12-711.Contest of answer and trial.

Section 12-711 governs how a garnishment case gets resolved once the garnishee has answered. Under subsection (a), either the judgment creditor or the judgment debtor can contest the truth or sufficiency of the garnishee's answer, and the court must immediately move to try the issues unless it postpones the hearing for good cause. No formal pleading is needed to contest the answer; the answer is treated as denied automatically.

Subsection (b) gives the judgment debtor a separate path to a hearing, aimed at disputing the garnishment itself or claiming an exemption, by notifying the clerk on the forms the clerk provides at any time on or before the return date. As with the notice requirement in Section 12-705, the method depends on county population: in counties of 1,000,000 or more, the debtor must notify the clerk in person and in writing before the return date, or appear in court on the return date; in smaller counties, written notice to the clerk by the return date suffices. The clerk then sets a prompt hearing date and supplies forms the debtor or the debtor's attorney must send to the creditor and garnishee, and the court proceeds to try the issues at that hearing unless it continues the case for good cause.

Subsection (c) confirms the trial runs like any other civil trial. Subsection (d) directs the court to enter judgment against a garnishee found liable in favor of the judgment debtor, for the creditor's use, the same as if the garnishee had admitted the facts. Subsection (e) adds a gatekeeping rule: no garnishment order can be entered for the creditor unless the certificate of mailing required by Section 12-705(b) has been filed, and the garnishee's answer certifies that a copy went to the debtor under Section 12-707.