Florida Writ of Garnishment
A Florida writ of garnishment binds the garnishee the instant it is served and gives it 20 days plus 1 business day to answer. The clerk fee is $85, the sheriff $40, and you owe the garnishee $100 on demand. Attorney review available.
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Introduction
Service is the moment everything changes in a Florida garnishment, and the first duty it creates belongs to the garnishee rather than the debtor. Section 77.04 of the Florida Statutes requires the writ to command the bank, employer or other third party served to serve a written answer on the plaintiff within 20 days after service of the writ, plus up to 1 business day for the garnishee to act expeditiously on it. That answer has to say whether the garnishee is indebted to the defendant at the time of the answer, whether it was indebted when the writ was served, in what sum and what tangible or intangible personal property of the defendant it holds, and whether it knows of anyone else who owes the defendant or holds the defendant's property. Where the garnishee is a business entity, an authorized employee or agent may execute, file and serve that answer for it. Section 77.06 gives service real teeth before any answer arrives: it makes the garnishee liable for all debts it owes the defendant and for the defendant's property in its possession or control at service or arriving between service and the answer, and it creates a lien on those debts and that property, while Section 77.19 forbids the garnishee from retaining more than double the amount the writ names. Silence is the expensive option for the garnishee and not for you: Section 77.081 enters a default on a failure to answer, and on judgment for the plaintiff a final judgment goes in against the garnishee for the amount of your claim with interest and costs. Money runs the other way at the same time. Section 77.28 obliges the party applying for the writ to pay $100 to the garnishee on demand once the writ is served, toward the fee the garnishee spends getting represented, and Section 77.27 blocks an appeal from a lost garnishment until that $100 is paid. Plan the wage side carefully, because Section 222.11 exempts all disposable earnings of a head of family at or below $750 a week. DocDraft builds your Florida garnishment papers from your facts, with attorney review available before you file.
Key Things to Know
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A Florida writ of garnishment reaches any debt a third person owes the defendant, any debt not evidenced by a negotiable instrument that will become due absolutely through the passage of time alone, and any tangible or intangible personal property of the defendant in a third person's possession or control, but it does not reach the disposable earnings of a head of family at or below $750 a week, which Section 222.11(2)(a) exempts in full.
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Florida issues two different writs and the wage one is separate. Section 77.01 gives any person or entity that has sued to recover a debt or recovered judgment the right to the ordinary writ, while Section 77.0305 requires the court to issue a continuing writ of garnishment to the judgment debtor's employer where salary or wages are to be garnished, providing for periodic payment of a portion of those wages as they become due until the judgment is satisfied.
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The wage ceiling is not a Florida percentage. Chapter 77 never uses the words disposable earnings, 25 percent or minimum wage. Section 222.11(2)(a) exempts everything a head of family earning $750 a week or less takes home, and for a person who is not a head of family Section 222.11(2)(c) caps the take at the amount allowed under the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. s. 1673, which Florida adopts by reference instead of legislating a figure of its own.
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Above the threshold the only door is a waiver built exactly to the statute. Section 222.11(2)(b) makes a head of family's earnings over $750 a week unattachable and ungarnishable unless that person agreed otherwise in writing, and the waiver must be in the same language as the contract it relates to, contained in a separate document attached to that contract, and set out in substantially the statutory wording in at least 14-point type, signed by the consumer and by the creditor. Even then the amount may not exceed the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act figure.
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Your own filing clock starts the moment the answer lands. Section 77.055 gives the plaintiff 5 days after service of the garnishee's answer, or after the answer period expires, to mail a copy of that answer plus a notice of the 20-day right to move to dissolve, to the defendant and to anyone the answer names with an ownership interest, and to file a certificate of that service. Section 77.061 then allows 20 days to reply, and a missed reply makes the answer true and entitles the garnishee to a discharge.
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Budget three payments rather than one. The clerk's garnishment filing fee is $85 in county court under Section 34.041(1)(a)6, and up to $85 in circuit court under Section 28.241, with no reopen fee chargeable for a writ of garnishment even on a case closed for years. The sheriff charges $40 for each writ served under Section 30.231(1)(a), nonrefundable and earned on the request. And Section 77.28 makes you hand the garnishee $100 on its demand toward its attorney fee.
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A Florida writ sits on a 6-month fuse. Section 77.07(5) automatically dissolves it and discharges the garnishee if the plaintiff does not file a dismissal or a motion for final judgment within 6 months after filing the writ, and you buy only one further 6 months by serving a notice of extension on the garnishee and the defendant and filing a certification of that service. A second clock runs alongside it: where an individual defendant files a sworn claim of exemption the money stays held while it is decided, and Section 77.041(3) requires your sworn written answer within 8 business days of hand delivery or 14 business days of mailing or the clerk must dissolve the writ automatically.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Writ of Garnishment in Florida, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Writ of Garnishment guide walks through them.
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Florida Requirements for Writ of Garnishment
Motion Stating the Amount of the Judgment
Post-judgment the writ rides on a motion, not a new lawsuit. Fla. Stat. 77.03 has the plaintiff or the plaintiff's attorney file a motion in the court that entered the judgment stating the amount of the judgment. It is not verified and need not negative the defendant's exemptions, and it may be filed and the writ issued either before or after the return of execution. Before judgment, a writ issues only by the court or by the clerk on order of the court, never in an action sounding in tort, and only on a bond in at least double the debt demanded (Fla. Stat. 77.02, 77.031).
Form 1.907(a) or 1.907(b), Issued by the Clerk
Florida prescribes the writ itself by rule: Fla. R. Civ. P. Form 1.907(a) is the Writ of Garnishment and Form 1.907(b) is the Continuing Writ of Garnishment against Salary or Wages, both for use after judgment and both signed as Clerk of the Court. Confirm the current rule text before filing, since the form numbers here were read off republished rule text rather than the rules publisher's own site. The statutory Notice to Defendant is separate and the clerk attaches it to the writ for an individual defendant (Fla. Stat. 77.041(1)).
20 Days to Answer, Plus 1 Business Day
Fla. Stat. 77.04 requires the writ to command the garnishee to serve an answer on the plaintiff within 20 days after service of the writ, plus up to 1 business day for the garnishee to act expeditiously on it. The answer states whether the garnishee is indebted to the defendant then or was indebted at service or at any time between, in what sum, what tangible or intangible personal property it holds, and whether it knows of anyone else indebted to the defendant. A business entity may answer through an authorized employee or agent.
Head of Family Exempt at $750 a Week
Florida legislates no percentage of its own. Fla. Stat. 222.11(2)(a) exempts all of the disposable earnings of a head of family whose disposable earnings are $750 a week or less, and 222.11(2)(b) makes anything above $750 unattachable and ungarnishable unless that person agreed otherwise in writing in a waiver that matches the contract language, sits in a separate attached document and repeats the statutory wording in at least 14-point type. For a defendant who is not a head of family, 222.11(2)(c) caps the take at the amount allowed under the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. s. 1673, adopted by reference.
Current Balance and the Double Retention Cap
The sum the writ names drives everything downstream: unpaid principal, interest accrued to a stated date, taxable costs, less credits already received. Fla. Stat. 77.19 bars the garnishee from retaining more than double the amount the writ specifies or double the judgment recovered, and Fla. Stat. 77.083 caps any judgment against the garnishee at the lesser of the amount still unpaid on the judgment and the garnishee's own liability to the defendant.
$85 to the Clerk, $40 to the Sheriff, $100 to the Garnishee
Three payments, three statutes. The garnishment filing fee is $85 in county court under Fla. Stat. 34.041(1)(a)6, and the circuit clerk may impose up to $85 under Fla. Stat. 28.241; a published county clerk fee schedule prints $85 on both the county civil and circuit civil sides. No reopen fee is chargeable for a writ of garnishment in either court. The sheriff charges $40 for each writ served under Fla. Stat. 30.231(1)(a). And Fla. Stat. 77.28 makes the applying party pay $100 to the garnishee on demand toward its attorney fee, with Fla. Stat. 77.27 barring an appeal from a lost garnishment until that $100 is paid.
The Plaintiff's Own Mailings and Certificates
Three deadlines run against the creditor. Fla. Stat. 77.041(2) requires first-class mailing of the writ, the motion and the Notice to Defendant to an individual defendant's last known address within 5 business days after issuance or 3 business days after service on the garnishee, whichever is later. Fla. Stat. 77.055 requires mailing the garnishee's answer plus the 20-day dissolution notice within 5 days. Fla. Stat. 77.041(3) requires a sworn answer to a claim of exemption within 8 business days of hand delivery or 14 business days of mailing, or the clerk dissolves the writ automatically. File a certificate of service for each mailing.
A 6-Month Lapse Dissolves the Writ
Fla. Stat. 77.07(5) automatically dissolves the writ and discharges the garnishee if the plaintiff does not file a dismissal or a motion for final judgment within 6 months after filing the writ, and one additional 6 months is available only by serving the garnishee and the defendant a notice of extension and filing a certification of that service. On the other side of the ledger, Fla. Stat. 77.081 turns a garnishee's silence into a default plus final judgment for the whole claim with interest and costs, and Fla. Stat. 77.13 allows execution against a garnishee's own property where it admits holding the defendant's property and will not surrender it.