Rule 90.19.Reporting Judgment Balance -- Payment on the Record.

A garnishment can run for months, and Rule 90.19 keeps everyone informed of where the debt stands while it does. A judgment creditor may, before the judgment expires, file a statement of the judgment balance remaining due, showing what is still owed as of a specific date; any payment referenced in that statement counts as a payment on the record for purposes of the statute governing revival of judgments. Copies go to the debtor by ordinary mail, and filing this statement also restarts the six-month filing clock described below.

That six-month clock applies specifically to continuous wage garnishments and to any case where the garnishor has chosen to have payments made directly to its attorney. In those situations, the garnishor must file a statement of judgment balance remaining due showing all payments received in the preceding six months and what remains unpaid, including unpaid interest and costs, no later than 20 days after each six-month period closes. That filing obligation starts six months after the garnishment issues and repeats every six months until the garnishment is satisfied or no longer in effect, with copies mailed to both the garnishee and the debtor. A garnishor does not have to file the statement, though, if a new garnishment is filed in the same case against the same defendant before the statement would otherwise be due.

The rule backs this reporting duty with real consequences. If the garnishor fails to file a required statement, the court — on its own motion or on that of any party or junior garnishor — terminates the garnishment. Separately, any party may move for an accounting of the judgment balance up to 30 days after the judgment is satisfied. And once a judgment stops being enforceable for any reason — satisfaction, accord, the judgment being set aside, reversal on appeal, or otherwise — the garnishor must tell the garnishee in writing within 20 days, and any final remittance from the garnishee that overshoots what was needed to satisfy the judgment must be returned to the garnishee within ten days.