently from a bank account garnishment. When a court issues a continuing writ to the debtor’s employer, the employer must periodically withhold a portion of the debtor’s wages and remit those amounts to the creditor. The continuing writ remains in effect until the judgment is satisfied in full, the debtor leaves the employer, or the court orders otherwise. There is no six-month or twelve-month expiration.

This distinction is important because it means wage garnishment can persist indefinitely for a debtor who remains employed at the same job, while bank account garnishment is always a time-limited event. A creditor who freezes a bank account has at most twelve months to obtain a final judgment of garnishment, whereas a creditor garnishing wages faces no comparable deadline.

Deadlines for the Debtor

The garnishment statute imposes equally strict deadlines on the debtor. Under § 77.07(2), the debtor and any other person with an ownership interest in the garnished property must file and serve a motion to dissolve the writ within 20 days after the date on the creditor’s certificate of service. This 20-day deadline applies when the debtor is challenging the factual allegations in the creditor’s motion for the writ.

Failure to file within the 20-day window has severe consequences. The statute provides that an untimely motion to dissolve shall be stricken as an unauthorized nullity, and the garnishment proceedings move into a default posture as to that party. In practical terms, the debtor loses the right to contest the creditor’s allegations and may be unable to prevent a final judgment of garnishment.

The debtor must also file a Claim of Exemption promptly if they believe the garnished funds are protected. The statutory notice provided with the writ instructs the debtor to file the Claim of Exemption immediately. While the statute does not specify an exact number of days for filing the Claim of Exemption, courts expect the filing to occur within a reasonable period. A debtor who waits weeks or months to assert an exemption risks having the claim deemed untimely.

The Creditor’s Five-Day Service Obligation

The creditor’s own procedural deadlines are equally strict. Under § 77.055, within five days after receiving the garnishee’s answer (or after the time for the answer expires), the creditor must serve the debtor with a copy of the garnishee’s answer and a notice advising the debtor of the right to move for dissolution within 20 days.

The creditor must serve these documents on the debtor at the debtor’s last known address and at any other address disclosed in the garnishee’s answer. The creditor must also serve any other person disclosed in the answer as having an ownership interest in the garnished property, such as a joint account co-owner.

Failure to comply with the five-day service requirement is a procedural defect that can result in dissolution of the writ. Courts have dissolved garnishments where the creditor failed to serve the required papers in the manner and within the time prescribed by the statute.

The Six-Month Wage Deposit Protection

A separate but related time limit applies to exempt wages deposited in a bank account. Under § 222.11, head of household wages that are deposited in a financial institution remain exempt from garnishment for six months after the date the financial institution receives the deposit. This protection applies only if the debtor can trace and properly identify the deposited funds as exempt earnings.

This six-month window creates an important planning consideration. Exempt wages deposited more than six months before a garnishment writ is served may lose their protected status. A debtor who accumulates head of household wages in a bank account over a long period should be aware that only the deposits made within the preceding six months carry the statutory exemption. Older deposits may be treated as non-exempt general funds available to creditors.

The six-month deposit protection under § 222.11 is separate from the six-month writ duration under § 77.07(5). One limits how long the creditor can maintain a garnishment, while the other limits how long deposited wages retain their exempt status. Both can affect the outcome of the same garnishment proceeding.

Repeated Garnishments and Judgment Lifespan

The expiration of a writ of garnishment does not prevent the creditor from issuing a new writ. A bank account garnishment is a snapshot of the account at a specific moment in time. If the first writ expires or is dissolved, the creditor can file a new motion and obtain a fresh writ, provided the underlying judgment remains valid and enforceable.

Florida judgments are enforceable for 20 years under § 55.10 and can be renewed. A creditor with a 20-year judgment can issue multiple garnishment writs over that period, each one freezing whatever funds happen to be in the debtor’s account at the time the bank receives the writ. The six-month limit on each individual writ does not limit the creditor’s ability to try again.

This reality underscores why time-limit defenses, while valuable, are not a substitute for comprehensive asset protection planning. A debtor whose bank account contains non-exempt funds will face repeated garnishment attempts for as long as the judgment remains active. The six-month expiration provides temporary relief, not permanent protection.