Maine Writ of Garnishment

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   In Maine the instrument is called an order to withhold and answer, it issues under 14 M.R.S. Section 3127-B on an ex parte motion and affidavit, and it commands the judgment debtor's employer or other payor of earnings to answer under oath and to start paying the creditor out of each pay period.

2. 2

   Maine gives the judgment creditor a sequence, not a single filing. A disclosure subpoena takes the debtor before a judge of the District Court, the hearing produces an installment order under Section 3126-A, and only a debtor who misses two or more of those payments or fails to appear exposes the paycheck.

3. 3

   The withholding ceiling is Maine's own and it is tighter than the federal floor. Section 3126-A(3) takes the least of 25 percent of the week's disposable earnings plus exempt income, the excess of that sum over 40 times the higher of the federal or the Maine minimum hourly wage, or the whole of disposable earnings. At $15.10 an hour that middle figure is $604.00 a week.

4. 4

   Three statewide forms carry the wage track and the Judicial Branch titles them differently from the statute. MJ-009 is the Motion and Affidavit for Order to Withhold and Deliver, MJ-007 is the employer's sworn answer and calculation sheet, revised March 2026, and MJ-015 moves the court to order the Department of Labor to name the debtor's current or most recent employer.

5. 5

   Entering a Money Judgment Disclosure in the District Court costs $85.00 and reactivating a dormant one costs $55.00 under the Supreme Judicial Court's fee order effective March 9, 2026. A debt buyer or debt collector that did not pay the $127 surcharge when it commenced the underlying action pays $212.00 instead. Section 3126 adds the fee and the actual costs of service to the judgment.

6. 6

   Service runs on two different clocks. The creditor must get the order to the employer and to the debtor within 60 days of the date of the order, and the employer then has 20 days from service to file the completed answer, serve copies under Rule 5, and begin withholding.

7. 7

   A bank or any other third party holding the debtor's property is reached by a separate paper, the order to hold and answer under Section 3127-A, which excludes earnings on its face. Maine's pre-judgment trustee process is no substitute: Section 2602(6) says no person may be adjudged trustee on account of amounts due as wages for personal labor.

Maine Requirements for Writ of Garnishment

• Disclosure First: Subpoena, Hearing, Installment Order

  The wage order is a remedy for a broken installment order, not a first filing. Subpoena the debtor before a judge of the District Court under Section 3122(1), serve it at least 10 days before the hearing by any method available for a civil summons, and let the hearing fix an installment amount under Section 3126-A. A creditor may subpoena the same debtor only once every 6 months absent a motion for good cause (Section 3124).

• Two Missed Payments or a No-Show, Shown Ex Parte

  Section 3127-B(1) releases the order only on an ex parte motion and affidavit showing that the debtor failed to timely make 2 or more payments required by the Section 3126-A installment order, or failed to appear after being subpoenaed for a hearing under the chapter. Form MJ-009 puts those two grounds side by side as check boxes. Where the debtor simply never appeared, Section 3134 also offers a civil order of arrest or an order for appearance on a recognizance bond.

• Form MJ-009, and the Employer's Answer on MJ-007

  Maine prescribes the Money Judgment set statewide. MJ-009, Motion and Affidavit for Order to Withhold and Deliver, revised August 2020, is the creditor's paper, and its body asks for an Order to Withhold and Answer under Section 3127-B. MJ-007, revised March 2026, is the employer's sworn answer and carries the eight-line calculation sheet. Note the mismatch: the forms say withhold and deliver, the statute says withhold and answer, and the form phrase appears nowhere in Title 14.

• Ceiling: the Least of Three, With $604 Protected

  Section 3126-A(3) caps each workweek at the least of 25 percent of the sum of disposable earnings and exempt income, the amount by which that sum exceeds 40 times the higher of the federal or Maine minimum hourly wage, or total disposable earnings. Maine's minimum is $15.10 an hour effective January 1, 2026, so the middle prong shelters $604.00 weekly, $1,208.00 bi-weekly and $2,617.00 monthly. Tighter than the federal floor on both the multiplier and the wage multiplied, so do not calculate on 30 times $7.25. Support, chapter 13 and tax debt sit outside this cap under subsection 6.

• Entry Fee of $85, or $212 on an Unpaid Surcharge

  Section 3126 sets no figure of its own; it sends the fee to the Supreme Judicial Court under 4 M.R.S. Section 175. Administrative Order JB-05-26, effective March 9, 2026, prices Entry of a Money Judgment Disclosure at $85.00 in the District Court, a reactivated disclosure at $55.00, and $212.00 where a debt buyer or debt collector defined by 32 M.R.S. Section 11002 did not pay the $127 surcharge when the underlying action commenced. Preparing or renewing a writ is $25.00, a clerk-signed form is $5.00, and Section 3126 adds the fee and actual service costs to the judgment.

• 60 Days to Serve, 20 Days for the Employer to Answer

  Two clocks, running from different events. The creditor must serve the order on the employer or other payor and on the judgment debtor within 60 days of the date of the order, with a form answer attached (Section 3127-B(1)). The employer then has 20 days from service to file the completed answer, serve copies under Maine Rule of Civil Procedure 5, and withhold and pay over the lesser of the ordered installment or the statutory maximum. Either side may move for a hearing within 20 days of that answer.

• Continuing Until Satisfied, Inside a 20-Year Judgment

  One order reaches every pay period: the employer withholds until the court orders otherwise or the debt is satisfied (Section 3127-B(2)(C)), so nothing is re-served each payday. The outer boundaries sit elsewhere. An execution is returnable within 3 years after issuance under Section 4651 and renews on form CV-181, the court may suspend, revise or revoke any chapter 502 order at any time under Section 3129, and 14 M.R.S. Section 864 presumes every judgment paid and satisfied 20 years after the obligation accrued.

• Bank Accounts Ride a Different Paper, Not Trustee Process

  Property and non-earnings debts in a third party's hands are reached by an order to hold and answer under Section 3127-A, which the third party must answer within 20 days of service on form MJ-005 and which excludes earnings on its face; a default there settles possession and ownership against the third party and opens contempt. Follow it with a turnover order or a court-ordered sale under Section 3131. Do not reach for trustee process: Section 2602(6) bars adjudging anyone trustee on account of amounts due as wages for personal labor.