How to Respond to a Garnishment in Florida

Receiving a garnishment notice means a creditor has already obtained a judgment and served a writ of garnishment on a third party holding your assets. Your wages may be withheld or your bank account may already be frozen. The situation feels urgent because it is urgent. Florida law gives you a limited window to respond, and missing the deadline can mean losing money that should have been protected.

The debtor’s two primary responses to a garnishment are the Claim of Exemption and the Motion to Dissolve. These serve different purposes, and in some situations both should be filed simultaneously.

Understanding What You Received

Florida Statute § 77.041 requires the creditor to mail the debtor three documents: a copy of the writ of garnishment, a copy of the motion for writ of garnishment, and a “Notice to Defendant” that explains the debtor’s rights. The creditor must send these within five business days after the writ is issued or three business days after the writ is served on the garnishee, whichever is later.

The Notice to Defendant is the most important document for the debtor because it contains the Claim of Exemption form. This is a court-approved form that lists the major exemptions available under Florida and federal law. The debtor checks the applicable exemptions, signs the form under oath, has it notarized, and files it with the clerk of court.

Under § 77.055, the creditor has a separate notice obligation after the garnishee files its answer with the court. Within five days after receiving the garnishee’s answer, the creditor must mail the debtor a copy of the answer and a notice advising the debtor of the right to move to dissolve the writ within 20 days.

Filing a Claim of Exemption

The Claim of Exemption is the debtor’s tool for asserting that some or all of the garnished funds are protected from collection. Florida and federal law exempt specific categories of income and assets, including head of household wages, Social Security benefits, disability income, veterans’ benefits, retirement funds, workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation, and public assistance.

The debtor must file the Claim of Exemption with the clerk’s office within 20 days after receiving the Notice to Defendant. The form must be completed under oath and notarized. The debtor must also mail or hand-deliver a copy to the creditor (or the creditor’s attorney) and to the garnishee (or the garnishee’s attorney). The form includes a certification that these copies were furnished.

Missing the 20-day deadline is a serious problem. Florida courts have treated late-filed claims of exemption as waived, which means funds that would have been fully protected can be turned over to the creditor simply because the debtor did not respond in time.

Once the Claim of Exemption is filed, the burden shifts to the creditor. The creditor must file a sworn written statement objecting to the claimed exemption within 8 business days if the debtor hand-delivered the claim, or 14 business days if served by mail. If the creditor does not file an objection within this window, no hearing is required. The clerk automatically dissolves the writ of garnishment and notifies the parties by mail.

This automatic dissolution provision is one of the most powerful features of Florida’s garnishment statute, and it is underutilized. Many creditor’s attorneys miss the response deadline or choose not to contest the exemption. In those cases, the debtor recovers the frozen funds without ever appearing in court.

If the creditor does file a timely objection, the clerk schedules a hearing as soon as practicable. At the hearing, the debtor must present evidence supporting the claimed exemption. For a head of household exemption, this typically means providing proof that the debtor provides more than half the support for a dependent. For Social Security, it means showing that the garnished funds can be traced to Social Security deposits. The debtor may attend the hearing with or without an attorney.

Filing a Motion to Dissolve

While the Claim of Exemption addresses whether the garnished funds are protected, a Motion to Dissolve the Writ of Garnishment challenges whether the creditor followed proper procedure in obtaining and executing the garnishment. Florida courts construe garnishment statutes strictly against the creditor, which means procedural defects can be grounds for dissolving the writ even when the underlying debt is valid.

Common procedural grounds for dissolution include failure to properly serve the debtor with the required notice documents, failure to serve within the statutory time limits, errors in the writ itself such as incorrect amounts or missing required information, failure to pay the required clerk’s fees or deposits, and defects in the underlying judgment that supports the garnishment.

The debtor files the Motion to Dissolve with the court and serves it on the creditor and the garnishee. Unlike the Claim of Exemption, the Motion to Dissolve does not have a specific statutory form. It is a standard motion that identifies the procedural defects and requests the court to dissolve the writ.

The 20-day window under § 77.055 applies specifically to the debtor’s right to move to dissolve after receiving the garnishee’s answer. However, a debtor can file a Motion to Dissolve at any time based on procedural defects, and many courts will consider such motions even after the 20-day window has passed if the defects are substantial.

When to File Both

A debtor who has exempt funds and also identifies procedural problems with the garnishment should file both the Claim of Exemption and a Motion to Dissolve. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Filing the Claim of Exemption first is generally the higher priority because it has the strict 20-day deadline and triggers the automatic dissolution provision if the creditor fails to respond. The Motion to Dissolve provides a backup argument and can succeed even if the exemption claim is contested.

If the debtor’s funds are not exempt but the creditor made procedural errors, the Motion to Dissolve may be the debtor’s only defense. Dissolving the writ on procedural grounds does not eliminate the debt or the judgment, but it returns the frozen funds to the debtor and forces the creditor to start the garnishment process over again with proper compliance.

The Automatic Dissolution Rule

Florida Statute § 77.081 provides another protection that debtors should be aware of. If the creditor fails to file either a dismissal or a motion for final judgment of garnishment within six months after the writ was filed, the writ is automatically dissolved. The garnishee is discharged from further liability under the writ.

The creditor can extend this period for an additional six months by serving notice on both the garnishee and the debtor and filing a certification of service with the court. But if the creditor does neither—files no motion for final judgment and does not extend—the garnishment simply expires by operation of law.

What Happens If You Do Not Respond

A debtor who receives a garnishment notice and does nothing risks losing every dollar that was frozen. The creditor will eventually file a Motion for Final Judgment of Garnishment. In that motion, the creditor must state that the debtor was mailed the Notice to Defendant and failed to move to dissolve the garnishment. The court then enters a final judgment directing the garnishee to pay the frozen funds to the creditor.

At the final judgment stage, a debtor who never filed a Claim of Exemption or a Motion to Dissolve has few options remaining. Some courts will consider a late-filed exemption claim if the debtor can show good cause for the delay, but this is discretionary and unreliable.

The pattern that creates the most preventable losses is simple: the debtor receives the garnishment notice, feels overwhelmed, sets the paperwork aside, and misses the 20-day deadline. By the time the debtor seeks legal help, the statutory window has closed and funds that were entirely exempt under Florida law have been turned over to the creditor.