Can the court take money from someone’s bank account if I have a court order against them?
The person who owes you money is called the . If the debtor isn’t paying you, you can apply to have money taken from their bank account or income. This is called .
You can apply for garnishment if you have a court order that says the debtor must pay you, and the debtor has not paid you what you’re owed. If you want to issue the Notice of Garnishment in a different city than where the payment order was issued, you also need a .
Garnishing income
You can’t garnish more than 20 percent of a person’s wages. For example, if they make $1,000 per week, you can only garnish up to $200.
You can’t garnish:
- employment insurance
- social assistance
- pension payments
Even if the payments listed above have been deposited into a bank account, they can’t be garnished.
Garnishing a bank account
If the person has a bank account, you can garnish the whole account unless:
- someone else is a of the money, for example, a joint bank account
- it has money that can’t be garnished, like employment insurance or social assistance
If there is a co-owner, no more than 50% of the account may be garnished.
How to garnish the debtor
Before you can apply for a garnishment, you need to know the correct name and address of the people and companies involved in the garnishment. This includes the debtor. It also includes:
- co-owners, such as the joint of a bank account, and
- the garnishees, such as the debtor’s bank or employer.
Once you have the correct names and addresses, complete and file:
Once these documents have been filed at the court, them to:
- the debtor
- the bank, if money will be taken from the debtor’s accounts
- the employer, if money will be taken from income
- any other
- any co-owners of the money to be garnished
You can serve your documents:
- in person
- by mail or fax
- by courier