If you win a case in small claims court, county court or district court, for an action seeking payment of money, the court will issue a judgment in your favor. This is a court order requiring the losing party (judgment debtor) to pay you (judgment creditor) the money. The judgment debtor may pay the judgment willingly after the trial.

If the judgment debtor does not pay you after the trial, there are various options available to you. Remember, the court is not responsible for collecting the money and sending it to you. There are a number of ways to collect a judgment once it is entered. Garnishment is one method of collecting a judgment. Some others are liens and attachments. This page addresses garnishments.

Ask the judgment debtor to pay you the money. If he or she refuses, follow the steps below.

You may garnish the losing party's personal property or any general debts owed to the losing party, such as wages or rent. You may garnish the losing party's bank account.

To garnish a bank account:

• Fill out a Writ of Garnishment with Notice of Exemption and Pending Levy. If the debtor is a person (not a business), bring it to the clerk of court where the judgment was entered. It will be signed and issued by the clerk.
• Take the original Writ of Garnishment and two copies to the sheriff for service on the judgment debtor and on the bank (the garnishee). The sheriff will charge a fee for the service of the writ. A friend over the age of 18 may serve the writ for you but make sure that the friend fills out the return of service and signs it in front of a notary public before you file it with the court.
• After the service of the writ on the garnishee and the judgment debtor, the sheriff will send you two Returns of Service as proof that the writ was served.
• File both the Returns of Service with the clerk of the court.
• If a copy of the Writ of Garnishment was properly served on the judgment debtor and no written "claim of exemption" (a list of property or wages that are exempt from garnishment) was filed within 10 days by the judgment, debtor, the clerk of court will order the bank (garnishee) to pay the garnished amount to the court. Upon receipt of the garnished funds, the clerk of court will write a check to you.

If you do not know where the losing party lives or has a bank account:

• If you win a money judgment, the losing party (judgment debtor) is required to provide you with any information necessary for helping you collect the money, such as information about bank accounts, property owned, employment, address, etc.
• You must then "serve" the Request for Interrogatories on the judgment debtor. If the judgment debtor fails to answer the interrogatories within 20 days of being served, you can obtain a court order compelling the judgment debtor to answer the interrogatories. For help in getting such a court order, check with your local bar association about free clinics or resources.

The following are ways of "serving" a Request for Interrogatories:

• To get information, you must fill out a Request for Interrogatories, which consists of a written list of all the questions that you want answered and a request that the judgment debtor answer them. These questions are called "interrogatories."
• The clerk of court can mail it by certified mail to the person from whom you are requesting the interrogatories at the address that you provide. However, if the person refuses to accept the certified mail, then service is incomplete, and you must try another way of serving a copy of the Request for Interrogatories to him or her.
• A friend or another person, who is over the age of 18 and not involved in this situation, can serve a copy of the Request for Interrogatories.
• To serve the request, the friend must deliver a copy of the request to the judgment debtor -either at that person's home or place of work. The copy must be delivered personally to the judgment debtor or to anyone over the age of 18 who is a member of the judgment debtor's household. It cannot be delivered to someone who is simply visiting the house. It may not be posted on the door or left in the mailbox. If no one is home, the person delivering the copy of the Request for Interrogatories will have to try again when someone is there.
• The sheriff or a private process server may deliver a copy of the Request for Interrogatories; there is a fee for this. You must make arrangements with the sheriff or process server on your own. If you win your case, you will likely be awarded "costs," which includes the cost to serve the judgment debtor.

Writ of Continuing Garnishment

• This writ lasts for 90 days. The garnishee (employer) will figure out the amount to be taken from each of the losing party's paychecks within the 90-day period. The garnishee must file the answer on the Writ of Continuing Garnishment to the clerk of court, with a copy to the judgment creditor. This must be done no less than five and no more than ten days following the time the judgment debtor receives earnings for the first pay period affected by the writ or 40 days following the date that the writ was served.
• The garnishee will pay any nonexempt earnings and deliver a calculation of the amount of exempt earnings form and the check for nonexempt earnings should be sent to the Judgment creditor or clerk of court.
• If the checks are to be sent to the judgment creditor, then the garnishee must also send the answers to the court. The garnishee may need to make one additional mailing of the answers to the clerk of court every 90 days if the check is designated to be mailed to the judgment creditor.
• To assist judgment creditors in receiving funds in a more timely manner, the judgment creditor who is represented by an attorney or is a licensed collection agency, may designate in the Writ of Continuing Garnishment, the address of the judgment creditor or judgment creditor's attorney to whom the check for nonexempt earnings is to be mailed.
• The judgment creditor is required to provide to the judgment debtor, upon reasonable request, a written accounting of all funds received to the date of the request, including the balance due at the date of request. The judgment debtor may file objections to the calculation of exempt earnings with the court and may contest their judgment record.
• Only one Writ of Continuing Garnishment may be served on the employer within any 90-day period.

To garnish the judgment debtor's wages:

• Fill out a Writ of Continuing Garnishment. Take it to the clerk of the court, who will sign it.
• Take the original and two copies of the signed writ to the sheriff for service on the garnishee (in this situation, the debtor's employer is the garnishee).
• After the writ is served, the sheriff will provide you with a return of service as proof that it was served.
• File the Return of Service with the clerk of the court.
• If a garnishee does not answer to pay any nonexempt earnings as directed within the required time, the clerk of court will enter (upon request) a default against the garnishee.

Property that cannot be garnished:

• Certain necessary items cannot be garnished. Some of these items include:

-basic clothing up to $750

-watches and jewelry up to $500

-library, family pictures and school books up to $750

-burial sites -$1500 worth of household goods -workers' compensation benefits -unemployment compensation benefits -insurance benefits -public employee retirement benefits -social security and civil service benefits

-proceeds of the sale of homestead property -in certain cases, cars, mobile homes, or house trailers may not be included.

• There is a limit to the amount by which a person's paycheck can be garnished. The maximum amount that can be deducted from a person's weekly wages is the lesser of (1) 75 percent of his or her "disposable earnings" (what is left after required deductions are made, such as FICA and social security) or (2) the amount by which weekly earnings exceed 30 times the federal hourly minimum wage ($5.15 per hour as of September 1, 1997). In other words, if a person is only working 30 hours a week at a minimum wage, or if a person's weekly earnings are only the equivalent of 30 times the hourly minimum wage, these wages will be exempt from garnishment. The amount is different for child support judgments.

We appreciate your comments and concerns regarding this brochure. Send your written comments to: Rebecca Virtue, Public Education Coordinator Colorado Judicial Branch 1301 Pennsylvania St., #300 Denver, CO 80203 E-mail: rebecca.virtue@judicial.state.co.us