THIS IS GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. IF YOU NEED LEGAL ADVICE, PLEASE CONSULT AN ATTORNEY
Welcome to the Magistrate Court of Barrow County. This information is of a general nature and is not meant to be a complete disclosure of the services of this Court or of legal principles and procedures of this Court. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask us.
After obtaining a money judgment in any court in Georgia, you may seek the use of the Magistrate Court in attempting to collect your judgment. In many cases collecting the judgment is harder than proving a case in court. The Court does not collect the judgment for you. This brochure will attempt to advise you of the options available to you.
The First Step should be to establish and make known to all persons your lien on the judgment debtor’s property by applying to the Court for a Writ of Execution (called a “fi fa”), which cost $7.00. The fi fa should be filed in Barrow County Superior Court, and in any other county in which the debtor has property. If the defendant has real property in that county, he will generally be unable to sell the property without first paying off your fi fa. After the debt is satisfied, the fi fa must be canceled of record wherever it was filed, the cost of which can be included in the debt owing to you.
Additional steps in the collection process follow, all of which require that you have information on the debtor. In order to get that information, you might wish to proceed with Interrogatories To the Defendant. This is a set of questions to the debtor concerning his assets and other resources from which the judgment may be paid. The debtor is required to swear to his answers to the questions. If the debtor fails to answer the questions, you may have him brought to Court, where the Court may punish the debtor for contempt.
GARNISHMENTS This procedure is an order to a third party (“Garnishee”), such as a bank or employer, to turn over to the Court any non-exempt wages, money or property of the judgment debtor which the Garnishee may have in their hands from the time they are served with the garnishment to the time that they answer, which is set by statute. A recorded fi fa is not required for this procedure, however you will need a copy of the judgment from the court which rendered the verdict.
There are two types of garnishments: (1) Regular garnishment-filed for garnishing wages. This will be served to the employer of the defendant.
The garnishment must be filed in the county where the employer is located.
In order to file this you must have the physical address of the employer.
Once an answer is filed by the employer and money is received, you will receive a check from out office. If the employer files an answer, stating the defendant is not employed by them, then you will have to find the defendants new employer and re-file. The employer will continue to deduct from the debtor’s wages until your judgment is paid or 179 days after service of the garnishment, whichever is first. Since there are complex rules about how much of the debtor’s wages are subject to a garnishment, most garnishee’s are careful about their answers. However, if you wish to contest an answer, you must do so within 15 days of service of the answer on you. (2) Regular garnishment against a financial institution. This is a one-shot garnishment filed against a financial institution, such as a bank or credit union. Some banks require an account number when filing garnishments. The garnishment must be filed where the bank is located.
LEVY AND SALE The Sheriff or constable seized property of the debtor to be sold, after advertising , on the courthouse steps. Are recorded fi fa is necessary to use this procedure. In the Magistrate Court, you may request for the constables to do this by delivering the original fi fa to the constables with directions as to the debtor’s property and its location which is available to be seized and sold. It will be necessary for you to provide the manual labor in moving the property and you will be responsible for any storage or towing cost. If the sale of the property produces any proceeds, you are reimbursed for any expenses and court costs before any credit on the judgment is given to the debtor for the debt owing to you.
After the levy, a newspaper advertisement will be prepared and you will be required to provide the Court the funds for advertising.
MAGISTRATE COURT OF BARROW COUNTY
JUNE DAVIS
Chief Magistrate