We are not attorneys and can not give legal advice. We can prepare your documents at your direction by following the procedures set by the court and having an Oregon attorney review and issue the documents. To get started read this entire page. Then just fill out the required request form and we will get to work.
How long do I have to collect on an Oregon Judgment after I win the case?
You have 10 years from date of judgment to collect. You’re also gaining 9% interest from the date of that Judgment until paid in full.
Can anyone serve a writ of garnishment?
No, in Oregon process servers are required to have insurance or a bond in order to serve a writ of garnishment. We have insurance.
What about the cost to prepare, file & serve the writ of garnishment?
You advance the fees but the costs are added to the total amount the defendant owes you. All costs will be added to the writ of garnishment, so the defendant will end up paying you back all costs.
Is the total cost for garnishment assistance only $140.? What about court fees?
Yes, fees start at $140 for local garnishment assistance, per garnishment. Local service includes most addresses in the Portland Metro area and most surrounding cities. Other locations in Oregon will run $5 to $30 more most of the time. See our Process Serving page for details on costs outside the local area or call or email for a price quote. You will not have to pay court fees to the court to issue the writ of garnishment as we have an Oregon Attorney review and issue the writ of garnishment. That saves a lot of time and it’s a savings of $47 over going through the courts to issue the writ of garnishment.
How do I pay PI Services?
You can make a payment on our website (add 4%) or mail a check or money order to our office. Read our make a payment page for more info.
How long will it take to prepare all the documents and have them reviewed and issued by an attorney. Then have them served by a professional process server?
10 to 14 business days on average from the time you submit all the information. You can add a $40 rush fee and we can do our best to shorten that time frame to 5 to 7 business days. The rush fee can not be added to the writ.
Can we garnish employers or banking institutions outside of Oregon?
Any company or banking institution doing business in Oregon is required to respond to a writ of Garnishment. However, if the employer or bank is outside of Oregon it maybe be up to the employer or bank to decide if they will honor the writ of garnishment depending on that State’s laws & rules. We have found that most of the time they do respond and provide funds. You can call them and ask or just give it a shot and see if they respond to the garnishment. Another option is to transfer the judgment to the county/state the Defendant resides and use that State’s garnishment procedures.
What if I do not know the subject’s Place of Employment?
To collect on a judgment with a employment garnishment you will need to have that information. We can search for the defendant’s place of employment. Employment Search
What if I do not know the subject’s Banking Institution?
To collect on a judgment with a bank garnishment you will need to have that information. Did you pay the subject by check? If so obtain a copy of that check from your bank and find out what bank the subject deposited your check or what bank they used to cash your check. We can search for the defendant’s bank. Bank Locate Search
Can I garnish The State of Oregon to get the defendant’s tax return money?
Yes, you can garnish the Oregon Department of Revenue. We have had a few clients do this but none of them have reported back to us, so not sure how successful it was. You may want to contact the Oregon Department of Revenue 1-800-356-4222 for more info. The State of Oregon will require a full DOB & SS#. We can locate that information for you for $30.
Is the subject’s date of birth (DOB) or Social Security Number (SS#) required for a writ of garnishment?
It is not required but it can prevent it from being processed. It can depend on how common the subjects name is. Some employers may not need the subjects DOB or SS#, if they have a small work force. If the company is larger they may need a DOB & SS to determine the correct employee. When garnishing a bank, it is highly recommended that a DOB and SS# are listed. If the bank or employer has more than one person with the same name, they will need a DOB and/or SS#. We can pull DOB & SS# for $30., if requested by you the client. If a DOB and/or SS# is not provided the bank or employer may not be able to answer the writ of garnishment and may return stating not enough info provided to do a proper search of records. Or they may process it just fine with out the info. No way to know, unless you try to contact them first. We charge $10 to pull DOB and $20 to pull a SS# for writ of garnishment clients. You will need to add that to the total when making payment if you would like us to add that info to the garnishment.
What if I do not have a judge signed copy of my Oregon Judgment?
You can go to the court and pay to obtain a JUDGE SIGNED copy or pay us $20 and we will obtain a copy for you.
Can we garnish a bank account and the employment at the same time?
Yes, you can request two writs of garnishment, one on a bank and one on an employer. We would recommend first garnishing the bank. Then after you receive a response and funds from the bank we can then garnish the employer for the balance and all fees. If you garnish the employer first the subject may get a clue and empty any money sitting in a bank account, because they think you may do that next. So it’s best to do the bank first then do the employment.
Will the debtor know I have garnished his or her bank accounts or employer?
Yes, notices are required to be sent out after service. We will take care of that a few days after the writ of garnishment has been served by a professional insured process server as required by Oregon law.
How do I figure out the interest rate?
This page will provide you with more information. PI Info Interest Rate and Payment Helper
What happens after the writ is served on the bank or employer? and what do I do?
You do nothing after the writ is served. The bank or employer will contact you by mail.
How long does it take to receive a response and receive funds?
An Oregon employer or bank is required to send you and the court a response within 9 days.
Writ of Garnishment served on a bank:
Do I need to have the subject’s bank account numbers?
No, just the name of the bank such as, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Bank of America, etc.
How long is a bank garnishment good for?
One day. The Writ of garnishment will hit all accounts at that banking institution the same day our process servers serve the bank.
Can we pick the day the writ of garnishment gets served on the bank?
There’s no guarantee but yes usually we can serve it on a specific day that you choose. We will do our best to serve it on a specific day or within a day of your request when in the local area. If outside the local area we will do our best to serve it on a specific day or as soon as possible thereafter. After we have the writ ready to serve, we will contact you. Then you can let us know your preferred day as well as your second option just in case we can’t serve on your first preferred day. The day we deliver it to the bank is the day the bank will pull funds from the account. We think most people have the most funds in their account(s) the first few days of the month, as most people have to pay a mortgage or rent.
If a Defendant’s bank is garnished, will I get all the money?
Yes, up to the total amount the defendant owes you, if money is in the account on the day we serve the writ of garnishment paperwork on the bank.
Will the process server find out how much money is in the bank account at the time of service?
No, the bank does not provide any information to the process server and they do not send any info to PI Services.
What is the $15 bank search fee for?
Banks charge a $15 fee per defendant garnished. The fee (check) is required for the bank to search and find all accounts within that banking institution. We charge $5 to write a check and advance this fee for our clients. So you will pay $20 total.
Can we garnish multiple banks at the same time? Can we garnish one Bank multiple times?
Yes, you can garnish as many banking institutions as you like at the same time. Each bank will require a separate writ of garnishment and a check for the $15 search fee. Yes, you can garnish any bank as many times as you like until the Judgment is paid in full, within 10 years from date of judgment.
Writ of Garnishment served on an employer:
How do if figure out the correct address for the employer?
If the company is doing business in Oregon then they are required to have an Oregon Registered Agent. The Registered Agent is the person the company has directed to accept legal documents for the company. The documents should be served on the Registered Agent or at the company main office in Oregon. You can always contact the HR department and ask them what Oregon address is best for service. If the company is outside of Oregon, then we will affect service by certified mail to the out of state address you provide. Oregon Business Registry Name Search
How long is an employment garnishment good for?
90 days from date of Service.
How much money will I get over the 90 days?
25% of the Defendant’s pay will be sent to you by the defendant’s employer.
If at the end of 90 days the subject still owes me money, then how do I get the rest?
We can do a second writ of garnishment for another 90 days. Read this page for more info: 2nd Writ of Garnishment Request Form.
How long does it take to receive money from the subject’s employer after we serve the writ?
That depends on how often they get paid. Maybe once a week or every two week or once a month. The employer is required to respond within 9 days. If not contact the employer and talk to the HR Department.
Now it’s time to get started! Just click on the correct Writ of Garnishment request form:
- PI Services prepared my Oregon Small Claims case. I have a judgment. I would like to proceed to garnish. $140 Form PI-SC
- I handled my own Oregon Small Claims case. I have a judgment. I would like to proceed to garnish. $160 Form SC
- I have an Oregon Civil judgment. I would like to proceed to garnish. $170 Form CV
- I have an Oregon Domestic judgment. I would like to proceed to garnish. $180 Form D
- PI Services prepared a previous garnishment. I would like to proceed with another one (same case). $140. Form R
STATE OF OREGON WRIT OF GARNISHMENT INFORMATION & RULES
State of Oregon ORS 18.680 Response Required regarding writs of garnishment.
ORS 18.600 Definition Writ of Garnishments in Oregon
State of Oregon ORS Vol.1 Title 2 Chapter 18 Judgments and Writs of Garnishment
What if the bank or employer does not respond within 9 days?
That does not happen too often as most Oregon companies and banks understand they are required to respond. Just give the employer or bank a call if you do not receive a response. Have a copy of the proof of service in hand when you do. If you do not get the kind of response you like, nicely explain to them that they are required to respond in 9 days. Then if you still do not get a response, you can request a court order and order them to court to explain to the Judge why they did not follow the law and respond to the writ within 9 days. The Judge may hold the bank or employer responsible for the entire amount. We have seen that a few times. Actually good for our client, not so good for the bank or employer. Usually a phone call to the correct person works best, so try that first.
If not you will need a Motion for Order for Appearance of Garnishee, Declaration in Support and an Order for Appearance of Garnishee. Check with the court they may have forms you can use. If not you will need to prepare them or hire an attorney or hire us. We charge $75 to prepare, E-file the documents with court and track the outcome. Then it will be up to the judge. He or she will look in the court file. They will see a proof of service stating the date and time the writ of garnishment was served. They will not see a response form filed by the bank or the employer. So they will most likely issue a court date and sign the order. Then the order needs to be served on the employer or the bank. We can do that or you can use the county sheriff. We expect you will use us because you are happy with our service, but we just want you to know your options. We also think it’s important to serve the person who the writ was served on. During the hearing you can request the judge hold the bank or employer responsible for the additional cost. We can not make any promises on the outcome of your case however from what we have seen judges do not like it when corporations or banks do not follow the rules. Send us an email if you would like assistance. Hopefully your nice but firm phone call will take care if the issue.
Want to get sanctions against a noncomplying Garnishee? Click on this for more info. SANCTIONS AGAINST NONCOMPLYING GARNISHEE
We are not attorneys and can’t give legal advice. We can prepare your documents at your direction by following the procedures set by the court and having an Oregon attorney review the documents. The Oregon attorney will not be representing you the clients, just issuing the garnishment based on a valid Oregon Judgment filed with the Oregon Courts.
– Thanks for checking out the entire page, you sure are diligent! Give us a call or an email if you have any other questions or concerns.