garnishment
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Garnishment
garnishment
A process involving three parties:
• Judgment creditor. The party who takes a judgment against a debtor (can also be the IRS or a state's Department of Revenue).
• Judgment debtor. The party who owes the debt.
• Garnishee A party who owes money or holds property belonging to the judgment debtor.
In this legal process, the judgment creditor obtains a court order requiring the garnishee to turn over funds or property to the judgment creditor instead of to the true owner, the judgment debtor. The most common garnishments are against employers, requiring them to withhold a portion of wages and salary and pay it to the creditor rather than to the employee. The second most common garnishment is against a bank, ordering it to turn over bank account funds to the judgment creditor or the IRS.