Rhode Island wage attachment: a hearing before your employer is ever served, and not objecting waives nothing

In most states a wage garnishment reaches your employer before you have said a word about it. Rhode Island reverses the order.

Rule 69(f) requires a motion, notice, and a hearing date on the face of the papers — and then says plainly: "No wage attachment shall be served upon an employer until after the date of the hearing."

It goes further. Even if you say nothing, "a debtor's failure to object to said motion shall not be deemed as a waiver of any statutory exemptions."

The wage attachment rule

R.I. Super. Ct. R. Civ. P. 69(f):

Attachment of Wages After Judgment. A writ of attachment to be served as a writ of garnishment of wages after the plaintiff's claim has been reduced to judgment in any civil action shall be issued, in the same action, only upon motion and notice to the defendant and an opportunity to be heard thereon and shall contain the date of the hearing, which shall be not less than ten (10) nor more than twenty-five (25) days after the date of the mailing of the notice. No wage attachment shall be served upon an employer until after the date of the hearing.

Ten days is the minimum notice, twenty-five the maximum wait. If a writ reached your employer without a hearing date having come and gone, the sequence was wrong.

The rest of 69(f) adds four more protections:

However, a debtor's failure to object to said motion shall not be deemed as a waiver of any statutory exemptions available to said debtor, and a debtor may move at any time to amend or vacate an order of attachment. The granting of said motion shall relate only to current and identified wages, and recovery in post-judgment process shall be limited to the amount of the judgment plus actual costs expended and post-judgment statutory interest. If, after the time set for hearing, the motion is granted, then a writ of attachment may be served upon the employer, along with a completed copy of a notice to the employer setting forth the obligations of the employer. A writ of attachment so issued shall expire without prejudice unless served upon the employer within forty-five (45) days of its issuance, and no subsequent writ of attachment shall be issued in the same action without notice to the defendant and an opportunity for a hearing as provided herein.

Each of these is worth using.

Missing the hearing costs you nothing on exemptions. Elsewhere, failing to claim an exemption in time can forfeit it. Rhode Island says in terms that it does not.

"Current and identified wages" is a narrow grant. The order does not float forward indefinitely over whatever you earn.

The cap is specific. Judgment, actual costs expended, and post-judgment statutory interest — not estimated costs and not other charges.

Forty-five days is a hard expiry. A writ that sits unserved lapses, and the creditor has to start the notice-and-hearing process again.

Non-wage trustee process

Rule 69(e) covers everything other than wages, and moves faster.

On the day of service of a post-judgment writ of trustee process upon a garnishee, other than a writ attaching wages or a writ against a corporate or business entity judgment debtor, the plaintiff shall send to the court, in accordance with Rule 1(b)(1)(I) and contain the certificate of service in Rule 1(b)(1)(B), and to the defendant at the last known address a copy of the writ of trustee process and a notice thereof containing a date for a hearing before the court of any claim for exemption which the defendant may have under federal or state law. The date for the hearing shall be not less than five (5) nor more than nine (9) days after the date of sending of the notice.

Here the money is caught first and the hearing follows within five to nine days. The notice must state the hearing date for "any claim for exemption which the defendant may have under federal or state law", so the exemption hearing is built into the process rather than something you have to request.

The carve-out for a corporate or business entity judgment debtor means this notice regime protects individuals, not companies.

The citation: how a creditor gets you into court

Where an execution comes back unsatisfied, Rule 69(b) supplies the next step.

Definition. A citation in supplementary proceedings is an order issued by the clerk to a judgment debtor ordering the debtor to appear before the court at a time and place named to show cause why an examination into the debtor's circumstances should not be made and a decree be entered ordering the debtor to pay such judgment in full or by installment.

Rule 69(b)(3) allows the clerk to put the citation on the same form as the writ of execution, in which case it takes effect when you fail to satisfy the officer's demand. Where the execution is to be returned unsatisfied, the officer must mark the copy left with you with the legend:

EXECUTION UNSATISFIED, JUDGMENT DEBTOR MUST APPEAR IN COURT

Rule 69(b)(5) is the reason not to ignore it. If you fail to appear, "the inquiry may proceed in the judgment debtor's absence and a civil body attachment may be issued", in the manner provided by § 9-17-7 for witnesses who fail to appear.

The installment decree

Rule 69(c)(1) is the point of the exercise, and it starts from your living costs:

If, after allowing the judgment debtor out of income a reasonable amount for the support of the debtor and the debtor's family, if any, the court finds that the debtor is able to pay the judgment in full or by periodic installment payments, it shall enter a decree fixing the amount, frequency, and manner of said payment.

The court subtracts "a reasonable amount for the support of the debtor and the debtor's family" first, and only what remains is available. The decree then fixes the amount, frequency and manner.

Rule 69(c)(2) allows a further hearing on ability to pay on any party's motion, with notice under Rule 5(b) — but bars one where no ability to pay has earlier been determined, unless the court, on an affidavit or sworn testimony, finds cause to believe a new inquiry should be made.

If the court has found you unable to pay, a creditor cannot simply keep re-noticing hearings.

Rule 69(c)(3) enforces the decree by a fresh citation to show cause for non-compliance, served the same way, with a civil body attachment if you fail to appear.

Rule 69(d) makes "a refusal or willful failure to comply within the time stated in the decree" punishable as contempt — and adds that if you are imprisoned as a result, "said incarceration shall not operate to satisfy said judgment or bar any action to reach any assets."

The standard in 69(d) is refusal or willful failure. Inability to pay is not the same thing, which is what makes the 69(c)(1) support allowance and the 69(c)(2) protection matter.

The stay before any of this

Rule 62(a) bars execution "until the expiration of twenty (20) days after its entry or until the time for appeal from the judgment has expired", with the usual carve-out for injunctions and receivership judgments.

Rule 62(b) allows a discretionary stay pending a Rule 60 motion — Rule 60 alone, as in Massachusetts. Rhode Island's default rule requires ten days' notice and a military affidavit; see setting aside a Rhode Island default judgment.

Rule 62(d) allows a stay on appeal by supersedeas bond, effective "when the supersedeas bond is approved by the court", and exempts the State of Rhode Island as appellant from the bond requirement.

Where this connects

For the case itself, see the Rhode Island motion to dismiss and responding to a Rhode Island complaint — twenty days, and ten days' notice before judgment.

How Rhode Island compares

A short checklist

1. Check the hearing date on a wage attachment motion. It must be 10 to 25 days after the notice was mailed.
2. Your employer should not be served until after that date.
3. Attend if you can — but missing it waives no exemption, and you may move to amend or vacate at any time.
4. Check the amount claimed against the cap: the judgment, actual costs expended, and post-judgment statutory interest.
5. Watch the 45 days. An unserved writ expires, and a new one needs fresh notice and a hearing.
6. For a non-wage trustee process, the exemption hearing is 5 to 9 days out — act quickly.
7. Do not ignore a citation. Failing to appear allows the inquiry in your absence and a civil body attachment.
8. At an installment hearing, put your household support costs in evidence. The court must allow for them before finding an ability to pay.

Where these rules live

• R.I. Super. Ct. R. Civ. P. 69 — Execution, Supplementary Proceedings, Attachment and Trustee Process After Judgment
• R.I. Super. Ct. R. Civ. P. 62 — Stay of Proceedings to Enforce a Judgment
• R.I. Super. Ct. R. Civ. P. 60 — Relief from Judgment or Order

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and which wages and property are exempt is governed by statutes this site doesn't cover.