Arizona Laws 12-1598.14. Priority
A. Except as provided in subsections B and C, conflicting wage garnishments and levies rank according to priority in time of service.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 12-1598.14
- Earnings: means compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether these payments are called wages, salary, commission, bonus or otherwise. See Arizona Laws 12-1598
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- Judgment creditor: means a party who has a money judgment or an order for support of a person that is due and unpaid. See Arizona Laws 12-1598
- Judgment debtor: means a party against whom a money judgment or order for support of a person has been awarded. See Arizona Laws 12-1598
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Nonexempt earnings: means those earnings or that portion of earnings which is subject to judicial process including garnishment. See Arizona Laws 12-1598
- Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
B. Garnishments, levies and wage assignments which are not for the support of a person are inferior to wage assignments for the support of a person. Garnishments which are not for the support of a person and levies are inferior to garnishments for the support of a person.
C. If a judgment debtor‘s earnings become subject to more than one writ of garnishment pursuant to this article, and because of the application of the priorities set forth in subsections A and B a judgment creditor recovers no nonexempt earnings for two consecutive paydays, the lien on earnings of such judgment creditor is invalid and of no force and effect, and the garnishee shall notify the judgment creditor accordingly.