To get a court order for a bank account levy, you take a money judgment you already hold to the clerk of the court that entered it, file an application for a writ of garnishment or writ of execution, pay the filing fee, and arrange for a sheriff, U.S. Marshal, or licensed process server to deliver the writ to the debtor’s bank. The bank freezes the funds on the spot, files a formal answer with the court, and — after a short window for the debtor to claim exemptions — releases the non-exempt money to you. The steps below walk through what has to be true before you start, what the clerk will need from you, and what to expect after the bank is served.
Start With a Signed Money Judgment
A bank levy is a judgment enforcement tool, not a way to open a dispute. Before any court will issue a writ, a judge must have signed a money judgment stating that the debtor owes you a specific dollar amount. That signed judgment is the document giving everything downstream its legal force. No bank will freeze an account without a writ backed by a valid judgment, so if you haven’t sued yet or the case is still open, this process is not available to you. If you won and the debtor simply hasn’t paid, you’re in the right place.
Find Out Where the Debtor Banks
The hardest part usually comes before you fill out a single form: 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 way to get that information 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 judgment debtor, including questions about bank accounts, income, and assets.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 69 – Execution State courts offer 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 and answer honestly, and you can ask directly where they bank, what the account numbers are, and what the balance looks like. You can also ask about employment, real estate, vehicles, and other assets, which matters if one levy isn’t enough to cover the judgment.
Some jurisdictions also let you serve information subpoenas on banks directly. If you have a strong hunch about a particular institution, a subpoena to that bank can confirm or rule it out.
What the Clerk Will Need From You
Once you know where the debtor banks, gather these before going to the courthouse:
- The money judgment itself, including the case number, the date it was entered, 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 identification number to match the account, and federal garnishment applications specifically call for the Social Security number when known. A debtor exam is often the only realistic way to obtain it.2GovInfo. 28 USC 3205 – Garnishment
- The name and branch address of the debtor’s bank.
- The court forms. These typically include an Application for Writ of Garnishment (your request) and a Writ of Execution (the order the clerk issues once your application is approved). Exact form names vary by jurisdiction, and the clerk’s office or court website will have them.
Fill in every field. Courts reject incomplete applications, and errors in the debtor’s name or the judgment amount can invalidate the writ. Judgments typically accrue interest from the date of entry, so calculate the current total before filing rather than using the original judgment figure. The bank will only freeze funds up to the number written on the writ.
File the Application and Pay the Fee
File the completed application with the clerk of the court that entered the original judgment. The clerk checks it against the existing case file, and if everything matches, issues the Writ of Execution under the court’s seal. Filing fees vary by jurisdiction, so ask the clerk’s office for the current schedule. These costs are generally recoverable from the debtor as part of the collection, 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 you have to request a new one. Don’t let one sit in a drawer.
Have the Writ Served on the Bank
You cannot walk the writ into the bank yourself. Service has to be performed by a neutral third party: a sheriff’s deputy, a U.S. Marshal in federal cases, 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 provide an advance deposit for the Marshal’s expenses.3U.S. Marshals Service. Writ of Garnishment
In state court, you take the writ to the sheriff’s office in the county where the bank branch sits, pay the service fee, and the sheriff delivers it. That delivery is the “levy.” You also have to arrange for the debtor to be formally notified around the same time; most jurisdictions require it.
What the Bank Does Next
The bank freezes the debtor’s account the moment it receives the writ. The freeze captures whatever funds are in the account at that instant, and only those funds. Money deposited afterward is not caught by that particular levy.4Internal Revenue Service. Information About Bank Levies
The bank then files a formal response with the court, usually called an Answer or Garnishee’s Answer. It confirms whether the bank holds accounts in the debtor’s name and states the amount frozen. Banks generally have 10 to 20 business days to file this response, depending on the jurisdiction, and both the court and the creditor get a copy.
After the answer, there’s typically a waiting period of around 20 additional days during which the debtor can challenge the levy or claim exemptions. If no challenge lands, the court can order the funds released, and the bank sends the money either to the court or directly to the creditor’s attorney depending on local rules. Uncontested, the full process from levy to cash in hand often runs 30 to 90 days. A contested one takes longer.
Money the Bank Has to Protect
Some of what sits in the account may be off-limits. Under the Treasury Department’s garnishment rule, banks must automatically protect certain direct-deposited federal benefits: payments from the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Railroad Retirement Board.5eCFR. 31 CFR 212.3 – Definitions When a garnishment order arrives, the bank checks whether the account received direct deposits from any of those agencies in the prior two months. If it did, the bank must leave the account holder access to an amount equal to two months of those deposits, or the current balance, whichever is lower.6HelpWithMyBank.gov. Are My Federal Benefits Automatically Protected by My Bank From a Garnishment Order? This automatic protection applies to electronic deposits. Paper-check deposits of the same benefits may not get flagged automatically, though the underlying funds are still legally exempt if the debtor raises the issue.
State law adds more. Many states protect funds traceable to unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation, disability, child support received, and public assistance, and some states provide a flat-dollar bank account exemption regardless of source. Expect that a portion of the frozen balance may be unreachable.
If the Debtor Files a Claim of Exemption
After being notified, the debtor can fight the levy by filing a Claim of Exemption. Deadlines vary — most states allow somewhere between 7 and 21 days after notice. The debtor has to identify which funds are exempt and back it up with evidence: bank statements showing direct deposits from a protected source, pay stubs, benefit award letters.
Filing the claim triggers a hearing. If the judge finds the money came from a protected source, the court orders those funds released. If the debtor misses the deadline or doesn’t appear, the claim is generally waived and the funds go to the creditor. Commingled accounts, where exempt Social Security deposits sit alongside non-exempt income, are genuinely hard to sort out, so if the debtor files a claim, plan on attending the hearing prepared to argue that all or part of the frozen money is not exempt.
Joint Accounts and Business Accounts
Joint accounts add complications. The law generally presumes co-owners have equal rights to the funds, so a creditor can reach the debtor’s share even though a non-debtor also uses the account. Some states let creditors freeze the entire balance; others limit the reach to half. A non-debtor co-owner can appear at the hearing and prove specific funds are traceable to their own deposits, using pay stubs and deposit records, and a court can order that portion released. Federal benefit protections still apply: if the non-debtor’s Social Security or VA benefits went in by direct deposit, the two-month rule kicks in.7Federal Reserve. Consumer Compliance Handbook – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
Business accounts work differently. If the debtor is a sole proprietor, personal and business funds are legally intermingled, and a personal judgment creditor can generally reach the business account. For an LLC or corporation, the entity is legally separate from its owner, so a judgment against the owner personally usually cannot be enforced against the company’s account directly. Creditors chasing an LLC owner’s personal debt typically go after distributions owed to the owner rather than the entity’s operating funds. Piercing the corporate veil requires a separate legal showing.
When One Levy Isn’t Enough
A levy only captures what’s in the account when it’s served. If the balance is $200 and the judgment is $15,000, you collected $200 minus any exempt portion. You’re not limited to one attempt. You can request additional writs and levy the same account again, or target different accounts entirely. Each new writ means new service fees, so repeated attempts have a cost. Timing matters: if you know the debtor gets a direct-deposited paycheck on the 1st and 15th, serving shortly after payday improves the odds of catching a meaningful balance.
Judgments last a long time. Most states allow enforcement for 10 to 20 years from the date of entry, and many permit renewal before expiration. Post-judgment interest continues accruing the entire time, so a debtor who avoids collection for years typically owes more, not less, when assets finally surface. If your judgment is aging, check whether your state requires renewal and file well before the deadline. Letting a judgment expire through neglect is one of the more common and avoidable mistakes in collections.