Louisiana Writ of Garnishment

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Once served, a Louisiana garnishee is bound on the spot: Code of Civil Procedure Article 2411(B)(1) makes the seizure take effect upon service of the petition, the citation, the interrogatories and a notice of seizure, and from that moment the third person must declare under oath what property of the judgment debtor it holds or controls and in what amount it is indebted to the debtor, even though that debt may not yet be due.

2. 2

   The paper you file is a petition, not a writ you collect at a counter. The chapter is headed Garnishment Under a Writ of Fieri Facias, and the order never varies: the clerk issues the writ of fieri facias at the judgment creditor's request under Article 2253, directed to the sheriff of the parish where the judgment is to be executed, and the garnishment petition with interrogatories annexed rides on that writ.

3. 3

   The ceiling is the federal one, written backwards. Section 13:3881(A)(1)(a) keeps seventy-five percent of disposable earnings for the week out of reach and never less than thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage, which leaves the same quarter the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act leaves and nothing more. Child support runs on a fifty percent exemption and spousal support on sixty, and both are exceptions rather than the rule for a money judgment.

4. 4

   Louisiana defines disposable earnings itself, and it is not the federal definition. Subsection (A)(1)(b) deducts amounts required by law to be withheld, plus reasonable amounts already being deducted in the usual course of business for retirement, medical insurance coverage and life insurance coverage, plus amounts legally due or owed to the employer, all of it measured as of the moment the garnishment is served on the employer. So a creditor who applies the twenty-five percent to the federal definition of disposable earnings over-collects: the Louisiana base is smaller.

5. 5

   Thirty days to answer, and service is particular about how. Article 2412(D) gives the garnishee thirty days from the date of service to file sworn answers to the interrogatories. Article 2412(C) requires PERSONAL service where the garnishee is an individual. For an executive-branch state employee, Article 2412(B) directs service only to the office of statewide uniform payroll of the division of administration or to the secretary of the employing department.

6. 6

   One writ carries a wage garnishment for its whole life. Section 13:3923 provides that more than one writ of garnishment or one set of interrogatories is not necessary, and the court orders monthly, semimonthly, weekly or daily payments until the indebtedness is paid, against a statement of sums due the garnisher must serve. Every other garnishment is a one-shot snapshot, because Article 2411(C) makes it not continuing in nature.

7. 7

   Two separate 180-day cliffs end the seizure quietly. All effects cease when the debtor's employment with the garnishee terminates, unless the debtor is reinstated or reemployed within one hundred eighty days (Section 13:3923). And in an unopposed wage garnishment where the garnishee confirmed the employment, Article 2411(B)(2) cancels the seizure automatically on the one hundred eightieth day after the answers were filed if no garnishment judgment was obtained, and the garnisher must start service over.

Louisiana Requirements for Writ of Garnishment

• Writ of Fieri Facias, Issued by the Clerk

  The garnishment is ancillary to a writ of fieri facias, which under Article 2291 is how a Louisiana money judgment is executed. Article 2251 allows execution only by a trial court, and Article 2252 bars you from proceeding until the suspensive-appeal delay has elapsed, which Article 2123(A) fixes at thirty days. Article 2253 then has the clerk issue the writ at your request, directed to the sheriff of the parish where the judgment is to be executed, with concurrent writs available to sheriffs of several parishes.

• Petition and Interrogatories, No Statewide Form

  Louisiana prescribes no statewide garnishment form. The word form returns zero hits across Articles 2411 to 2417 and Sections 13:3921 to 13:3928. What the state prescribes instead is content: Section 13:3924 requires the interrogatories to ask whether the defendant is employed by the garnishee, where and by whom the defendant is otherwise employed and residing if known, the rate and manner of compensation, and whether other judgments or garnishments affect that pay and their status.

• Service That Actually Effects the Seizure

  Article 2411(B)(1) makes the seizure take effect on service of the petition, the citation, the interrogatories and a notice of seizure, all served by the sheriff. Article 2412(C) requires personal service where the garnishee is an individual. For an executive-branch state employee, Article 2412(B) allows service only on the office of statewide uniform payroll of the division of administration or on the secretary of the employing department. You separately notify the judgment debtor by mail or electronic means, which does not affect the validity of the seizure.

• Ceiling: Seventy-Five Percent Is Exempt

  Section 13:3881(A)(1)(a) exempts seventy-five percent of the debtor's disposable earnings for any week from seizure under any writ, and the exemption can never be less than disposable earnings equal to thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect when the earnings are payable, prorated for longer or shorter pay periods. At the federal rate of $7.25 an hour that floor is $217.50 a week. The quarter left over is the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act figure, not a Louisiana one. Support is the exception: fifty percent exempt for a child, sixty for a spouse or former spouse.

• Louisiana's Own Disposable Earnings Base

  Compute the base on the state's definition, not the federal one. Subsection (A)(1)(b) defines disposable earnings as what remains after amounts required by law to be withheld, plus reasonable amounts already being deducted in the usual course of business for retirement, medical insurance coverage and life insurance coverage, plus amounts legally due or owed to the employer in the usual course of business, every element of it measured at the time the garnishment is served on the employer. Other walls sit alongside it: $7,500 of equity in one household motor vehicle, the tools and instruments and books of a trade, and pensions and tax-deferred arrangements exempt from any debt except alimony and child support.

• Statement of Sums Due, and Two Thirty-Day Clocks

  Section 13:3923 requires the garnisher to serve, along with the citation and interrogatories, a statement of sums due that includes the principal, the interest, court costs incurred to date and attorney fees due under the judgment. The garnishee then has thirty days from service to file sworn answers (Article 2412(D)). Your own thirty days run from the clerk's notice that the answer was filed: Article 2414(B) releases from seizure anything the garnishee did not admit holding or owing unless you move contradictorily to traverse within that window.

• Two 180-Day Cliffs and the Priority Queue

  Section 13:3923 ends all effects of the seizure when the debtor's employment with the garnishee terminates, unless the debtor is reinstated or reemployed within one hundred eighty days, and Article 2411(B)(2) cancels an unopposed wage seizure automatically on the one hundred eightieth day after the answers were filed if no garnishment judgment was obtained. On rank, Section 13:3922 primes any earlier unsatisfied judgment or garnishment over a later one, Section 13:3928 puts support ahead of both, and Section 13:3925(B) presumes an employer that pleads an employee-employer debt to hold a prior garnishment unless you oppose within fifteen days.

• The $15 Deposit and the $3 Processing Fee

  Section 13:3927 requires the plaintiff suing out a writ of garnishment to deposit $15 with the clerk of court on application, as the fee for the attorney for the employer who answers the interrogatories; it comes back to you if the garnishee files no answer in time or the court rules no fee should be charged, and the court may fix a larger fee charged to the costs of the suit. Section 13:3921(C) adds a $3 processing fee the employer deducts each pay period, and Section 13:3883 lets the sheriff or marshal demand security or a deposit in an amount the court fixes before acting. The clerk's own filing fee is not set in the garnishment statutes: TODO(source), confirm with the clerk of court for the parish.