Question 1

What happens if an Alabama garnishee files no answer at all?

Accepted Answer

It is the garnishee, not your debtor, that ends up owing the claim. Section 6-6-457 has a conditional judgment entered against a garnishee that fails to appear and answer, for the amount of the plaintiff's claim as ascertained by the judgment. The clerk then issues notice of that conditional judgment, the sheriff serves it as other process, and the judgment must be made absolute if the garnishee does not appear within the 30 days the notice allows, or if two of those notices are returned not found by the sheriff of the county where the garnishment was executed. Section 6-6-464 then gives the garnishee an appeal, so build the file to survive one.

Question 2

How much of a paycheck can an Alabama process of garnishment actually reach?

Accepted Answer

Start at 25 percent and then test it against federal law, because Alabama does not legislate anything tighter. Section 6-10-7(a) exempts 75 percent of wages, salaries or other compensation and has the garnishee retain the other 25 percent until a sum equal to the amount the court shows as due on the writ has accumulated. That 25 percent is measured against compensation due or to become due rather than against disposable earnings, and the section carries no minimum wage floor of its own, which is exactly why the federal ceiling still has to be run against it. Where the judgment arises out of a consumer credit transaction, Section 5-19-15 caps collection at the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings for that week or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect when payable. The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act sets that same floor nationwide, so the smaller figure governs. Do not quote an Alabama employer a share larger than federal law allows.

Question 3

How does a creditor get a process of garnishment issued in Alabama, and what does it cost?

Accepted Answer

Three pieces of paper and $28. First, a final judgment on which execution can issue, because Section 6-6-390 bars garnishment before final judgment absent a showing of extraordinary circumstances. Second, the affidavit Section 6-6-391 requires, sworn before an officer authorized to administer oaths and filed with the clerk of the court in which the action is pending or the judgment was entered, stating the amount due, that garnishment is believed necessary to obtain satisfaction, and that the named person is believed chargeable as garnishee. Third, the process itself, which Section 6-6-393 has that officer issue with a copy for each garnishee. Section 12-19-75 fixes the postjudgment garnishment fee at $28, paid when the proceeding is initiated. The statewide form is the Unified Judicial System's Process of Garnishment, form C-21, and your county clerk may collect locally authorized costs besides.

Question 4

How long does an Alabama garnishee have to answer, and when does money reach the court?

Accepted Answer

Thirty days to answer, then a second 30 days before cash starts moving. The process issued under Section 6-6-393 requires the garnishee to appear within 30 days and file an answer on oath covering whether it was indebted to the defendant when the garnishment was served, whether it is indebted when it answers, and whether it became indebted at any point in between. Section 6-10-7(b) then has the garnishee wait 30 days from its first retention before it commences paying the funds into court, continuing monthly or more frequently until the full amount is withheld. Separately, Section 6-6-394 requires notice of the garnishment to be served on a resident defendant at least five days before any judgment against the garnishee, so that service is on your critical path, not the garnishee's.

Question 5

Can one Alabama process of garnishment keep taking from later paychecks without being re-served?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it does so without the statute ever using the word continuing. The phrases continuing garnishment and continuing lien appear nowhere in the Code of Alabama, yet Section 6-10-7(a) directs the garnishee to retain its 25 percent, or the smaller federal figure, for the period of time necessary to accumulate a sum equal to the amount shown as due by the court on the writ, and Section 6-10-7(b) has it keep paying in monthly or more often until the full amount is withheld. So one answered writ works through successive pay periods. Three things cut it short: the court notifying the garnishee of a corrected figure if judgment is later entered for a different amount, the debtor's employment ending, which triggers a 15-day report and payover, and a bond by the defendant, which under Section 6-6-431 dissolves the garnishment and discharges every garnishee in the case.

Question 6

Can Alabama's personal property exemption wipe out a wage garnishment?

Accepted Answer

Not since 2015, and this is the single biggest change in Alabama collection practice this century. Section 6-10-6.1, added by Act 2015-484, states that wages, salaries or other compensation of a resident are not personal property for the purposes of exemption from garnishment, levy, sale under execution or other process for the collection of debt. Section 6-10-6 says the same thing from the other side: no wages, salaries or other compensation are exempt except as provided in Section 5-19-15 or Section 6-10-7. The personalty exemption still has real force against non-wage property. Its statutory base is $7,500, the State Treasurer adjusts it for inflation every three years under Section 6-10-12, and the Treasurer's published figure is $9,400 for an exemption claimed now and $10,225 for one claimed on or after April 1, 2027. A judgment debtor may still file a claim of exemption, which holds the money until the court decides it, so plan your timeline around that possibility.

Question 7

Can an Alabama process of garnishment reach the pay of a city, county or state employee?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes, and the answer turns entirely on what your judgment was for. Section 6-6-481 allows money due an official or employee of a city, county or state government as salary to be garnished, with the writ served on the person authorized by law to draw the warrant on the treasury or issue the check, who must then answer. But Section 6-6-482 permits that writ only after a final judgment ex contractu, meaning a judgment on a contract or growing out of one, and states that public salary is not subject to a writ of garnishment issued on judgments ex delicto. A tort judgment therefore reaches nothing. Section 6-6-480 removes court costs and charges, and the fees, commissions, percentages and allowances of public officers, from the definition of salary altogether. Where the state is garnishee, Section 6-6-483 also requires the answering official to show assent before judgment can be entered.

Question 8

Who gets paid first in Alabama when a support withholding order is already on the same paycheck?

Accepted Answer

The support order does, and service order makes no difference. Section 30-3-67 gives an income withholding order served on the obligor's employer priority over any writ of garnishment or other state legal process against the same income, whether your garnishment was served before or after it. That order may also exceed the maximums Section 6-10-7 prescribes, capped only by the federal maximums for garnishments enforcing support obligations, and the current month's support is satisfied before any arrearage. Between ordinary judgment creditors the Code is silent: a scan of all of Article 9 of Chapter 6, the whole garnishment article, turns up zero uses of the word priority and no first-served rule, so competing writs on one employee are worked out through the answer and condemnation process in the individual case rather than by a statutory queue.

Alabama Writ of Garnishment

Find out where you stand in Alabama

Introduction

Key Things to Know

Key decisions before you file

Customize your Writ of Garnishment Template with DocDraft

Alabama Requirements for Writ of Garnishment

Affidavit of Amount Due, Filed With the Clerk

Process of Garnishment, UJS Form C-21

A Flat $28, Plus $15 if Notice Has to Be Posted

Ceiling: 25 Percent, Tested Against the Federal Floor

Garnishee Answer in 30 Days, Notice to the Defendant in Five

Retention, Monthly Payover, and the 15-Day Termination Report

Conditional Judgment Against a Garnishee That Stays Silent

What the Alabama Writ Cannot Reach, and Who Outranks It

Frequently Asked Questions