Utah Writ of Garnishment
Utah issues two writs of garnishment, 1505DC for earnings and 1504DC for other property, both under Rule 64D. The court fee is a flat $75.00 and the garnishee answers in 7 business days. Attorney review available.
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Introduction
The court's share of a Utah garnishment is one flat $75.00, and it is the same $75.00 whether the judgment you are collecting is for $900 or $90,000. The Utah State Courts print it on their Filing/Record Fees schedule, effective May 6, 2026, against Utah Code Section 78A-2-301(1)(w), on the line reading writ of replevin, attachment, execution, or garnishment. Notice what that does not do: the complaint rows just above it step from $105.00 to $215.00 to $375.00 with the amount in controversy, and the Motion to Renew Civil Judgment rows step from $52.50 to $187.50, but the writ line does not move at all. You pay it to the court where your judgment case sits, and it is the clerk's office rather than a judge that signs both copies of the writ, filing one in the court's records. The $75.00 is also the only figure the courts publish. Service is not theirs: a Utah writ has to be served by a sheriff, constable, or private investigator under Utah Code Section 78B-8-302, and you send a separate check for that officer's fee with the papers, an amount that appears nowhere on the courts' schedule. Then the garnishee takes its own cut under Utah Code Section 78A-2-216, $10 on a one-time writ or $25 on a continuing one, and this is where an older Utah checklist will cost you. Since May 6, 2026 the garnishee no longer has to be pre-paid alongside the writ. Where that fee did not ride along with the papers, the garnishee runs the calculation, deducts and keeps its $10 or $25, and remits only the balance to you. Before any of it, confirm the property is really the debtor's, because garnishing someone else's money exposes you to the true owner for up to $1,000. DocDraft assembles your Utah garnishment set from your own case facts, with attorney review available as an option before you file.
Key Things to Know
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In Utah the instrument is called a Writ of Garnishment, and the courts issue it in two separately named versions on two separately numbered forms: a Writ of Continuing Garnishment, form 1505DC, to reach earnings, and a one-time Writ of Garnishment, form 1504DC, to reach a bank account or other property a third party holds. Both run on Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 64D rather than on a chapter of the Utah Code, and both command the garnishee, not the debtor.
- 2
The clerk, not a judge, puts the writ into your hands. You confirm the debtor's employment or ownership, pay the filing fee, and file the application with two filled-in copies of the writ; the clerk's office signs both and keeps one in the court's records. Utah Code Section 78A-2-301(1)(w) prices it at a flat $75.00 on the schedule effective May 6, 2026.
- 3
Budget three payments, not one. The $75.00 goes to the court. A separate check goes to the sheriff, constable, or private investigator who serves the writ, and the courts do not publish that amount. The garnishee is owed $10 on a one-time writ or $25 on a continuing writ under Utah Code Section 78A-2-216.
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The May 6, 2026 change to the garnishee fee is the detail that dates an old Utah checklist. Pre-paying the garnishee with the papers is still allowed, but it is no longer required: if the fee did not accompany the writ, the garnishee calculates the garnishment, deducts and keeps the $10 or $25 off the top, and sends you what is left. Where a one-time garnishment yields less than $10 the writ comes back to you and you owe the garnishee directly.
- 5
Utah legislates no percentage of its own for ordinary judgment debt, and its courts say so by publishing the federal calculation as the one a garnishee runs: for a judgment that is not for child support, the smaller of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly pay exceeds 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, which the courts state as $217.50 per week. Past-due child support runs at 50 percent instead, and that is the exception, not your rule.
- 6
Nothing arrives quickly. The garnishee has 7 business days to complete the Garnishee's Answers to Interrogatories and deliver a copy to you, and on a continuing writ it does that again within 7 business days after the close of every pay period. It then withholds, serves the debtor, and waits 21 days before paying you, though that 21-day wait is taken once and not repeated each payday.
- 7
One Utah writ of continuing garnishment is effective for one year from the date it was served, and drops to 120 calendar days if another writ of continuing garnishment is served. Only one writ is live at a time and the garnishee satisfies them in the order served, except that a continuing writ for the Office of Recovery Services or the Department of Workforce Services is paid first and runs until fully paid, holding yours.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Writ of Garnishment in Utah, 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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Utah Requirements for Writ of Garnishment
Flat $75.00 to Issue the Writ
The court's fee does not scale with the judgment. The Utah State Courts' Filing/Record Fees schedule, effective May 6, 2026, prices a writ of replevin, attachment, execution, or garnishment at $75.00 under Utah Code Section 78A-2-301(1)(w). The complaint rows in the same table step from $105.00 to $375.00 by amount in controversy and the writ row does not move.
Two Writs, Two Form Numbers
Pick the instrument by what you are reaching. Earnings go on form 1505DC, Writ of continuing garnishment and instructions, with answers on form 1507DC. A bank account or other third-party property goes on form 1504DC, Writ of garnishment and instructions, with answers on form 1506DC. Both are applied for on form 1503DC, Application for Writ of Garnishment.
The Clerk Signs Both Copies
File the application with two filled-in copies of the writ and the clerk's office staff signs both, filing one in the court's records. No judge issues the writ. Travelling with it are the Notice of Garnishment and Exemptions, form 1508DC, and two copies of the Reply and Request for Hearing, form 1509DC.
Ceiling: the Federal Floor, Not a Utah Percentage
For a judgment that is not for child support, the Utah State Courts publish the garnishee's calculation as the smaller of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly pay exceeds 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, stated as $217.50 per week. Those are the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act figures. Utah legislates no tighter general percentage, so do not describe 25 percent as a Utah rule. Past-due child support runs at 50 percent as an exception.
Three Payments, Only One Published
The $75.00 goes to the court. A separate check goes to the sheriff, constable, or private investigator who must serve the writ under Utah Code Section 78B-8-302, and that amount appears nowhere on the courts' fee schedule. The garnishee is owed $10 on a one-time writ or $25 on a continuing writ under Utah Code Section 78A-2-216.
Garnishee Fee Deducted Off the Top Since May 6, 2026
Pre-paying the garnishee with the papers is still permitted but is no longer required. Where the fee did not accompany the writ, the garnishee runs the calculation, deducts and keeps the $10 or $25, and remits the balance. Where a one-time garnishment would yield less than $10 the garnishee returns the writ and the creditor pays the fee directly.
7 Business Days to Answer, Then 21 Days to Pay
The garnishee completes the Garnishee's Answers to Interrogatories and delivers a copy to the creditor within 7 business days, and serves the debtor in the same window. It then withholds, serves, and waits 21 days before paying over. On a continuing writ the answers repeat within 7 business days after the close of each pay period, but the 21-day wait is taken once.
One Year, 120 Days, and the Agency Jump
A writ of continuing garnishment is effective one year from the date of service, cut to 120 calendar days if another writ of continuing garnishment is served. Only one writ is live at a time and the garnishee satisfies them in the order served, except that a continuing writ for the Office of Recovery Services or the Department of Workforce Services is paid first and runs until fully paid. Ignoring the writ draws a motion on form 1510DC and a contempt order for the full judgment, costs and fees.