Pennsylvania Writ of Garnishment
Pennsylvania exempts wages in the employer's hands, so a judgment creditor's writ of execution works on banks, third-party debtors and property held by others. One service keeps attaching new money until judgment against the garnishee. Attorney review available.
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Introduction
One properly served Pennsylvania attachment does not stop working at the end of the day it lands. Rule 3111(b) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure says service of the writ on a garnishee attaches the judgment debtor's property already in that garnishee's possession and also every piece of the debtor's property that comes into the garnishee's possession afterwards, until judgment is entered against the garnishee, even if the garnishee held nothing at all when it was served. A creditor who serves a bank on a thin Tuesday is therefore still attached when Friday's deposit arrives. The paper itself has a shorter fuse than the attachment it creates: Rule 3106(d) forbids service or attachment under a writ more than ninety days after it issued or was last reissued, and Rule 3106(b) lets the prothonotary reissue it at any time and any number of times by endorsing the word reissued on it, with Rule 3106(c) allowing a reissued writ to name a garnishee that was never named before. Two clocks then run against you. Rule 3111(c) lets the garnishee or the debtor petition to terminate a garnishment that has sat unacted upon for a year, and the attachment ends on praecipe if you do not respond within twenty days. Rule 3143(f) and (g) let the garnishee enter a rule compelling you to file interrogatories, or to move for judgment, within twenty days, and missing either produces a judgment of non pros against you that dissolves the attachment. Note what Pennsylvania does not give you. There is no instrument here called a writ of garnishment; the phrase appears exactly once in the entire execution chapter, in the rule about terminating one. And wages in an employer's hands are simply not available on an ordinary judgment, so this is a bank-account, third-party-debt and property-in-another's-hands instrument. DocDraft builds your Pennsylvania execution papers from your facts, with attorney review available before you file.
Key Things to Know
- 1
Once served, a Pennsylvania writ of execution naming a garnishee binds everything of the judgment debtor's that the garnishee holds plus everything that reaches the garnishee later, up to the moment judgment is entered against the garnishee, and it enjoins the garnishee from paying any debt to the debtor or releasing any of the debtor's property to anyone but the sheriff (Rules 3111(b) and 3111(d)).
- 2
The paper is a writ of execution and no statewide number identifies it, because the Rules print its text outright: Rule 3251 for the praecipe, Rule 3252 for the writ, Rule 3253 for the eight interrogatories. You file the praecipe with the prothonotary of any county where the judgment is entered, and the prothonotary rather than a judge issues it (Rules 3102 and 3103(a)).
- 3
Anyone can be the garnishee. Rule 3101(b) treats a person as holding the debtor's property if they owe the debtor a debt, have the debtor's property in their custody, possession or control, hold property as fiduciary in which the debtor has an interest, hold legal title to the debtor's property even in fraud of creditors, or own real property under a lien in which the debtor has an interest.
- 4
Wages are off the table for an ordinary judgment. Under 42 Pa.C.S. 8127(a) wages, salaries and commissions are exempt from attachment, execution or other process while in the hands of the employer, and the carve-outs are narrow exceptions: divorce, support, board for four weeks or less, a residential-lease landlord judgment, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency obligations, and criminal restitution, costs, fines or bail.
- 5
A bank garnishee is not a blank cheque. Rule 3111.1 keeps the writ off the first $10,000 of any account holding funds deposited electronically on a recurring basis and identified as exempt, off any account over $10,000 where all the funds are such deposits, and off funds at or below the general monetary exemption, which the Rule 3252 writ form prints as $300.
- 6
Serve interrogatories and count twenty days. Rule 3144(b) requires the interrogatories to carry a notice to answer within twenty days after service, and Rule 3123.1(c) separately bars judgment against the garnishee on an admission until twenty days from service of the writ. The garnishee must promptly forward copies of both the writ and its answers to the debtor (Rule 3140).
- 7
Priority turns on the calendar, not on who sued first. Where two creditors attach the same garnishee, Rule 3137(b) ranks them by the date each writ was served on that garnishee, covering what the garnishee held then and what arrives up to judgment. Support attachments take first priority and criminal restitution, costs, fines or bail second over any other attachment (42 Pa.C.S. 8127(b)).
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Writ of Garnishment in Pennsylvania, 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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Pennsylvania Requirements for Writ of Garnishment
Praecipe to the Prothonotary, Rule 3251 Form
Execution is commenced by filing a praecipe for a writ of execution with the prothonotary of any county in which the judgment has been entered, in the form the Rules print at Rule 3251. The prothonotary issues the writ, not a judge, and a writ issued in the county of entry may be directed to the sheriff of any county in the Commonwealth (Rules 3102 and 3103).
Garnishee Named in Paragraph 3
Name the garnishee on the praecipe and again in the writ. Rule 3101(b) lets you garnish anyone who owes the debtor a debt, holds the debtor's property in custody, possession or control, holds property as fiduciary in which the debtor has an interest, holds legal title to the debtor's property even in fraud of creditors, or owns real property under a lien in which the debtor has an interest.
No Wage Attachment on an Ordinary Judgment
Under 42 Pa.C.S. 8127(a) wages, salaries and commissions are exempt from attachment, execution or other process while in the hands of the employer. The exceptions are narrow and must be pleaded as exceptions: divorce, support, board for four weeks or less, a final residential-lease landlord judgment, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency obligations, and criminal restitution, costs, fines or bail. There is no state percentage of pay, and the federal 25 percent floor is not a state rule.
Bank Carve-Outs the Writ Must Recite
Paragraph 2(c) of the Rule 3252 writ tells a bank garnishee what is not attached: the first $10,000 of each account containing any funds deposited electronically on a recurring basis and identified as exempt, each account over $10,000 where all funds are such deposits, and funds totaling $300 or less set aside under the general monetary exemption in 42 Pa.C.S. 8123. Rule 3140(d) bars the garnishee from charging a fee against exempt funds.
Eight Interrogatories, Twenty Days to Answer
Interrogatories may be filed and served with the writ or later, and Rule 3144(b) requires them to carry a notice to answer within twenty days after service. Rule 3253 prints eight questions, including two aimed at accounts holding recurring electronic exempt deposits or funds under the general monetary exemption. Rule 3123.1(c) separately holds judgment on an admission until twenty days from service of the writ.
Continuing Attachment, Ninety Day Writ
Rule 3111(b) attaches what the garnishee holds at service and everything of the debtor's reaching it afterwards, until judgment against the garnishee, so later deposits need no fresh levy. The writ itself cannot be served or attached under more than ninety days after issuance or reissuance, but Rule 3106 allows unlimited reissuance by endorsement and a reissued writ may name a garnishee never named before.
Service Date Sets Priority, With Two Overrides
Where two creditors attach the same garnishee, Rule 3137(b) ranks distribution by the date each writ was served on that garnishee, across property held then and arriving up to judgment. Levies on the same goods rank instead by delivery of the writ to the sheriff. Above both, 42 Pa.C.S. 8127(b) gives a support attachment first priority and criminal restitution, costs, fines or bail second over any other attachment or execution.
Issuance Fee Is County Set, Sheriff Billed Separately
There is no statewide figure. Franklin County's prothonotary schedule prints $22.00 for a Writ Of Execution and $22.00 for a Writ Of Attachment/Wage Garnishee; Centre County's prints $35.50 for Execution and $24.50 to re-issue. Confirm with your filing county. Separately, Rule 3138(a) makes the plaintiff pay the sheriff all costs incident to the execution, taxable afterwards, and Rule 3138(b) lets the sheriff return the writ as abandoned if the plaintiff does not pay promptly on demand.