Enforcing a D.C. money judgment: four weeks, four weeks, fifteen weeks

A District of Columbia garnishment can be perfectly valid, properly served, and answered on time — and still evaporate because the judgment creditor let a deadline pass. Rule 69-I(e) sets three different periods depending on what happened and what is being garnished, and Rule 69-I(f) disposes of the garnishment if none of them is met.

Start there, because it is the provision that costs creditors money.

The three deadlines

No judgment against a garnishee under D.C. Code § 16-556 or -575 (2012 Repl.) will be entered except by court order. Applications for a judgment must be filed: (1) within 4 weeks after answers to the interrogatories are due and not filed; (2) as to property other than "wages" as defined in D.C. Code § 16-571 (2012 Repl.), within 4 weeks after the garnishee has filed answers to the interrogatories; (3) as to such "wages," within 15 weeks of the date on which a garnishee fails to make a payment due under the writ; or (4) within a later time authorized by the court on a motion made within the applicable period.

Limb (4) is the safety valve, and it is narrow: the motion for more time has to be made inside the period, not after it lapses.

And then the consequence, in Rule 69-I(f):

If no judgment of condemnation or of recovery has been applied for or entered within the time provided by this rule, the garnishment and attachment must be dismissed. On oral or written request, the clerk must enter a dismissal of the garnishment and attachment and must furnish a certificate of the dismissal to the garnishee, the defendant, or any other person.

"Must be dismissed," and the clerk will do it on oral request from the garnishee, the debtor, or anyone else. For a judgment debtor or an employer carrying a stale attachment, that is a one-sentence remedy.

The writ, and the exempt-funds directives

Rule 69-I(g) prescribes what a non-wage writ must contain, and most of it is routine — caption, addresses, date of issuance, the total balance due, and interrogatories for the garnishee. Two paragraphs are not routine, because they direct the garnishee to release money rather than hold it.

The writ must

direct the garnishee not to hold, and to make available to the account holder, all funds from an account that consists solely of direct deposited benefits that are exempt: (A) under federal law, including: (i) Social Security benefits; (ii) Supplemental Security Income; (iii) Social Security disability benefits; (iv) veterans' benefits; (v) Civil Service Retirement System benefits; (vi) Federal Employee Retirement System benefits; (vii) Black Lung or Railroad Retirement benefits; or (B) under District of Columbia law, including: (i) disability or unemployment benefits; (ii) public assistance/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits; or (iii) workers' compensation benefits

And where the account is mixed:

direct the garnishee, in any account that consists in part of benefits that are exempt under federal law, not to hold, and to make available to the account holder, an amount equal to the total amount of exempt funds deposited into the account in the two months prior to the service of a writ of attachment

That two-month look-back operates automatically, at the bank, without the debtor filing anything. It does not require a claim of exemption and it does not wait for a hearing. A debtor whose only income is Social Security should not see the account frozen at all.

Notice to the debtor: three days

Rule 69-I(h):

The judgment creditor must mail to the judgment debtor at his or her last known address, by certified and first-class mail, a copy of the writ and the Notice to Debtor of Non-Wage Garnishment and Exemptions on the form available in the clerk's office, no more than 3 days after service of the writ on the garnishee.

Both methods of mail, the court's form, and three days from service on the garnishee. The obligation is the creditor's, not the clerk's.

Claiming an exemption stops everything

Rule 69-I(i) is the debtor's provision, and its third paragraph is the one that matters most:

(1) Motion Claiming Exemption. A party may raise a claim that funds are exempt from a writ of attachment by filing a motion with the Presiding Judge, or his or her designee, claiming an exemption and requesting a hearing. (2) Hearing on Motion. On the filing of a motion, the clerk must set a hearing before the Presiding Judge of the Civil Division, or his or her designee, as soon as practicable, but no later than 7 days after the motion is filed unless: (A) the moving party requests a later date; or (B) the parties otherwise agree. (3) Effect of Filing Motion. On the filing of a motion, any further action on the writ of attachment, including any condemnation of funds, must be stayed until a decision is made by the Presiding Judge, or his or her designee, on the merits of the motion.

Three features worth noting. The rule sets no deadline for making the claim — unlike states that give five or ten or twenty-one days. The hearing comes fast: no later than 7 days, unless the moving party asks for longer. And the filing itself stays the writ, so nothing can be condemned while the claim is pending. Compare claiming an exemption from garnishment for how other jurisdictions structure this.

The garnishee's ten days, and the creditor's fourteen

Rule 69-I(d) runs both clocks:

Within 10 days after accepting service of the writ of attachment, a garnishee must file an answer to the interrogatories with the clerk and serve a copy of the answer on the defendant and the party for whom the garnishment was issued. If within 14 days after service of the answer, or at a later time if the court allows, the party for whom the garnishment was issued fails to contest the answer to the interrogatories under D.C. Code § 16-522 (2012 Repl.), the garnishee's obligations under the attachment will be limited by his answer.

A garnishee's answer that goes unchallenged for fourteen days becomes the ceiling on what the garnishee owes. An employer who answers that it holds nothing has, in practical terms, ended the garnishment unless the creditor moves.

Third parties with a claim to the money

Rule 69-I(c) gives anyone else with an interest a route in, and a fast jury right:

Before the final disposition of the property attached or its proceeds—except where it is real property—any person may file a motion and affidavit setting forth a claim to, interest in, or lien on it. Without other pleadings, the court must try the issues raised by the claim and may make all orders necessary to protect any right of the claimant. Any party to the proceeding may demand a jury trial by filing a demand within 7 days of the filing of the motion and affidavit.

Seven days to demand a jury, counted from the claimant's filing.

Finding the assets

Rule 69(a)(2) points to Rule 69-I for post-judgment discovery, and Rule 69-I(a) opens the whole discovery chapter to a judgment creditor:

All discovery procedures authorized by Rules 26 -37 are available to the judgment creditor in the manner prescribed by those rules, except that a subpoena ad testificandum addressed to a person other than the judgment debtor and a subpoena duces tecum may issue only on order of the court. The first subpoena ad testificandum or notice of deposition addressed to the judgment debtor may issue without court order, but any subsequent subpoena or notice so addressed may issue only on order of the court.

Interrogatories and document requests to the debtor run as they would in the case itself. Everything aimed at a third party, and every deposition of the debtor after the first, needs leave. Plan the first one properly: it is the only one you get for free. The D.C. motion to compel discovery guide covers what happens when the answers do not come.

Rule 69-I(b) is the older, blunter tool — the debtor examination in court:

The plaintiff may summon the defendant and, on leave of court, any other person to appear in court on a date certain and submit to oral examination respecting execution of any judgment rendered. Any person so summoned may, on leave of court, be required to produce papers, records, or other documents at the examination. Any person summoned to appear for oral examination must appear first in the clerk's office. If the person summoned was personally served but fails to appear, the court may, on plaintiff's request, issue a bench warrant for the person's arrest.

Note the sequence: the debtor may be summoned as of right, anyone else only by leave; documents only by leave; and personal service plus non-appearance can produce a bench warrant.

Wage attachments: the creditor's three duties

Rule 69-II applies only "to attachments issued pursuant to D.C. Code §§ 16-571 to -584 (2012 Repl.) and 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq." Within that field it imposes obligations that run against the creditor, and they are easy to overlook.

Report outside payments within 14 days.

It is the duty of a judgment creditor who is receiving payments on account of the judgment from an employer-garnishee and who will receive credits upon said judgment from a source other than said employer-garnishee to notify said employer-garnishee and the clerk in writing of such receipt within 14 days, including the date, amount, and source.

Apply payments in a fixed order, and receipt them within 7 days.

Every judgment creditor receiving payments from an employer-garnishee pursuant to the issuance of a wage attachment is obligated to credit the payments first against the accrued interest on the unpaid balance of the judgment, if any, second on the principal amount of the judgment, and third on those attorney's fees and costs actually assessed in the cause, and must send a receipt to the garnishee within 7 days after such payment, which receipt must set forth the application of such payment pursuant to the schedule above.

Interest, then principal, then assessed fees and costs — in that order, with a receipt to the employer showing the arithmetic.

And the sanction. Rule 69-II(d) lets the court, on the motion of any interested party, vacate the attachment and award fees:

(1) enter an order vacating and setting aside the attachment and continuing levy of said judgment creditor then in force and effect, but without prejudice to the refiling and serving of another attachment, which must follow prior attachment of wages of the judgment debtor in the hands of the same employer-garnishee; and (2) enter a judgment of a reasonable attorney's fee and tax costs in favor of the party filing the motion to vacate and set aside the attachment.

Note what the creditor loses. The new attachment goes to the back of the queue behind any prior attachment with the same employer, and the creditor pays the moving party's fees. For a debtor or an employer, this is the provision to check the creditor's paperwork against.

A short checklist

If you hold the judgment:

1. Diary the Rule 69-I(e) deadline — four weeks, four weeks or fifteen weeks, depending on the facts.
2. Move for more time inside the period, never after.
3. Contest the garnishee's answer within 14 days or be bound by it.
4. Mail the writ and the Notice to Debtor within 3 days, certified and first-class.
5. Use the first debtor deposition wisely; later ones need leave.
6. Report outside credits within 14 days, apply payments interest-first, and receipt them within 7.

If the judgment is against you:

1. File the exemption motion. There is no deadline, the hearing comes within 7 days, and filing stays the writ.
2. Check the account first — exempt direct deposits should never have been held, and mixed accounts carry a two-month look-back.
3. Ask the clerk for a dismissal if the creditor missed the Rule 69-I(e) deadline; an oral request is enough.
4. Check the creditor's Rule 69-II compliance — non-compliance can vacate the attachment and shift fees.

Where these rules live

• D.C. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 69 — Execution
• D.C. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 69-I — Attachment After Judgment
• D.C. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 69-II — Particular Provisions for Attachments of Wages After Judgment
• D.C. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 64-I — Attachment Before Judgment
• Claiming an exemption from garnishment
• D.C. motion to compel discovery

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the D.C. Code provisions these rules operate on — including the wage-exemption formula — are statutes this site doesn't carry.