Do You Have a Judgment and want to Garnish the Debtor’s Bank Account or Wages?

Canadian Express Collection Agency (CECA) will investigate your case, track down the debtor, if necessary, and try to settle with them out of court. If the settlement conference is not productive in getting the debtor to agree to terms for debt payment, we proceed to trial. We continue filing court-required paperwork and make motions to secure a judgment in your favor. The small claims court judge hears the case, takes testimony, reviews documents, and renders a judgment in your favor.

Examination hearing uncovers garnishment information.

Although the court has ordered the debtor to begin making debt payments, they may fail to do so. You want to garnish the debtor, but have no idea of what financial resources they possess or where they lie. To get this information, CECA’s attorney can request an examination hearing. The purpose of this hearing is for disclosure of the debtor’s financial information.

Questions that may be asked during this hearing include:

• whom the debtor works for and their place of employment.
• what personal and financial assets they own.

The breakdown of personal assets divides itself into two basic categories: personal property and land property. Personal property includes:

• household items of worth (plasma TV, valuables, furnishings)
• personal transportation and recreational vehicles (SUVs, RVs, boats)

Land property includes real estate holdings (buildings and/or land). Financial assets are kept in banking institutions where accounts are held, including jointly-held accounts.

Examination process encourages debtor to pay debt.

CECA’s attorney will file a Notice of Examination to query the debtor and an Affidavit For Enforcement, which documents the court order to be enforced, payments made by debtor up to the present, and any balance remaining. The attorney will also file a Certificate of Judgment, if required, and serve a Financial Information Form on the debtor.

If the debtor cooperates and makes disclosure of their assets, the judge may order the debtor to pay the debt under a payment plan. If the debtor misses a single payment, or sends only part of the payment, CECA’s attorney can file a Notice of Default of Payment and a sworn affidavit. If the debtor ignores the default notice, the attorney can begin the garnishment process after a 15-day wait period.

Successful garnishment begins debt payment.

CECA’s attorney takes the next step to enforce judgment through garnishment. This entails collecting the debt owing you through a third party. The third party can be a debtor, who owes your debtor wages, a tax refund, or is the holder of the debtor’s financial accounts.

The attorney files garnishment forms with the court. They include Notice of Garnishment, Affidavit for Enforcement and Garnishee’s Statement. The garnishee, whether it be an employer, the government, or a bank, is notified and sends payment, which the court deposits into an escrow account for 30 days. After the waiting period, the court releases escrow to CECA in your name. CECA releases the collected money from your trust fund to you in incremental payments. Garnishment remains in force for six years and can be renewed twice for the same time period. Unless garnishment is appealed, you will continue receiving your money.

CECA’s legal staff works to provide you with updates as we move through investigation, settlement and examination hearings. We invest all our resources to make garnishment of your debt an orderly, smooth, and satisfying process. When you sign a contingency contract with us, it stipulates you owe no fee to us unless we collect on the debt.