A garnishee holds assets belonging to a debtor and is asked to withhold them for a creditor in accordance with a court judgment. This can happen with bank accounts or wages, and the garnishee has a legal obligation to act. The types of creditors involved can vary, and evidence of non-compliance can be used against the garnishee in court.
A garnishee is a person or organization who holds assets belonging to a debtor and is asked to withhold those assets so they can be given to a creditor in accordance with a court judgment. The foreclosure receives a writ issued by a judge describing the assets in question and how they should be handled. The writ is a binding legal order, and evidence that a garnishee failed to comply with the writ or assisted the debtor in moving or hiding assets can be used against the garnishee in court.
In a simple example of a situation that could create a foreclosure, a creditor could take a debtor to court and the judge could rule that the debtor actually has to pay. Evidence could be presented to show that the debtor has money in the bank, and the judge could issue an order to the bank that the bank must freeze the debtor’s accounts, remove the money owed to the creditor, and present the funds to the creditor. In this case, the bank becomes the distrained person; he is a third party, but is involved in the lawsuit because he holds assets on behalf of the debtor.
Wage garnishment is another situation where a garnishee can be used to recover money owed to a creditor. In wage garnishment, employers are ordered to withhold part of an employee’s wages and present the funds to a creditor. It may take months or even years of wage garnishment to pay off the debt.
The types of creditors involved can vary. Foreclosure proceedings are often initiated to withhold funds owed to tax agencies or to ensure that child support and alimony payments reach their intended recipients. Individual creditors such as landlords may also be able to initiate attachment proceedings once they have satisfactorily proved their case in court. If someone believes a seizure is illegal or unjust, a lawyer can be consulted to discuss options.
Once a garnishee receives a garnishment order, there is a legal obligation to act. However, it can sometimes take some time for changes to propagate through a system and debtors sometimes take advantage of this. For example, if an attachment order is sent to a bank’s headquarters, the debtor could empty accounts at a branch before the message is transmitted. For this reason, the exact date and time the order will be issued is often hidden to reduce the risk of the debtor trying to evade the attachment order.
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