Question 1

How does a judgment creditor get a writ of garnishment issued in Texas?

Accepted Answer

File an application supported by affidavit in the court that will issue it. Section 63.001(3) requires the plaintiff to have a valid, subsisting judgment and to swear that, within the plaintiff's knowledge, the defendant does not possess property in Texas subject to execution sufficient to satisfy it. Rule 658 requires the application to state the grounds and the specific facts relied on, and to rest on personal knowledge. Rule 657 means there is no waiting period: the judgment is final and subsisting for garnishment purposes from and after the date it is signed, unless a supersedeas bond has been approved and filed. Section 63.002 then lets the clerk of a district court, a county court or the business court, or a justice of the peace, issue the writ returnable to that clerk's court, and Rule 659 has the clerk docket it as a separate case with the garnishee named as defendant.

Question 2

How much of a paycheck can a Texas writ of garnishment reach?

Accepted Answer

None of it, for ordinary judgment debt. Article XVI, Section 28 of the Texas Constitution says no current wages for personal service shall ever be subject to garnishment, and Section 63.004 provides that the garnishee shall be discharged from the garnishment as to any debt to the defendant for current wages. Property Code Section 42.001(b)(1) exempts current wages for personal services from seizure as well. Three narrow exceptions exist and none of them is a general collection tool: court-ordered child support and spousal maintenance are carved out by the constitution itself, with Family Code Section 158.009 capping a support withholding order at 50 percent of the obligor's disposable earnings, and Section 63.006 contemplates a state or federal withholding order that requires garnishing current wages, naming the federal student loan provision at 20 United States Code Section 1095a. Those belong to support obligees and federal collectors, not to a private judgment creditor with a Chapter 63 writ.

Question 3

Which Texas property and accounts does a writ of garnishment actually reach?

Accepted Answer

Debts owed to the debtor and the debtor's property in someone else's hands, measured at the instant of service. The writ required by Rules 659 and 661 asks the garnishee what it is indebted to the defendant and was when served, what effects of the defendant it has and had when served including certificates of stock, and what other people it knows of who owe the defendant money. That covers deposit accounts, receivables and funds held by a third party. Section 63.003 bars the garnishee from paying or delivering anything to the defendant after service and voids any payment, delivery, sale or transfer that violates it, up to the amount needed to satisfy your demand. Rule 669 then orders effects sold under execution and directs the garnishee to deliver them to the officer. Section 63.007 even reaches an inmate trust fund held by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Question 4

How long does a Texas garnishee have to answer the writ, and what must the answer say?

Accepted Answer

Rule 659 sets a return date rather than a rolling deadline. A writ issued out of a district or county court commands the garnishee to appear and answer at or before 10 o'clock a.m. on the Monday next following the expiration of twenty days from the date the writ was served; out of a justice court it is the Monday next after the expiration of ten days from service. Rule 663 has the sheriff or constable execute the writ immediately by delivering a copy to the garnishee and return it as other citations. Rule 665 requires the answer to be under oath, in writing, signed, and to answer truly each matter the writ inquired about. If the answer shows no debt and no effects and you do not controvert it, Rule 666 has the court discharge the garnishee.

Question 5

What happens if a Texas garnishee ignores the writ of garnishment?

Accepted Answer

Rule 667 is the lever. A garnishee that fails to file an answer by the time directed in the writ can have default judgment rendered against it, as in other civil cases, for the full amount of the judgment against the defendant together with all interest and costs accrued in the main case and in the garnishment proceeding. The garnishee can still cure by answering any time before that default judgment is rendered. A garnishee that is adjudged to hold the defendant's effects and then refuses to hand them to the sheriff or constable faces Rule 670 instead: a show cause citation and, absent a good and sufficient excuse, a fine for contempt and imprisonment until it delivers. Rule 677 is the cost you carry on the other side, taxing the proceeding's costs plus a reasonable compensation to the garnishee against the plaintiff where the garnishee is discharged on its answer.

Question 6

Does one Texas writ of garnishment keep working, or does a creditor have to serve a new one?

Accepted Answer

A new one. Texas has no continuing writ: the word continuing does not appear anywhere in Chapter 63 or in Rules 657 through 679. The writ is a snapshot, because every question it puts to the garnishee is framed as what you owe and hold now and what you owed and held when this writ was served, so a deposit that lands the following week is outside it. Rule 658 does let the court's order direct several writs at the same time or in succession to different counties. The outer limit on repeating the exercise is dormancy, not the writ: Section 34.001 makes a judgment dormant if no writ of execution issues within 10 years of rendition, and a second writ must issue within 10 years of the first. One timing fact worth knowing is that a defendant's sworn motion to dissolve under Rule 664a stays further proceedings under your writ until it is heard, and that issue must be determined not later than ten days after the motion is filed.

Question 7

How much does a Texas writ of garnishment cost to issue and serve?

Accepted Answer

The issuance itself is $8. Government Code Section 51.318(b)(2) sets $8 for a district clerk to issue a writ of garnishment including one copy, and Local Government Code Section 118.052(1)(B)(ii) sets the same $8 for a county clerk issuing a writ after judgment. A large county district clerk's published schedule effective January 1, 2026 prints exactly that $8 figure on its writ of garnishment line, so the statute and the current schedule agree. Two other costs are real. Service by a sheriff or constable is a fee each county's commissioners court sets under Local Government Code Section 118.131, so it is not a statewide number and you must check the county you are filing in; the schedule above prints $98. And because Rule 659 dockets the garnishment as its own case, the clerk also collects a civil filing fee, which is $350 where it is charged as a new civil suit, made up of the $137 state consolidated fee under Section 133.151(a)(1) and the $213 local consolidated fee under Section 135.101(a)(1).

Question 8

Can a Texas creditor garnish before winning a judgment?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but the gate is much higher and you put up money. Section 63.001 makes a writ available before judgment where an original attachment has issued, or where a plaintiff suing for a debt swears that the debt is just, due and unpaid, that within the plaintiff's knowledge the defendant does not possess property in Texas subject to execution sufficient to satisfy the debt, and that the garnishment is not sought to injure the defendant or the garnishee. Rule 658 then allows no writ before final judgment except on written order of the court after a hearing, which may be ex parte, with specific findings supporting the statutory grounds, the maximum value that may be garnished, and the amount of your bond. Rule 658a bars issuance until that bond, payable to the defendant, is filed. Rule 663a also requires the defendant to be served with the writ, the application, the affidavits and the court's orders as soon as practicable after the writ is served.

Texas Writ of Garnishment

Find out where you stand in Texas

Introduction

Key Things to Know

Key decisions before you file

Customize your Writ of Garnishment Template with DocDraft

Texas Requirements for Writ of Garnishment

Affidavit That No Nonexempt Property Exists

Issuing Court, and $8 to Issue the Writ

No Numbered Statewide Form; Rule 661 Model Writ

Current Wages Are Off the Table

Garnishee Block, and the Bank Service Address

Answer Date: 10 a.m. the Monday After Twenty Days

A Snapshot at Service, Not a Continuing Writ

Default Judgment Against the Garnishee, and Rule 677 Costs

Frequently Asked Questions