Docketing a judgment so it becomes a lien, examining the debtor about assets under oath, the writ of execution and what a sheriff may seize, garnishing wages and the limit federal law places on the deduction, the exemptions a debtor may claim, reaching assets in another state through a registered judgment, charging orders against an interest in a company, and the life of a judgment and its renewal.
A judgment creditor may compel the debtor to appear and answer under oath about property, income and transfers. California issues the order ex parte if no examination has occurred in the preceding 120 days, and requires personal service at least 30 days ahead; service itself creates a lien on the debtor's personal property for a year. New York runs the same inquiry through subpoena practice. Non-appearance is punished by contempt or arrest.
A bank served with a garnishment order must review the account for federal benefit deposits over a two-month lookback and leave a protected amount accessible, with no requirement that the account holder assert an exemption. Social Security and veterans benefits carry their own statutory shields. Exempt wages deposited into an account are protected in some states if they can be traced, and lost when they cannot.
The Constitution requires a state to honor another state's judgment, and registration statutes supply the mechanism. Most states accept a certified copy filed with the clerk, which is then treated as a local judgment. Florida bars execution until thirty days after the clerk mails notice; California uses an application and entry of a new judgment, with a motion to vacate available on defenses to an action on the sister-state judgment.
Competing garnishments are resolved by a queue rather than by proration. California directs the employer to comply with the first earnings withholding order served and treats a later ordinary order as ineffective while the first runs. Support obligations displace that queue: federal law requires support collection to be given priority over other legal process, and state statutes rank support and tax withholding ahead of ordinary judgments.
Exemption statutes shield a residence, a vehicle, tools of a trade, household goods, and most public and retirement benefits from execution. The scope varies enormously: Florida protects a homestead by constitutional acreage rather than value, while Ohio and Virginia set adjustable dollar figures. Most exemptions must be claimed on a form filed with the levying officer within a short statutory period, and a few apply automatically without any filing.
A docketed or recorded judgment becomes a lien on the debtor's real property in the recording jurisdiction, usually including land acquired later while the lien runs. The filing differs by state: an abstract recorded with a county recorder in California, a certificate of judgment in Ohio, a certified copy with a stated address in Florida. Priority runs from the filing, not from the entry of judgment, and a lien takes property subject to earlier interests.
States set an outer period for enforcing a money judgment, commonly ten or twenty years, and allow renewal before it runs. Ohio adds a dormancy rule: a judgment on which nothing is done for five years ceases to operate as a lien and must be revived, which is allowed within ten years of dormancy. California renews on application filed before the ten-year period ends, and a judgment that lapses generally cannot be revived.
A charging order directs a company to pay the judgment creditor whatever distributions would otherwise go to the debtor member, and constitutes a lien on the transferable interest. Most states make it the exclusive remedy against that interest. Minnesota, Florida and California allow the court to foreclose the lien where distributions will not satisfy the judgment within a reasonable time; Delaware bars foreclosure outright, including for a single-member company.
A writ of execution is issued by the clerk after entry of judgment and directs a levying officer to seize non-exempt property of the debtor. Levy on personal property is by taking or by notice; real property is sold after statutory notice, and Ohio bars a sale of land below two-thirds of an appraised value. Proceeds are distributed in a statutory order that pays costs and prior liens before the judgment creditor.
Voidable transaction statutes give a creditor two grounds: a transfer made with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud, and a constructive ground turning on inadequate value combined with insolvency or unreasonably small capital. Intent is inferred from statutory factors including transfers to insiders, retained control, concealment and litigation already threatened. California extinguishes the claim four years after the transfer, or one year after discovery, with a seven-year outer limit.
The Consumer Credit Protection Act limits an ordinary garnishment to the lesser of twenty-five percent of weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which those earnings exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage. Disposable earnings are what remains after deductions required by law. Support orders, tax debts and bankruptcy orders fall outside the ordinary ceiling. States may and often do set lower limits, and the more protective rule controls.
