Tennessee garnishment: the bank balance on the night of service, and ten years to collect
Tennessee procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Three numbers govern a Tennessee garnishment, and each one decides something.
The night of the service date fixes what a bank account owes. Ten days is the garnishee's answer period. And a garnishee who stays silent can end up liable for the entire judgment plus costs — not just the money it was holding.
Behind all of it sits a ten-year judgment that the creditor can renew, repeatedly.
What the rule reaches
Tenn. R. Civ. P. 69.01:
Scope. This rule applies to executions and garnishments on legal and equitable interests in personalty, including intangibles, and realty to satisfy judgments in all courts in Tennessee. A Circuit Court judgment will reach equitable interests without a Chancery Court action to enforce the judgment.
Rule 69.05(1):
Garnishee's Duty Generally. A writ of garnishment served on a garnishee holding property of the judgment debtor requires the garnishee to answer the writ and make an accounting to the court. Property includes a judgment debtor's realty, personalty, money, wages, corporate stock, choses in action (whether due or not), and court judgments.
The list is broad — including choses in action whether due or not, and court judgments owed to the debtor.
Rule 69.02: "Execution against personalty need not precede execution against realty." A creditor may go straight at real property.
Rule 69.03: discovery in aid of execution runs under Rules 26–37, excluding Rule 35 (physical and mental examinations).
The garnishee's timetable
Rule 69.05(3):
Garnishee's Duty Upon Service. The garnishee by the next business day after service shall ascertain whether the garnishee holds property of the debtor. If so, the garnishee shall mail one copy of the writ of garnishment with the notice to the last known address of the judgment debtor. Where the garnishee is a financial institution, the balance in the judgment debtor's accounts on the night of the service date is the amount subject to that garnishment writ. Within ten days of service, the garnishee shall file a written answer with the court accounting for any property of the judgment debtor held by the garnishee. Within thirty days of service, the garnishee shall file with the court any money or wages (minus statutory exemptions) otherwise payable to the judgment debtor. If the garnishee holds property other than money or wages, a judgment may be entered for that property and a writ of execution may issue against the garnishee.
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Ascertain whether it holds the debtor's property | the next business day after service |
| Mail a copy of the writ and notice to the debtor's last known address | on finding property |
| Bank accounts: the amount caught is the balance on the night of the service date | fixed at that moment |
| File a written answer accounting for the property | 10 days from service |
| Pay money or wages into court, less statutory exemptions | 30 days from service |
The banking rule is the one to check first. A Tennessee bank garnishment reaches the balance as it stood the night of the service date — not what arrives afterwards, and not what left before. If the amount taken does not match that snapshot, the accounting is wrong.
The mailing duty also falls on the garnishee, not the creditor. If your bank or employer never mailed you the writ and notice, that is a defect in the process.
The garnishee who does nothing
Rule 69.05(4):
Failure of Garnishee to Respond. If the garnishee fails to timely answer or pay money into court, a conditional judgment may be entered against the garnishee and an order served requiring the garnishee to show cause why the judgment should not be made final. If the garnishee does not show sufficient cause within ten days of service of the order, the conditional judgment shall be made final and a writ of execution may issue against the garnishee for the entire judgment owed to the judgment creditor, plus costs.
The sequence: conditional judgment, then a show-cause order, then ten days to answer it. Miss that and the conditional judgment becomes final — and it is for "the entire judgment owed to the judgment creditor, plus costs," regardless of how little the garnishee was holding.
Employers and banks served with a Tennessee writ should treat the ten-day answer date as a hard deadline.
Service takes four copies
Rule 69.05(2):
Service of Writ of Garnishment. The sheriff shall serve the garnishee with three copies of the writ of garnishment and one copy of the notice to judgment debtor.
Three copies of the writ, one of the debtor's notice — the mechanism that makes the garnishee's mailing duty workable.
The judgment lasts ten years, and renews
Rule 69.04:
Extension of Time. Within ten years from the entry of a judgment, the creditor whose judgment remains unsatisfied may file a motion to extend the judgment for another ten years. A copy of the motion shall be mailed by the judgment creditor to the last known address of the judgment debtor. If no response is filed by the judgment debtor within thirty days of the date the motion is filed with the clerk of court, the motion shall be granted without further notice or hearing, and an order extending the judgment shall be entered by the court. If a response is filed within thirty days of the filing date of the motion, the burden is on the judgment debtor to show why the judgment should not be extended for an additional ten years. The same procedure can be repeated within any additional ten-year period.
| Judgment life | ten years from entry |
| Extension | by motion filed within those ten years |
| If the debtor does not respond in 30 days | granted "without further notice or hearing" |
| If the debtor responds | the burden is on the debtor to show why not |
| Repeatable | "within any additional ten-year period" |
This is the provision most debtors never see coming. Silence for thirty days extends the judgment another decade automatically, and even a response puts the burden on you, not the creditor.
Diary the thirty days the moment an extension motion arrives.
Stopping enforcement
Tennessee's stay provision is Rule 62.01, which begins: "Initial Stay; Exceptions. Except as otherwise provided in this rule, no execution" may issue during the period it specifies.
Where the underlying judgment is the problem rather than the collection, the routes are setting aside a Tennessee default judgment — five grounds, one year on two of them — and the court's power under Rule 60.02 to suspend the judgment pending the hearing, which Tennessee writes into the same rule.
Before you respond
- Find the service date. For a bank account, that night's balance is the whole of what is caught.
- Check whether the garnishee mailed you the writ and notice. That duty is theirs.
- Claim statutory exemptions — the garnishee pays in "minus statutory exemptions," so the deduction should already reflect them.
- If you are the garnishee, answer within ten days. The alternative is liability for the entire judgment.
- Watch for an extension motion. Thirty days of silence renews the judgment for ten years.
How Tennessee compares
| Tennessee | Maryland | Georgia | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank amount fixed at | the night of the service date | — | — | — |
| Garnishee answer deadline | 10 days | Rule 2-321 period | — | — |
| Garnishee pays in | 30 days | — | — | — |
| Silent garnishee liable for | the entire judgment plus costs | contempt plus fees | — | — |
| Garnishee must mail the debtor a copy | yes, next business day | server mails it | — | — |
| Judgment life | 10 years, renewable | — | — | — |
| Extension granted on debtor's silence | 30 days | — | — | — |
A short checklist
- Pin the service date and get the account balance for that night.
- Check the garnishee's mailing to your last known address.
- File your exemption claim promptly; the payment in is net of exemptions.
- As a garnishee, calendar ten days to answer and thirty to pay in.
- As a garnishee facing a conditional judgment, show cause within ten days.
- Respond to any extension motion within thirty days — and expect to carry the burden.
- Remember execution can go straight at real property; personalty need not come first.
Where these rules live
- Tenn. R. Civ. P. 62 — Stay of Proceedings to Enforce a Judgment
- Tenn. R. Civ. P. 69 — Execution on Judgments
- Tenn. R. Civ. P. 60 — Relief From Judgments or Orders
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and which exemptions apply to your property is governed by statute this site doesn't cover.