Vermont Writ of Garnishment
Vermont issues no writ of garnishment. A judgment creditor files a $90 motion for trustee process, gets a hearing, and the order reaches 15 percent of disposable earnings on consumer credit debt. Attorney review available.
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Introduction
The first thing to price in Vermont is not the paycheck. It is whether your judgment debtor has drawn a state benefit lately, because 12 V.S.A. Section 3170(a) says that no order approving the issuance of trustee process against earnings shall be entered at all against a debtor who was, within the two-month period preceding the hearing, a recipient of assistance from the Vermont Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access. Section 3169(a)(3) turns that into a finding the judge has to make on the record, so the hearing you paid for can end with nothing withheld and no order to serve. That is the shape of collection here. Vermont hands a creditor a hearing, not a writ. Run the word garnish through the whole of Title 12, Chapter 121 and it returns zero hits across all of Sections 3011 to 3172; the statutory instrument is trustee process, and garnishment survives only as a parenthetical gloss in the titles of the Judiciary's own forms. Under Section 3168(a) you move the court that rendered the judgment, describing in detail the grounds, the unpaid amount and the source of the debtor's earnings. The court notices the employer and the debtor under Rule 4.2 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and holds a hearing. Only after that hearing does an order issue, and Section 3171(a) puts service of it on the employer in your hands, not the clerk's. Where an order does issue, the ceiling forks on what the debt came from. Section 3170(b)(2) exempts the greater of 85 percent of weekly disposable earnings or 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage where the judgment debt arose from a consumer credit transaction, leaving 15 percent reachable, which is tighter than the federal floor. Section 3170(b)(1) exempts the greater of 75 percent or 30 times that same federal figure on every other debt, leaving 25 percent. Note the word federal in both: the multiplier does not run off Vermont's own minimum wage, and reading it that way would roughly double the protected floor and under-collect every pay period. DocDraft assembles your Vermont motion and proposed order from your judgment facts, with attorney review available before you file.
Key Things to Know
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Once served, a Vermont order approving trustee process against earnings binds the employer to hold back and deliver the non-exempt slice of each pay period the order covers, and Section 3171(a) makes serving it the judgment creditor's own errand, performed at the creditor's request rather than by the court.
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The paper is not called a writ of garnishment. Vermont's statutory instrument is trustee process, the employer or bank is the trustee, and what binds them is a court order entered after a hearing under Section 3170(c). The word garnishment appears nowhere in Chapter 121; it shows up only inside the parentheses of the Judiciary's form titles.
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It starts as a postjudgment motion, not a clerk's issuance. Section 3168(a) sends the judgment creditor back to the court that rendered the judgment, and the motion must describe in detail the grounds for requesting issuance, the amount of judgment alleged to be unpaid, and the source of earnings of the judgment debtor.
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One finding can end the case before any money moves. Section 3170(a) bars an order outright where the debtor received assistance from the Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access inside the two months before the hearing, and the debtor establishes that at the hearing itself.
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The ceiling splits by debt type. On a consumer credit transaction as defined by 15 U.S.C. Section 1602, Section 3170(b)(2) exempts the greater of 85 percent of weekly disposable earnings or 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage, so 15 percent is the most an order reaches. On any other judgment debt, Section 3170(b)(1) exempts the greater of 75 percent or 30 times the federal minimum, leaving 25 percent. Both multipliers are federal, not Vermont figures.
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Earnings here is wider than wages. Section 3169(b) defines it as compensation for personal services however denominated, whether wages, salary, commission, bonus or otherwise, and it expressly takes in periodic payments under a pension or retirement program and the proceeds from the sale of milk where the debtor farms dairy.
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An employer that ignores the order pays for it personally. Section 3171(b) makes it liable to the judgment creditor for the amounts it failed to withhold and deliver plus costs, interest and reasonable attorneys' fees of collection, with none of that falling on the debtor. The flip side is Section 3172: firing the employee within 60 days of service is rebuttably presumed retaliatory.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Writ of Garnishment in Vermont, 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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Vermont Requirements for Writ of Garnishment
Motion for Trustee Process, Form 100-00506
Vermont has no clerk-issued writ. The creditor files the Judiciary's statewide form 100-00506, Motion for Trustee Process (Wage Garnishment), revision 08/2024, captioned for the Superior Court unit and Civil Division. Under 12 V.S.A. Section 3168(a) it goes to the court that rendered the judgment and must describe in detail the grounds, the amount alleged unpaid, and the source of the debtor's earnings.
Final Judgment Required Before Earnings Are Reachable
12 V.S.A. Section 3167 keeps trustee process against earnings out of money-judgment enforcement until the judgment becomes final, and then permits it only in accordance with Sections 3168 to 3171. Attach the judgment and state the date it was entered and the balance unpaid.
$90 Postjudgment Motion Fee, $65 on a Small Claims Judgment
32 V.S.A. Section 1431(e) sets $90.00 for any postjudgment motion in the Civil, Criminal or Environmental Division, and the Judiciary's published Fees page prints the same $90.00 against the same subsection, so there is no surcharge to reconcile. Where the underlying judgment is a small claims judgment the fee is $65.00 under Section 1431(c)(1). Sheriff service is extra at $75.00 per return of service under 32 V.S.A. Section 1591(1)(A)(iii), plus mileage.
Notice Under Rule 4.2 and a Mandatory Hearing
12 V.S.A. Section 3168(b) requires the court, on receipt of the motion, to notice both the trustee and the judgment debtor as provided by Rule 4.2 of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure and to hold a hearing. At that hearing Section 3169(a) requires findings on neglect or refusal to pay, the unpaid amount, weekly disposable earnings, benefit receipt, and the debtor's reasonable weekly maintenance expenses.
The Section 3170(a) Bar: No Order At All
No order approving issuance of trustee process against earnings may be entered against a judgment debtor who was, within the two-month period preceding the Section 3169 hearing, a recipient of assistance from the Vermont Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access. The debtor must establish it at the hearing, and Section 3169(a)(3) makes it an express finding for the court.
Ceiling: 15 Percent on Consumer Credit, 25 Percent Otherwise
12 V.S.A. Section 3170(b)(2) exempts the greater of 85 percent of weekly disposable earnings or 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage where the debt arose from a consumer credit transaction under 15 U.S.C. Section 1602, leaving 15 percent reachable. Section 3170(b)(1) exempts the greater of 75 percent or 30 times the federal minimum on other debts, leaving 25 percent. Both multipliers are federal. Section 3170(b)(3) lets the court exempt more, and Section 3170(d) voids any waiver of subsection (b).
Repetitive Withholding, and the Two Notices That End It
Section 3170(c) authorizes an order providing for repetitive withholding from earnings, modifiable from time to time on motion, so one order can run across pay periods without re-service. Section 3171(d) requires the creditor to notify the employer in writing on full satisfaction, after which withholding must cease, and Section 3171(c) requires the employer to report the end of the debtor's employment to the court and the creditor as soon as reasonably practicable.
Trustee Exposure and the 60-Day Discharge Presumption
Section 3171(b) makes an employer that fails to honor the order liable to the creditor for the sums not withheld and delivered plus costs, interest and reasonable attorneys' fees, with no added liability for the debtor. Separately, Section 3062 defaults and adjudges as trustee anyone who fails to serve a disclosure in time, and Section 3063 enters judgment against them for the full damages and costs recovered, with execution direct against their goods, chattels or estate. Section 3172 bars firing the employee, presuming retaliation within 60 days of service.