Ohio Code 2716.05 – Service of order and notices on garnishee
The garnishee shall be served, in the same manner as a summons is served, with three copies of the order of garnishment of personal earnings and of a written notice that the garnishee answer as provided in division (E) of section 2716.041 of the Revised Code, this section, and section 2716.21 of the Revised Code and with the garnishee’s fee required by section 2716.04 of the Revised Code. The garnishee also shall be served, at that time, with two copies of the notice to the judgment debtor form and of the request for hearing form described in section 2716.06 of the Revised Code, one copy of the interim report and answer form described in section 2716.07 of the Revised Code, one copy of the employer guide to processing continuous orders of garnishment, and one copy of the final report and answer form described in section 2716.08 of the Revised Code.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2716.05
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
- Debt scheduling: means counseling and assistance provided to a consumer by a budget and debt counseling service under all of the following circumstances:
(a) The counseling and assistance is manifested in an agreement between the consumer and the service under which the consumer regularly pays that portion of the consumer's income to the service that has been determined not to be required for the maintenance of health or the essentials of life. See Ohio Code 2716.03
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- Employer: means a person who is required to withhold taxes out of payments of personal earnings made to a judgment debtor. See Ohio Code 2716.01
- 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 person who has obtained a judgment in a civil action against another person. See Ohio Code 2716.01
- Judgment debtor: means a person against whom a judgment has been obtained in a civil action. See Ohio Code 2716.01
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Personal earnings: means money, or any other consideration or thing of value, that is paid or due to a person in exchange for work, labor, or personal services provided by the person to an employer. See Ohio Code 2716.01
- service: means a corporation organized under Chapter 1702 of the Revised Code for the purpose of counseling consumers with respect to their financial obligations and assisting them in dealing with their creditors. See Ohio Code 2716.03
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
A court of common pleas or municipal or county court that issues an order of garnishment of personal earnings has jurisdiction to serve process pursuant to this section upon a garnishee who does not reside within the territorial jurisdiction of the court. If the garnishee does not reside within the territorial jurisdiction of the court that issued the order, the process may be served upon the garnishee by the proper officer of the county in which the garnishee resides or may be served upon the garnishee by personal service by the court, by sending it to the garnishee by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by sending it to the garnishee by regular mail evidenced by a properly completed and stamped certificate of mailing by regular mail.
The order of garnishment of personal earnings shall bind the personal earnings of the judgment debtor due from the garnishee at the time of service in accordance with this section. The order of garnishment of personal earnings and notice to answer shall be in substantially the following form:
“ORDER AND NOTICE OF GARNISHMENT
AND ANSWER OF EMPLOYER
Docket No. ___________________
Case No. _____________________
In the _________________ Court
________________________, Ohio
The State of Ohio
County of _____________________, ss
_______________________, Judgment Creditor
vs.
_______________________, Judgment Debtor
SECTION A. COURT ORDER AND NOTICE OF GARNISHMENT
To: ___________________________________________, Garnishee
The judgment creditor in the above case has filed an affidavit, satisfactory to the undersigned, in this court stating that you may owe the judgment debtor money for personal earnings.
You are therefore ordered to complete the “ANSWER OF EMPLOYER (GARNISHEE)” in section B of this form. Return one completed and signed copy of this form to the clerk of this court within five (5) business days after you receive this order of garnishment. Deliver one completed and signed copy of this form and the accompanying documents entitled “NOTICE TO THE JUDGMENT DEBTOR” and “REQUEST FOR HEARING” to the judgment debtor. Keep the other completed and signed copy of this form for your files.
(The total probable amount now due on this judgment is $___________________ The total probable amount now due includes the unpaid portion of the judgment in favor of the judgment creditor, which is $________; interest on that judgment and, if applicable, prejudgment interest relative to that judgment at the rate of _____% per annum payable until that judgment is satisfied in full; and court costs in the amount of $__________)
This order of garnishment of personal earnings is a continuous order that generally requires you to withhold a specified amount, calculated each pay period at the statutory percentage, of the judgment debtor’s personal disposable earnings during each pay period, as determined in accordance with the “INTERIM REPORT AND ANSWER OF GARNISHEE,” from the judgment debtor’s personal disposable earnings during each pay period of the judgment debtor commencing with the first full pay period beginning after you receive the order until the judgment in favor of the judgment creditor and the associated court costs, judgment interest, and, if applicable, prejudgment interest awarded to the judgment creditor as described above have been paid in full. You generally must pay that specified amount, calculated each pay period at the statutory percentage, to the clerk of this court within thirty (30) days after the end of each pay period of the judgment debtor and must include with that specified amount calculated each pay period at the statutory percentage an “INTERIM REPORT AND ANSWER OF GARNISHEE” substantially in the form set forth in section 2716.07 of the Ohio Revised Code. A copy of the “INTERIM REPORT AND ANSWER OF GARNISHEE” is attached to this order of garnishment of personal earnings, and you may photocopy it to use each time you pay the specified amount to the clerk of this court. You are permitted to deduct a processing fee of up to three dollars from the judgment debtor’s personal disposable earnings for any pay period of the judgment debtor that an amount was withheld for that order (the processing fee is not a part of the court costs). You are not required to file with the court the “INTERIM REPORT AND ANSWER OF GARNISHEE” for any pay period of the judgment debtor for which an amount from the judgment debtor’s personal disposable earnings during that pay period was not withheld for that order.
This order of garnishment of personal earnings generally will remain in effect until one of the following occurs:
(1) The total probable amount due on the judgment as described above is paid in full as a result of your withholding of the specified amount, calculated each pay period at the statutory percentage, from the judgment debtor’s personal disposable earnings during each pay period of the judgment debtor that commenced with the first full pay period beginning after you received the order.
(2) The judgment creditor or the judgment creditor’s attorney files with this court a written notice that the total probable amount due on the judgment as described above has been satisfied or the judgment creditor or the judgment creditor’s attorney files a written request to terminate this order of garnishment and release you from the mandate of this order of garnishment.
(3) A municipal or county court appoints a trustee for the judgment debtor and issues to you an order that stays this order of garnishment of personal earnings.
(4) A federal bankruptcy court issues to you an order that stays this order of garnishment of personal earnings.
(5) A municipal or county court or a court of common pleas issues to you another order of garnishment of personal earnings that relates to the judgment debtor and a different judgment creditor, and Ohio or federal law provides the other order with a higher priority than this order.
(6) A municipal or county court or a court of common pleas issues to you another order of garnishment of personal earnings that relates to the judgment debtor and a different judgment creditor and that does not have a higher priority than this order.
(7) The judgment creditor or the judgment creditor’s attorney files with this court a written request to terminate and release the order of garnishment, and as a result, the order of garnishment will cease to remain in effect.
Under any of the circumstances listed above, you are required to file with this court a “FINAL REPORT AND ANSWER OF GARNISHEE” substantially in the form set forth in section 2716.08 of the Ohio Revised Code. A copy of the “FINAL REPORT AND ANSWER OF GARNISHEE” is attached to this order of garnishment of personal earnings. Under the circumstances listed in (5) and (6) above, you must cease processing this order of garnishment after the expiration of the full pay period within which the one hundred eighty-second (182) day after you began processing it falls.
Special stacking, priority of payment, and manner of payment rules apply when a garnishee receives multiple orders of garnishment with respect to the same judgment debtor. These rules are set forth in section 2716.041 of the Ohio Revised Code. An employer guide to processing continuous orders of garnishment is included with this order of garnishment. You should become familiar with these rules.
Witness my hand and the seal of this court this ________ day of ___________________, ______
______________________________
Judge
SECTION B. ANSWER OF EMPLOYER (GARNISHEE)
(An employer is one who is required to withhold payroll taxes out of payments of personal earnings made to the judgment debtor.)
(Answer all pertinent questions)
Now comes _______________________________, the employer (garnishee) herein, who says:
| 1. | This order of garnishment of personal earnings was received on ____________ | ||
| Yes | No | ||
| 2. | The judgment debtor is in my/our employ. If answer is “No,” give date of last employment. | _____ | _____ |
| (2) ______________ | |||
| Yes | No | ||
| 3. | (A) Is the debt to which this order of garnishment of personal earnings pertains the subject of an existing agreement for debt scheduling between the judgment debtor and a budget and debt counseling service and has the judgment debtor made every payment that was due under the agreement for debt scheduling no later than forty-five days after the date on which the payment was due? | ||
| _____ | _____ | ||
| If the answer to both parts of this question is “Yes,” give all available details of the agreement, sign this form, and return it to the court. | |||
| 3(A)______________ | |||
| __________________________________________________________________ | |||
| __________________________________________________________________ | |||
| Yes | No | ||
| (B) Were you, on the date that you received this order of garnishment of personal earnings, withholding moneys from the judgment debtor’s personal disposable earnings pursuant to another order of garnishment of personal earnings that Ohio or federal law provides with a higher priority than this order of garnishment of personal earnings (such as a support order or Internal Revenue Service levy)? | |||
| _____ | _____ | ||
| If the answer to this question is “Yes,” give the name of the court that issued the higher priority order, the associated case number, the date upon which you received that order, and the balance due to the relevant judgment creditor under that order. | |||
| 3(B)______________________ | |||
| __________________________________________________________________ | |||
| Yes | No | ||
| (C) Did you receive prior to the date that you received this order of garnishment of personal earnings one or more other orders of garnishment of personal earnings that are not described in question 3(B), and are you currently processing one or more of those orders for the statutorily required time period or holding one or more of those orders for processing for a statutorily required period in the sequence of their receipt by you? | |||
| _____ | _____ | ||
| If the answer to this question is “Yes,” give the name of the court that issued each of those previously received orders, the associated case numbers, the date upon which you received each of those orders, and the balance due to the relevant judgment creditor under each of those orders. List first the previously received order(s) that you are currently processing, and list each of the other previously received orders in the sequence that you are required to process them. | |||
| 3(C)______________________ | |||
| _____________________________________________________________ | |||
| _____________________________________________________________ | |||
| _____________________________________________________________ | |||
I certify that the statements above are true.
______________________________
(Print Name of Employer)
______________________________
(Print Name and Title of
Person Who Completed Form on
behalf of the Employer)
Signed ________________________________________________________
(Signature of Employer or Employer’s Agent)
Dated this ___________ day of ___________, _____”
Section A of the form described in this section shall be completed before service. Section B of the form shall be completed by the garnishee, and the garnishee shall file one completed and signed copy of the form with the clerk of the court as the garnishee’s answer. The garnishee may keep one completed and signed copy of the form and shall deliver the other completed and signed copy of the form to the judgment debtor not later than the time that the garnishee otherwise would pay the judgment debtor the personal earnings that the garnishee instead is paying to the court. The garnishee also shall deliver at that time the two copies of the notice to the judgment debtor form and of the request for hearing form described in section 2716.06 of the Revised Code that were served on the garnishee.
No employer shall discharge an employee solely because of the successful garnishment of the employee’s personal earnings by only one judgment creditor in any twelve-month period.
If several affidavits seeking orders of garnishment of personal earnings are filed against the same judgment debtor in accordance with section 2716.03 of the Revised Code, the court involved shall issue the requested orders in the same order in which the clerk received the associated affidavits.
The garnishee also shall be served with a copy of the employer guide to processing continuous orders of garnishment at the same time that the forms as provided in this section are served upon the garnishee.