§ 482.120.Order Restricting Amount of Property to Be Levied

Attachment is meant to secure a claim, not to tie up more of a defendant’s property than the claim justifies. Section 482.120 gives the court a tool to prevent that overreach: if, at the hearing on issuing a writ, the court finds that the value of the defendant’s interest in the property described in the plaintiff’s application clearly exceeds the amount necessary to satisfy the amount to be secured, the court may direct the order of levy on the described property or restrict how much of it may be levied upon.

This proportionality check works alongside § 488.720, which lets a defendant later move to release an attachment to the extent the value of the defendant’s interest in already-attached property exceeds what is needed to satisfy the secured amount.