Rule 2-645.Garnishment of property — Generally

Garnishment reaches property the debtor doesn't physically hold but someone else does — a bank account, a debt owed to the debtor, or other assets in a third party's possession. Rule 2-645 covers all of that except wages, which fall under Rule 2-646, and partnership interests subject to a charging order. It even reaches debts that aren't due yet. To start, the creditor files a request in the same case where judgment was entered, giving the caption, amount owed, the debtor's name and last known address, and the garnishee's name and address; the clerk then issues the writ. That writ has to identify who requested it and when, order the garnishee to hold the debtor's property both at the moment of service and anything that comes in afterward, warn the garnishee about the deadline to answer and the risk of a default judgment, flag possible exemptions for both debtor and garnishee, tell the debtor how to contest the garnishment, and explain the garnishee's own right to eventually terminate the writ after a long stretch of inactivity. A 2026 amendment adds a notice that a modest amount held in deposit accounts is automatically exempt without the debtor having to elect it.

Once served, the garnishee has to file a timely answer admitting or denying the debt or possession, describing what's held, and raising any available defenses. Answering doesn't lock the garnishee in — property or funds can be turned over to the court or sheriff afterward, and a garnishee who already admitted a debt doesn't need to amend the answer just because the amount owed grows later. If the garnishee never answers, the creditor can pursue a default judgment under Rule 2-613. If the answer goes unchallenged for 30 days, the court can enter judgment on request; if the creditor contests it, the dispute proceeds like an ordinary civil action between creditor and garnishee. The creditor can also serve interrogatories on the garnishee, with its own contempt exposure for late answers. Before judgment, the debtor can seek release of the garnished property using the Rule 2-643 process (though the exemption-election deadline runs from service of the writ, not from the levy), and a third-party claimant can do the same. Once judgment is entered against the garnishee, the writ and its lien terminate; alternatively, a garnishee who has answered and seen no further activity for 120 days can move to end the writ by notice, subject to a 30-day objection window. When the garnishee satisfies the judgment, the creditor has to file a statement showing what was paid.