The Utah writ of garnishment: fourteen days to reply, and silence makes the answers true

Utah puts the whole garnishment machinery in one rule, including the earnings caps that most states leave to statute. Two provisions decide what happens to a debtor.

Fourteen days to file a reply after the garnishee's answers are served.

And Rule 64D(h)(3): a person who fails to reply is treated as accepting that the answers are correct and that the property is not exempt, except as the answers themselves reflect.

Silence does not preserve your exemption. It forfeits it.

How much of your pay can be taken

Utah R. Civ. P. 64D(a):

Availability. A writ of garnishment is available to seize property of the defendant in the possession or under the control of a person other than the defendant. A writ of garnishment is available after final judgment or after the claim has been filed and prior to judgment. The maximum portion of disposable earnings of an individual subject to seizure is the lesser of: (1) 50% of the defendant's disposable earnings for a writ to enforce payment of a judgment for failure to support dependent children or 25% of the defendant's disposable earnings for any other judgment; or (2) the amount by which the defendant's disposable earnings for a pay period exceeds the number of weeks in that pay period multiplied by thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by the Fair Labor Standards Act in effect at the time the earnings are payable.

The rule takes the lesser of the two. The second limb is the floor that protects low earnings entirely — below that threshold, nothing is garnishable.

Note also the first sentence of the second line: a writ is available before judgment as well as after, on the grounds set out in (b).

The garnishee has seven business days

Rule 64D(g):

Garnishee's responsibilities. The writ shall direct the garnishee to complete the following within seven business days of service of the writ upon the garnishee: (1) answer the interrogatories under oath or affirmation; (2) serve the answers on the plaintiff; and (3) serve the writ, answers, notice of exemptions and two copies of the reply form upon the defendant and any other person shown by the records of the garnishee to have an interest in the property.

The garnishee must serve you with four things: the writ, the answers, a notice of exemptions, and two copies of the reply form. If any of those is missing from what you received, the garnishee has not complied.

The duty extends to any other person shown by the garnishee's records to have an interest — a joint account holder, for instance.

Fourteen days to reply

Rule 64D(h)(1):

The plaintiff or defendant may file and serve upon the garnishee a reply to the answers, a copy of the garnishee's answers, and a request for a hearing. The reply shall be filed and served within 14 days after service of the answers or amended answers, but the court may deem the reply timely if filed before notice of sale of the property or before the property is delivered to the plaintiff. The reply may: (A) challenge the issuance of the writ; (B) challenge the accuracy of the answers; (C) claim the property or a portion of the property is exempt; or (D) claim a set off.

Fourteen days from service of the answers — but there is a safety valve: the court may deem a late reply timely if it arrives before notice of sale or before the property is delivered to the creditor. That is discretionary, so do not rely on it.

Rule 64D(h)(2):

The reply is deemed denied, and the court shall conduct an evidentiary hearing as soon as possible and not to exceed 14 days.

You do not have to wait for an answer to your reply. It is deemed denied, and the court must hold an evidentiary hearing within 14 days.

What silence costs

Rule 64D(h)(3):

If a person served by the garnishee fails to reply, as to that person: (A) the garnishee's answers are deemed correct; and (B) the property is not exempt, except as reflected in the answers.

Both consequences are automatic. The answers become correct, and the property becomes non-exempt — except to the extent the garnishee's own answers already showed an exemption.

This is why the reply matters more in Utah than in states where an exemption survives until claimed.

Twenty-one days before the money moves

Rule 64D(i):

Delivery of property. A garnishee shall not deliver property until the property is due the defendant. Unless otherwise directed in the writ, the garnishee shall retain the property until 21 days after service by the garnishee under subsection (g). If the garnishee is served with a reply within that time, the garnishee shall retain the property and comply with the order of the court entered after the hearing on the reply. Otherwise, the garnishee shall deliver the property as provided in the writ.

The garnishee holds for 21 days after it served you. A reply inside that window freezes the property until the court rules. That is the practical protection, and it is why the 14-day reply period sits comfortably inside it.

The garnishee's own exposure

Rule 64D(j)(1): a garnishee who complies with the rule, the writ or a court order "is released from liability, unless answers to interrogatories are successfully controverted."

Rule 64D(j)(2)(A): a garnishee who fails to comply may be ordered to appear and show cause why it should not be ordered to pay "such amounts as are just, including the valu" of the property.

Priority, and pay periods

Rule 64D(f):

Content of writ; priority. The writ shall instruct the garnishee to complete the steps in subsection (g) and instruct the garnishee how to deliver the property. Several writs may be issued at the same time so long as only one garnishee is named in a writ. Priority among writs of garnishment is in order of service. A writ of garnishment of earnings applies to the earnings accruing during the pay period in which the writ is effective.

Two useful facts. Competing writs rank in order of service. And an earnings writ reaches only the pay period in which it is effective — it is not open-ended.

What the creditor had to file

Rule 64D(c) requires the post-judgment application to state the nature, location, account number and estimated value of the property, whether any of it is earnings, the amount of the judgment and the amount due, anyone else known to claim an interest, and that the garnishee fee under Utah Code § 78A-2-216 is attached or will be served.

Rule 64D(d) requires a judgment information statement or your name and address, and if known the last four digits of your social security and driver license numbers.

An application missing the earnings disclosure or the amount due is worth challenging under (h)(1)(A).

Execution, and the rest of the toolkit

Where the creditor is seizing property directly rather than through a third party, the writ is Rule 64E(a): "A writ of execution is available to seize property in the possession or under the control of" the defendant.

If the underlying judgment is the problem, Utah's window is among the shortest in the country — 90 days on the first three Rule 60(b) grounds. See setting aside a Utah default judgment.

Before you respond

1. Check what the garnishee served on you — writ, answers, notice of exemptions, and two reply forms.
2. Diary 14 days from service of the answers.
3. File the reply even if you are unsure. Silence deems the answers correct and the property non-exempt.
4. Use all four grounds if they apply — issuance, accuracy, exemption, set off.
5. Check the arithmetic against the 25% (or 50%) cap and the 30× minimum wage floor.
6. Expect a hearing within 14 days. The reply is deemed denied automatically.

How Utah compares

A short checklist

1. File a reply within 14 days. It is the whole of your protection.
2. Claim the exemption in the reply, not informally — (h)(3) is unforgiving.
3. Check the 25% and 30× minimum-wage limits against what is being withheld.
4. Confirm the garnishee served you the notice of exemptions and two reply forms.
5. Remember the 21-day hold, which keeps the money in place while you act.
6. Challenge the application if it omits the earnings disclosure or the amount due.
7. If another person has an interest in the account, make sure they were served too.

Where these rules live

• Utah R. Civ. P. 64 — Writs in general
• Utah R. Civ. P. 64D — Writ of garnishment
• Utah R. Civ. P. 64E — Writ of execution
• Utah R. Civ. P. 62 — Stay of proceedings to enforce a judgment

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.