Garnishment Time Limits in Florida

Florida’s garnishment statute imposes strict procedural deadlines on every party in a garnishment case. A writ of garnishment against a bank account automatically dissolves if the creditor fails to act within six months. The debtor must respond within 20 days or risk losing the right to contest the freeze. Courts enforce these deadlines rigidly, and judges have almost no discretion to waive them regardless of the circumstances.

Every deadline in Chapter 77 is mandatory. A creditor who misses one loses access to frozen funds. A debtor who misses one may forfeit otherwise valid exemptions.

The Six-Month Rule for Bank Garnishments

A bank garnishment writ expires automatically if the creditor does not file a dismissal or motion for final judgment within six months. Once that deadline passes, the writ dissolves automatically—the bank must release all frozen funds, and no further action under that writ is valid.

The six-month clock starts on the date the writ is filed, not the date the bank receives or processes it. Filing even one day late results in automatic dissolution. Florida courts have consistently held that Chapter 77 procedures must be strictly construed, with no equitable exceptions. In Williams v. Espirito Santo Bank, the Third District Court of Appeal confirmed that the statutory garnishment rules allow no flexibility regardless of the creditor’s reason for delay.

Extension to Twelve Months

The creditor has one opportunity to extend the writ by an additional six months, for a maximum total of twelve months. Extending requires two steps: serving a notice of extension on both the bank and the debtor, and filing a certification of that service with the court.

Both steps must be completed before the initial six-month period expires. A creditor who serves the notice but does not file the certification—or files the certification but does not properly serve the notice—has not extended the writ. If either step is missing when the six months run out, the writ dissolves permanently and cannot be revived.

Litigation Does Not Toll the Clock

The six-month deadline does not pause when the garnishment case involves active litigation. If the debtor files a Claim of Exemption, the creditor objects, and the court schedules a hearing that takes months to resolve, the clock keeps running throughout.

A federal court in the Middle District of Florida denied a creditor’s motion for final judgment filed more than a year after the writ was issued. The creditor argued that procedural requirements caused the delay. The court applied the statute as written and held that the writ had dissolved under § 77.07(5).

A creditor facing an exemption dispute must manage both tracks at once: litigating the exemption and ensuring a motion for final judgment is filed within six months (or twelve months if properly extended). Missing the deadline means the entire garnishment is lost, and the creditor must start over with a new writ.

Continuing Writs for Wage Garnishment

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

A continuing writ directs the debtor’s employer to withhold a portion of each paycheck and send it to the creditor. The writ remains in effect until the judgment is satisfied, the debtor leaves the employer, or a court orders otherwise. There is no six-month or twelve-month expiration for wage garnishment.

Bank garnishment is always time-limited. Wage garnishment can continue indefinitely as long as the debtor remains at the same job.

Deadlines for the Debtor

The debtor must file and serve a motion to dissolve the writ within 20 days. The clock starts on the date shown on the creditor’s certificate of service. A motion filed after 20 days is stricken as an unauthorized nullity, and the case moves into a default posture against the debtor. In practical terms, the debtor loses the right to challenge 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 the frozen funds are protected. The statutory notice instructs the debtor to file immediately. Courts expect the filing within a reasonable time, and a debtor who waits weeks or months risks having the claim treated as untimely. A debtor who receives a garnishment notice should respond within the first week, not the last day.

The Creditor’s Five-Day Service Obligation

Once the bank files its answer, the creditor has five days to serve the debtor with a copy and a notice explaining the right to move for dissolution. The debtor then has 20 days to act. If the time for the bank’s answer expires without one, the five-day clock starts then. The creditor must serve these documents at the debtor’s last known address and any other address the bank’s answer discloses, including any joint account co-owner.

Failure to comply with this 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 within the time the statute prescribes.

Repeated Garnishments

The expiration of one writ does not prevent the creditor from filing a new one. A bank garnishment freezes whatever is in the account at one moment in time, and each writ is a separate proceeding. If the first writ dissolves or expires, the creditor can obtain a fresh writ as long as the underlying judgment remains enforceable.

Florida judgments last 20 years under § 55.10 and can be renewed. A creditor with a long-lived judgment can issue multiple garnishment writs over that period, each one freezing whatever funds are in the account when the bank receives the new writ. The six-month limit constrains each individual writ, not the creditor’s overall ability to pursue the same bank account repeatedly.