To get a court order for a bank levy, you file an application for a writ of garnishment or writ of execution with the court that entered your money judgment, and once the clerk issues the writ, a sheriff, U.S. Marshal, or licensed process server delivers it to the debtor’s bank, which then freezes available non-exempt funds in the account. The process has a few names depending on where you are — garnishment, bank levy, execution — but the steps are the same, and the places people stumble are predictable: locating the account, filling the forms out correctly, serving the writ properly, and understanding which dollars the law puts off-limits.
You Need a Money Judgment First
A bank levy is an enforcement tool, not a way to open a dispute. Before any writ can issue, a judge must have signed a money judgment stating that the debtor owes you a specific dollar amount. That signed judgment is what gives the rest of the process legal force. If you haven’t sued, or your case is still pending, no bank will freeze an account on your say-so. If you’ve already won and the debtor just hasn’t paid, this is the right procedure.
Find Out Where the Debtor Banks
The biggest practical hurdle happens before you file anything: you need the name and location of the debtor’s bank. Guessing wastes filing and service fees on levies that come back empty.
The most reliable tool is a debtor examination, sometimes called a supplementary proceeding or judgment debtor exam. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 69 lets a judgment creditor obtain discovery from the debtor, including questions about bank accounts, income, and other assets.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 69 – Execution State courts have parallel procedures. You file a motion asking the court to order the debtor to appear and answer questions under oath. The debtor must show up; failing to appear can draw a contempt finding, and lying under oath is perjury.
At the examination, ask directly where the debtor banks, what the account numbers are, and the approximate balances. Ask about employment, real estate, and vehicles too, since one levy rarely covers a full judgment. Some jurisdictions also let you serve information subpoenas on banks you suspect hold accounts, which can confirm or rule out a specific institution.
What to Gather Before You File
Once you know where the debtor banks, pull together the following:
- The money judgment, including the case number, date of entry, and the exact amount owed with any accrued interest and court-awarded costs.
- The debtor’s full legal name and last known address. Many banks also need the debtor’s Social Security number or tax ID to match the account to a person, and federal garnishment applications call for the SSN when known. If you don’t have it, the debtor examination is the best way to get it.2GovInfo. 28 USC 3205 – Garnishment
- The name and address of the bank branch where the debtor holds the account.
- The required court forms, available from the clerk’s office or court website. These generally include an Application for Writ of Garnishment and the Writ of Execution the clerk issues after approval. Form names vary by jurisdiction.
Fill every field in completely. Courts reject incomplete applications, and errors in the debtor’s name or the judgment amount can invalidate the writ. If the judgment has been accruing interest, calculate the current total before filing and put that figure on the application. The bank will only freeze funds up to the number on the writ, so understating the balance means leaving money behind. Federal post-judgment interest is set by statute and runs until the judgment is paid.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1961 – Interest States set their own rates.
File the Application and Get the Writ Issued
File your Application for Writ of Garnishment with the clerk of the same court that entered the judgment. The clerk checks the paperwork against the existing case file. If everything matches, the clerk issues the Writ of Execution under the court’s seal.
Filing fees vary a lot by jurisdiction. Some courts charge under $50; others charge over $200. Ask the clerk for the current fee schedule before you go. In federal bankruptcy court, a writ filed in the same district as the judgment may not carry a fee.4United States Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Texas. Writ of Garnishment and Writ of Execution Procedures These costs are generally recoverable from the debtor, so keep receipts.
Writs have a shelf life. Most jurisdictions give you a window of roughly 60 to 180 days to act on the writ before it expires and has to be reissued. Don’t let it sit.
Serve the Writ on the Bank
You cannot hand the writ to the bank yourself. Formal service must be done by a neutral third party: a sheriff’s deputy, a U.S. Marshal in federal matters, or a licensed process server. In federal court, the U.S. Marshals Service handles service of garnishment writs, and the requesting party may need to deposit an advance to cover the Marshal’s expenses.5U.S. Marshals Service. Writ of Garnishment
In state court, you typically take the writ to the sheriff’s office in the county where the bank branch is located and pay a service fee, generally $35 to $75. That delivery is the “levy.” You also need to arrange for the debtor to be formally notified around the same time; most jurisdictions require it.
What the Bank Does After It Is Served
The bank freezes the account the moment it receives the writ. The freeze captures whatever is in the account at that instant and nothing else. A bank levy is a snapshot. Deposits that land afterward are not swept up by that writ.6Internal Revenue Service. Information About Bank Levies
The bank then files a formal response with the court, usually called an Answer or Garnishee’s Answer, confirming whether it holds accounts in the debtor’s name and stating the amount frozen. Depending on the jurisdiction, the bank typically has 10 to 20 business days to file. The court and the creditor both get a copy.
After the answer, there is usually a waiting period of around 20 days during which the debtor can challenge the garnishment or claim exemptions. If no challenge arrives, the court can approve release of the funds to the creditor, and the bank sends the money to the court or to the creditor’s attorney depending on local rules. From levy to cash in hand, the full process often takes 30 to 90 days when uncontested, and longer when the debtor fights it.
Funds the Levy Cannot Reach
Not every dollar in the account is available. Federal law requires banks to automatically protect certain direct-deposited benefits. Under the Treasury Department’s garnishment rule, the protected agencies are the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Railroad Retirement Board.7eCFR. 31 CFR 212.3 – Definitions When a garnishment order arrives, the bank reviews the prior two months of account activity and must leave the account holder access to the lesser of two months of qualifying benefit deposits or the current balance.8HelpWithMyBank.gov. Are My Federal Benefits Automatically Protected by My Bank From a Garnishment Order?
Automatic protection applies only to electronic deposits. A paper benefit check that the debtor deposited manually may not be flagged automatically, though the funds are still exempt if the debtor raises the issue.
State laws add their own exemptions, often covering unemployment, workers’ compensation, disability, child support received, and public assistance. A number of states also provide a flat-dollar exemption for bank balances, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. Expect that some portion of what the bank freezes may be legally untouchable.
If the Debtor Files a Claim of Exemption
Once notified, the debtor can fight the levy by filing a Claim of Exemption. Deadlines vary, but most states give the debtor somewhere between 7 and 21 days after notice. The debtor must identify which funds are exempt and support the claim with evidence such as bank statements showing deposits from a protected source, pay stubs, or benefit award letters.
Filing a claim triggers a hearing. A judge reviews the evidence and orders release of any funds that trace to a protected source. If the debtor misses the deadline or doesn’t appear, the exemption is typically waived and the money moves to the creditor. Commingled accounts, where exempt Social Security sits alongside non-exempt deposits, are genuinely contested, so expect to show up prepared if the debtor files.
Joint and Business Accounts
Joint accounts complicate the picture. The law generally presumes equal rights among joint owners, so a creditor can reach the debtor’s share even when a non-debtor shares the account. Some states let creditors freeze the entire balance; others, only half.
The non-debtor co-owner can appear at the garnishment hearing and prove that specific funds trace to their own deposits, using pay stubs, deposit records, and statements. If they can show their earnings funded part of the balance, a court can release that portion. Federal benefit protection still applies in a joint account: if the non-debtor’s Social Security or VA benefits were directly deposited, the two-month rule covers those funds.9Federal Reserve. Consumer Compliance Handbook – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
Business accounts work differently. For a sole proprietor, personal and business funds are legally intermingled, so a personal judgment creditor can generally reach the business account. For an LLC or corporation, the entity is legally separate from the owner, and a judgment against the individual usually cannot be enforced directly against the company’s account. Creditors chasing an LLC owner’s personal debt typically have to go after distributions owed to the owner rather than operating funds, and reaching the entity itself requires a separate legal showing.
When the First Levy Doesn’t Cover the Judgment
A levy only captures what sits in the account at the moment of service. If the balance is $200 and the judgment is $15,000, you’ve collected $200 minus any exemptions. You are not limited to one try. You can request additional writs and levy the same account again, or target other accounts you’ve identified. Each new writ carries fresh filing and service fees, so the attempts have a cost.
Timing matters. If the debtor receives direct-deposit paychecks on predictable dates, serving the writ shortly after payday gives you a better shot at a meaningful balance. Most states allow enforcement for 10 to 20 years and permit renewal before expiration; federal post-judgment interest continues to accrue the whole time. Check whether your state requires renewal and file well before the deadline, because letting a judgment lapse through neglect is one of the most avoidable mistakes in collections.