O.C.G.A. § 18-4-13 (2019)
Service of garnishee’s answer
(a) All garnishee answers shall, concurrently with filing, be served by the garnishee upon the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney and the defendant or the defendant’s attorney.
(b)(1) Service of the garnishee’s answer upon the plaintiff shall be shown by the:
(A) Written acknowledgment of the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney; or
(B) Certificate of the garnishee or the garnishee’s attorney, attached to the garnishee’s answer, that a copy of the garnishee’s answer was mailed to the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney.
(2) No service upon the plaintiff shall be required unless the name and address of the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney shall legibly appear on the face of the summons of garnishment.
(3) If the garnishee fails to serve the plaintiff, the plaintiff shall be allowed 20 days from the time the plaintiff receives actual notice of the garnishee’s answer to traverse the garnishee’s answer.
(c)(1) Service of the garnishee’s answer upon the defendant shall be shown by the:
(A) Written acknowledgment of the defendant or the defendant’s attorney; or
(B) Certificate of the garnishee or the garnishee’s attorney, attached to the garnishee’s answer, that a copy of the garnishee’s answer was mailed to the:
(i) Defendant’s attorney; or
(ii) Defendant at the last address known to the garnishee.
(2) No service upon the defendant shall be required by a financial institution garnishee if the defendant does not have an active account with and is not the owner of any money or other property in the possession of such financial institution.
(d) The garnishee shall provide the defendant, by regular mail at the defendant’s last address known to the garnishee, with the Notice to Defendant of Right Against Garnishment of Money, Including Wages, and Other Property and the Defendant’s Claim Form that it received from the plaintiff as set forth in subsection (a) of Code Section 18-4-8.
History
Code 1981, § 18-4-13, enacted by Ga. L. 2016, p. 8, § 1/SB 255.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions decided under former O.C.G.A. § 18-4-83 are included in the annotations for this Code section. Discharge of garnishee upon plaintiff’s failure to traverse answer. - By enacting a specific time limitation within which the plaintiff must traverse the garnishee’s answer, the legislature expressed a clear intent to provide for automatic discharge of the garnishee from all obligations under the summons if the plaintiff did not notify the court and garnishee otherwise within the brief prescribed time period. Nockonwood Indus., Inc. v. Tuloka Affiliates, Inc., 164 Ga. App. 424, 296 S.E.2d 405, 1982 Ga. App. LEXIS 2821 (1982) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 18-4-83). Answer need not be served on defendant. - Garnishee’s answer must be served upon the plaintiff, but there is no requirement that the answer be served upon the defendant, since the plaintiff and the garnishee are the only parties to the garnishment action. Flournoy v. Pate (In re Antley), 18 B.R. 207, 1982 Bankr.
LEXIS 4650 (Bankr. M.D. Ga. 1982) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 18-4-83). Failure of plaintiff to include sufficient addresses on summons of garnishment. - In garnishment proceeding, the plaintiff was required to traverse garnishee’s answer within 15 days after filing of answer even though it had not been served with a copy of the answer where it had failed to include its or its attorney’s address on the summons of garnishment. Nockonwood Indus., Inc. v. Tuloka Affiliates, Inc., 164 Ga. App. 424, 296 S.E.2d 405, 1982 Ga. App. LEXIS 2821 (1982) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 18-483). Effect of no service of answers. - When the name and address of the plaintiff’s attorney appeared on the summons of garnishment, but no certificates of service were attached to the answers, and neither the plaintiff nor the plaintiff’s attorney acknowledged receipt, the requirement that the plaintiff traverse the answers within 15 days of service was never triggered. Lowery v. Dallis, 237 Ga. App. 309, 513 S.E.2d 740, 1999 Ga. App. LEXIS 84 (1999) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 18-4-83).