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Garnishee proceedings

In garnishee proceedings, the court directs that a third party pays to a judgment creditor the money that the third party owes a judgment debtor.

About garnishee proceedings

In a civil case, the court may order a party to pay a sum of money to another party. The party who needs to pay the debt is the judgment debtor, while the party who should receive the money is the judgment creditor.

If the judgment debtor does not pay, the judgment creditor may enforce the judgment in different ways. If a third party (the garnishee) owes the judgment debtor money, the judgment creditor may apply for the garnishee to pay the judgment creditor the money instead.

This will pay off the garnishee's debt to the judgment debtor and is known as a garnishee order.

Example

When to consider

If you are the judgment creditor, you may consider garnishee proceedings if you know a third party owes the judgment debtor a sum of money.

You should have documentary proof that the judgment debtor is owed a sum of money by a third party, for example, an estimate on the amount of money the judgment debtor has in their bank accounts.

Note

What you will need

You will need to prepare the following before you file:

An ex parte summons for a Garnishee Order To Show Cause.
- You may prepare the summons with reference to Form 101 of the Rules of Court.
An affidavit in accordance with Form 102 of the Rules of Court.

The affidavit should contain the following information:

The order or judgment to be enforced.
The remaining unpaid amount the judgment debtor owes you.
Details of the garnishee.
Evidence to show that the garnishee is within the jurisdiction and is indebted to the judgment debtor.
- You should state the source of your information or the reasons for your belief.

Find out how to prepare an affidavit.

How to file

You may choose to file the documents personally or through a lawyer. If you are represented by a lawyer, the documents will be filed by your lawyer.

If you are representing yourself, you must file the documents through eLitigation at the LawNet and CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

You must follow the Rules of Court and the State Court Practice Directions or the Supreme Court Practice Directions to prepare your documents before heading down personally to do the filing.

Estimated fees

Refer to the following to find out the possible fees for filing the documents. You may also refer to Appendix B of the Rules of Court for the full list of court fees.

In addition to the fees listed in the table, there are also other fees payable to the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

Item or service	Fees
File the ex parte summons in an existing case or an ex parte Originating Summons if you are enforcing an order of the Small Claims Tribunal	$10
File the affidavit	$1 per page, subject to a minimum fee of $10 per affidavit
Extract the Garnishee Order To Show Cause	$25; or $10 (for enforcing an order of the Small Claims Tribunal)

Item or service

Fees

File the ex parte summons in an existing case or an ex parte Originating Summons if you are enforcing an order of the Small Claims Tribunal

$10

File the affidavit

$1 per page, subject to a minimum fee of $10 per affidavit

Extract the Garnishee Order To Show Cause

$25; or

$10 (for enforcing an order of the Small Claims Tribunal)

In addition to the fees listed in the table, there are also other fees payable to the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

Item or service	Fees
File the ex parte summons in an existing case or an ex parte Originating Summons if you are enforcing a settlement agreement registered under section 7(2) of the Employment Claims Act 2016 or an order of the Employment Claims Tribunal/Small Claims Tribunal	$20; or $10 (for enforcing an order of the Employment Claims Tribunal/Small Claims Tribunal)
File the affidavit	$1 per page, subject to a minimum fee of $10 per affidavit
Extract the Garnishee Order To Show Cause	$50; or $10 (for enforcing an order of the Employment Claims Tribunal)

Item or service

Fees

File the ex parte summons in an existing case or an ex parte Originating Summons if you are enforcing a settlement agreement registered under section 7(2) of the Employment Claims Act 2016 or an order of the Employment Claims Tribunal/Small Claims Tribunal

$20; or

$10 (for enforcing an order of the Employment Claims Tribunal/Small Claims Tribunal)

File the affidavit

$1 per page, subject to a minimum fee of $10 per affidavit

Extract the Garnishee Order To Show Cause

$50; or

$10 (for enforcing an order of the Employment Claims Tribunal)

Refer to the following for the filing fees if your claim is up to $1 million.

In addition to the fees listed in the table, there are also other fees payable to the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

Item or service	Fees
File the summons	$100
File the affidavit	$2 per page, subject to a minimum of $50 per affidavit
Extract the Garnishee Order To Show Cause	$100

Refer to the following for the filing fees if your claim is more than $1 million.

In addition to the fees listed in the table, there are also other fees payable to the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

Item or service	Fees
File the summons	$200
File the affidavit	$2 per page, subject to a minimum of $50 per affidavit
Extract the Garnishee Order To Show Cause	$200

After you file

You will be notified of the outcome of your application for the Garnishee Order To Show Cause via a Registrar's Direction.

If your application is successful, you will have to extract the Garnishee Order To Show Cause at the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau and serve it on the garnishee and judgment debtor at least 7 days before the date to attend court for the show cause proceedings as stated in the order.

At the show cause proceedings

You must attend court for a show cause proceedings together with the garnishee and the judgment debtor on the date stated on the Garnishee Order To Show Cause.

At the show cause proceedings, the garnishee may confirm if they owe money to the judgment debtor or dispute their debt due to the judgment debtor. The court may then proceed to make a final garnishee order.

This means the garnishee has to pay the money to you instead of to the judgment debtor.

Note

Need help?

The information here is for general guidance as the courts do not provide legal advice. If you need further help, you may want to get independent legal advice.

Find out more