812.37.Debtor’s answer.

Once a creditor starts an earnings garnishment against a debtor’s wages, the debtor’s main tool for pushing back is the answer form described in section 812.37. The debtor completes it and delivers or mails it to the garnishee — typically the employer — to claim an exemption under section 812.34 (2) (b), a limit on the garnishment under section 812.34 (2) (c), or any other defense to the garnishment itself. Either the debtor or the debtor’s spouse can file that answer, or an amended answer, at any point before or during the garnishment’s effective period, so a change in circumstances does not lock a debtor out of relief.

The garnishee has its own deadline once an answer arrives. By the end of the third business day after receiving a debtor’s answer or amended answer, the garnishee must mail a copy to the creditor, writing the date of receipt directly on that copy. That paper trail matters later, because it fixes when the creditor was on notice of the debtor’s claim.

Between the answer and any court ruling, section 812.37 puts the garnishee in a holding pattern. Unless a court order says otherwise, the garnishee must accept as true and binding any exemption claimed in an answer or amended answer received before payment is sent to the creditor under section 812.39 (1). The garnishee is not asked to referee whether the exemption is valid — it defers to the debtor’s claim until a judge intervenes.