Rhode Island Writ of Garnishment

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   A Rhode Island writ of attachment reaches the judgment debtor's goods and chattels, real estate, personal estate, and stock or shares in any banking association or incorporated company, including whatever sits in the hands of a third party the statute calls the debtor's trustee (Section 10-5-7), but it does not reach a paycheck on its own: wages come in only through Section 10-5-8, after the court grants permission on form DC-48.

2. 2

   There is no chapter called garnishment to look in. Title 10 runs chapter 10-5 Attachment and chapter 10-17 Trustee Process, and a scan of the chapter 10-5 section index plus seven section texts returns three hits for the phrase writ of garnishment, all of them inside Section 10-5-8, against zero hits across the whole trustee-process chapter.

3. 3

   Rhode Island legislates no wage percentage of its own, and the Judiciary says so on its own forms. Form DC-48 introduces the thirty times and forty times and seventy five percent figures with the words a federal exemption provides, and form DC-49 tells the employer federal law exempts, so a creditor should treat the percentage ceiling as the federal floor rather than as a state entitlement.

4. 4

   What is distinctly Rhode Island is categorical, not fractional. Section 9-26-4(8)(ii) exempts the entire wages or salary of a debtor who has been the object of relief from any state, federal or municipal agency, for one year after the debtor ceases to be the object of that relief, and Section 9-26-4(18) exempts bank deposits up to $500.

5. 5

   The garnishee's deadline is 20 days from service for the first sworn account (Section 10-17-4(a)), then monthly supplementary accounts for a wage attachment, and a copy of each sworn disclosure is mailed to the creditor's attorney at the address shown on the writ (Section 10-17-3).

6. 6

   One writ keeps working. Section 10-5-8(a) requires the writ to state the judgment amount and makes the employer withhold sums not exempt by law until the withholding equals that amount, which is why form DC-49 calls it a continuing withholding. The employer also collects $5 for each writ, and that $5 comes from the employee, not from the creditor.

7. 7

   Support jumps the queue regardless of timing. Section 10-5-8(b) gives a child support garnishment under Section 15-5-25, and a wage assignment under Section 15-5-24 or chapter 16 of title 15, priority over any garnishment under Section 10-5-8, whether the support order came before or after yours.

Rhode Island Requirements for Writ of Garnishment

• Writ of Attachment on Form DC-47

  The creditor's paper is a Writ of Attachment, Rhode Island Judiciary form DC-47 in the District Court, revised January 2023, with a Superior Court counterpart published in the same statewide forms library. It is directed to the duly authorized officer in accordance with Title 9, chapter 5 of the General Laws, in this county, and it commands attachment of goods and chattels, real estate, personal estate, and stocks and shares in any banking association or incorporated company of the defendant or in the hands of the defendant's trustee.

• Permission to Attach Wages on Form DC-48

  Wages need a separate grant. Form DC-48, Notice and Motion to Attach Wages, revised February 2024, states that the creditor has obtained a judgment and now requests permission from the court to attach the debtor's wages, and prints an objection date: if no objection is filed by that date there is no hearing and the motion is granted. Section 10-5-2(c) keeps the whole thing in the same action in which the judgment was entered.

• Notice to Employer on Form DC-49

  The paper the employer reads is form DC-49, Notice to Employer (Trustee/Garnishee), revised February 2023. It tells the employer to hold part of the earnings immediately on service, names Section 10-5-8 as providing for a continuing withholding, carries a blank for the amount the employer withholds up to, and directs the employer to notify the court and the plaintiff's attorney by affidavit what is being withheld each pay day.

• Ceiling: the Federal Floor, Not a State Percentage

  Section 10-5-8(a) permits attachment only of salary or wages in excess of the amount exempt by law from attachment, and Rhode Island legislates no percentage of its own. Scans of chapter 10-5, chapter 10-17 and Section 9-26-4 return zero hits for disposable earnings, percent and minimum wage. The percentage ceiling is the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act floor, which forms DC-48 and DC-49 label a federal exemption and federal law. State specific instead: Section 9-26-4(8)(ii) exempts the entire wages of a debtor who has been the object of public relief, for one year after that relief ends, 9-26-4(8)(iii) leaves a flat $50 exempt, and 9-26-4(18) exempts bank deposits up to $500.

• Judgment Amount Stated on the Face of the Writ

  Section 10-5-8(a) requires any writ of garnishment served under that section to state the judgment amount, and the employer then withholds sums not exempt by law until the amount of withholding equals the amount of the judgment. State the unpaid principal, interest accrued to a stated date, recoverable costs, and everything already collected, so that the figure the employer withholds up to is the figure that is genuinely owed.

• Trustee's Sworn Account Within 20 Days of Service

  Section 10-17-4(a) requires the account to be filed with the court to which the writ is returnable within twenty days after the service. Section 10-17-2(a) requires it to be rendered in writing, upon oath, stating what wages or personal estate the trustee held at the time of service up to the amount of the demand in the writ, or stating in writing that it held none, and Section 10-17-3 requires it to be sworn, filed with the clerk, and copied to the plaintiff's attorney shown on the writ.

• Monthly Supplementary Accounts Until One of Three Events

  For wage attachments Section 10-17-4(b) requires supplementary accounts monthly after the first one, until the entire amount of the plaintiff's demand and costs of suit has been collected by the garnishee and reported to the court, the defendant is no longer employed by the garnishee, or the plaintiff has released the garnishee from any obligation to file further accounts. Section 10-17-2(b) requires a final account on full collection or on the defendant permanently leaving the trustee's employment.

• Silence Costs the Trustee the Whole Judgment

  Section 10-17-15 charges a trustee that refuses or neglects to render the sworn account with the amount of the judgment rendered against the defendant, recoverable by a civil action against the trustee. Section 10-17-14 gives a separate damages action for a false answer or affidavit. Section 10-17-7 charges a trustee that does account with the amount disclosed if less than the judgment, otherwise with the judgment, and bars a partial charge order more than once in any three month period. Section 10-5-8(b) puts child support and wage assignment ahead of this writ either way.