Oklahoma wage garnishment: a 180-day lien, and five days to claim an exemption

Oklahoma runs five different postjudgment garnishments, and picking the wrong one wastes the filing. The workhorse against a salaried debtor is the continuing earnings garnishment under 12 O.S. § 1173.4, which attaches to wages for a hundred and eighty days at a time.

For a debtor, the number to know is five. That is how long you have to claim an exemption before the route gets harder.

Five days

Section 1174(C) requires the court clerk to attach a notice to every postjudgment garnishment, and sets the clock inside it:

In all cases of postjudgment garnishment, the court clerk shall attach notice, in a form prescribed by the Oklahoma Bar Association, with the garnishment, in the manner provided by Section 1172.2 of this title that the defendant may be entitled to claim an exemption for any assistance received pursuant to the terms of the Federal or Oklahoma Social Security Act and other exemptions that may be available to the defendant, and that any such claim should be filed with the court clerk within five (5) days from receipt of notice in a form prescribed by the Oklahoma Bar Association, requesting a hearing as to the status of any assets which the defendant asserts are exempt.

And the consequence of missing it:

Any proceeding to claim an exemption initiated subsequent to five (5) days after receipt of notice shall be by motion unless otherwise agreed by the parties.

Five days from receipt of the notice, not from service on the employer. Miss it and the exemption is not lost — but it now has to be raised by motion rather than on the form. File the form. Compare how other states set this deadline in claiming an exemption from garnishment.

Section 1174(E) lists five ways the notice may be given, including registered or certified mail with return receipt filed in the action, and — where the defendant is a nonresident or cannot be found — "[p]ublication one time in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the action is filed at least five (5) days prior to the date on which the garnishee's answer is due."

Which garnishment

Section 1171(B) sets out the whole menu:

Subject to the limitations and exceptions otherwise provided by law, there shall be two classes of garnishments: 1. Prejudgment garnishments, which shall consist only of general garnishments pursuant to Section 1173.3 of this title; and 2. Postjudgment garnishments, which shall consist of the following types of garnishments: a. income assignment for child support pursuant to the provisions of Section 1171.2 of this title, b. noncontinuing earnings garnishment pursuant to Section 1173 of this title, c. garnishment for collection of child support pursuant to Section 1173.2 of this title, d. general garnishment pursuant to Section 1173.3 of this title, and e. continuing earnings garnishment pursuant to Section 1173.4 of this title.

Before judgment, only the general garnishment is available. Earnings cannot be reached at all until the claim is reduced to judgment.

The 180-day lien

Section 1173.4(G) is the provision that makes the continuing garnishment worth using:

The garnishment summons served on the garnishee under this section is a lien on the defendant's property due at the time of service or the effective date of the summons, to the extent the property is not exempt from garnishment. This lien attaches to subsequent nonexempt earnings until one of the following occurs: 1. The judgment against the defendant is vacated, modified, or satisfied in full; 2. The summons is dismissed; or 3. One hundred eighty (180) days from the effective date of the summons have elapsed; provided, an affidavit and summons shall continue in effect and shall apply to a pay period beginning before the end of the one-hundred-eighty-day period even if the conclusion extends beyond the end of the period.

One filing, a hundred and eighty days of wages, and a pay period that straddles the end date is caught in full.

Section 1173.4(A) defines the target broadly: "'earnings' means any form of payment to an individual including, but not limited to, salary, wages, commission, or other compensation, but does not include reimbursements for travel expenses for state employees."

Priority, and the day-150 rule

Section 1173.4(H) makes the first lien win, and then does something unusual with the queue:

A garnishment lien under this section has priority over any subsequent garnishment lien or garnishment summons served on the garnishee during the period it is in effect, regardless of whether the amounts withheld by the garnishee are reduced by the court or by agreement of the parties.

A garnishee served while an earlier lien is running must say so — answering "by stating that the garnishee is presently holding defendant's property under a previous garnishment lien or garnishment summons, and by giving the date when all previous garnishment liens or garnishment summons are expected to end."

Then the timing rule:

The subsequent summons is not effective if a summons or lien on the same cause of action is pending at the time of service unless the subsequent summons in the same cause of action is served after the one-hundred-fiftieth day of the previous garnishment lien.

A creditor renewing its own garnishment cannot serve the next summons early. Day 150 of the current 180-day lien is the earliest it takes effect. Diary it: serving on day 120 buys nothing.

Section 1173.4(K) then makes the handover automatic across creditors: "Any garnishment issued against a debtor already subject to a continuing or noncontinuing earnings garnishment shall take effect immediately upon the conclusion of the prior garnishment, and shall be effective for its full one-hundred-eighty-day period."

What the garnishee has to do, and when

Both earnings garnishments run on a seven-day answer-and-pay cycle, with different outer limits.

Continuing — § 1173.4(F): "Within seven (7) days after the end of each pay period, or, if the judgment debtor does not have regular pay periods or is not paid by the garnishee within thirty (30) days from the date of the garnishment summons, and after any payment by the garnishee to the judgment debtor, the garnishee shall file an answer with the court clerk, and pay the amount withheld to the judgment creditor's attorney or to the judgment creditor, if there is no attorney."

Noncontinuing — § 1173(F): "Within seven (7) days after the end of the defendant's then-current pay period or thirty (30) days from the date of service of the garnishment summons, whichever is earlier, the garnishee shall file the answer with the court clerk."

Both sections also require the summons to be "returned with proof of service within ten (10) days of its date," and both require the creditor to serve, along with the summons, "a copy of the judgment creditor's affidavit, a garnishee's answer form, notice of garnishment and request for hearing, and claim for exemptions."

The employer's answer has to end with a confirmation that it passed the notice on: § 1173.4(F)(5) requires a statement "[t]hat the garnishee has mailed or hand-delivered a copy of the notice of garnishment and exemptions, application for hearing, and the manner and date of compliance."

What happens when the employer ignores it

Section 1179 does not go straight to judgment. It orders the garnishee to answer, with a warning attached:

the court shall enter an order to the garnishee to file and deliver or mail the answer, to appear for deposition, or to answer the interrogatories within a time prescribed by the court, not to be less than seven (7) days, in the order and also to deliver within the same period of time to the court or the judgment creditor any money or property of defendant that the garnishee is required to pay or deliver under this title.

The notice of that order is designed to reach a real person — the court "shall specify a manner of giving notice which is calculated to be most likely to give actual notice to the garnishee or its managing officers, directors, or agents," and the order must state the amount that will be entered against the garnishee if it does nothing.

Then the consequence:

If the garnishee shall fail to file and deliver or mail the answer affidavit as required in the order, appear for deposition, or to answer interrogatories as provided in the order, then the court shall render judgment against the garnishee for the amount of the judgment and costs due the judgment creditor from the defendant in the principal action together with the costs of the garnishment, including a reasonable attorney's fee to the judgment creditor for prosecuting the garnishment.

An employer that ignores an Oklahoma garnishment can end up owing the whole judgment, plus fees, plus contempt. The section does preserve a way back: the court "shall have power to vacate or modify any order issued pursuant to this section in the manner provided in Sections 1031 or 1031.1 of this title."

The money the process costs

Section 1190 prices each step, and the amounts run in both directions.

The $35.00 bank fee is the one that stops a garnishment before it starts: send it with the summons or nothing is frozen.

Where the creditor and the garnishee actually litigate, § 1190(B)(1) shifts costs on the outcome: costs including "a reasonable attorney fee to be taxed in favor of the prevailing party" go to the creditor if it "recovered more than the garnishee admitted by the garnishee's answer," and to the garnishee if it did not.

Where child support already takes a share

Section 1173.4(I)(1) tells the garnishee how to stack a wage garnishment on top of an income assignment:

When a postjudgment wage garnishment under Section 1173 of this title or a continuing earnings garnishment under this section is issued against a defendant already subject to an income assignment for child support, the garnishee shall determine the maximum percentage of the defendant's disposable earnings according to the provisions of Section 1171.2 of this title and then deduct from that percentage the actual percentage of the defendant's disposable earnings actually withheld under the income assignment. The resulting percentage shall be the amount to be withheld by the garnishee, not to exceed twenty-five percent (25%).

The arithmetic is the employer's to do, and the ordinary judgment creditor takes what is left below the 25% ceiling.

Settling without dismissing

Section 1173.4(J) lets a creditor pause the garnishment by agreement:

A continuing earnings garnishment may be suspended or modified for a specific period of time within the effective period of the garnishment by the judgment creditor upon agreement with the judgment debtor, which agreement shall be in writing and filed by the judgment creditor with the clerk of the court in which the judgment was entered, and a copy of which shall be mailed by first-class mail, postage prepaid by the judgment creditor to the garnishee.

In writing, filed with the clerk, and mailed to the employer. A debtor negotiating relief should insist on all three steps, because the employer keeps withholding until it receives the copy.

A short checklist

If you hold the judgment:

1. Pick the right garnishment — continuing for wages, general for a bank account, and general only if you are still pre-judgment.
2. Send the $35.00 fee with a bank garnishment, or nothing is attached.
3. Serve the full packet: affidavit, answer form, notice and request for hearing, and claim for exemptions.
4. Return proof of service within 10 days.
5. Diary day 150, not day 180, for a renewal against the same debtor.
6. Use § 1179 when an employer ignores the summons; the order comes before the judgment.

If the judgment is against you:

1. File the claim of exemption within five days of receiving the notice, on the Bar Association form.
2. After five days you can still claim it, but by motion — say so and ask for a hearing.
3. Check whether an income assignment is already running; total withholding is capped at 25%.
4. Get any payment agreement in writing, filed with the clerk, and mailed to your employer — all three, or the withholding continues.

Where these rules live

• Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 1171 — Right to Garnishment; Classes of Garnishment
• Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 1172 — Commencement of Garnishment Proceedings; Affidavit
• Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 1173 — Noncontinuing Earnings Garnishment
• Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 1173.4 — Continuing Earnings Garnishment
• Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 1174 — Notice to Defendant of Garnishment Proceedings
• Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 1179 — Failure of Garnishee to Answer
• Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 1190 — Costs; Attorney Fee
• Claiming an exemption from garnishment

This page explains what the statutes say. It isn't legal advice, and the federal and Oklahoma exemption laws these sections operate on set amounts this page does not calculate.