Garnishments Are Alive and Well in Texas

While Texas doesn't allow a judgment creditor to garnish your wages directly from your employer, Texas law does allow your bank accounts to be garnished. So, once you deposit your earnings into a bank account, that account may be frozen if your judgment creditor applies to the court for a writ of garnishment of your accounts. In fact, your judgment creditor can reach your bank deposits regardless of the name on the account if the funds in the account are owed to you. Frankfurt's Texas Investment Corp. v. Trinity Savings & Loan Ass'n, 414 S.W.2d 190, 195 (Tex. Civ. App. - Dallas 1967, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

Your judgment creditor can also reach your bank account even if community property funds are in the account. Tatum State Bank v. Gibson, 24 S.W.2d 506, 507 (Tex. Civ. App.-Texarkana 1930, no writ); Brooks v. Sherry Lane National Bank, 788 S.W.2d 874, 876 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1990, no writ). But, bank accounts are not the only assets you may have that are subject to garnishment. Other commonly garnished assets are:

a. Safe-deposit boxes

Your judgment creditor can reach the contents of your safe-deposit box even if your bank doesn't know what's in the box. Blanks v. Radford, 188 S.W.2d 879, 886 (Tex. Civ. App.-Eastland 1945, writ ref'd w.o.m.).

b. Stock

Any stock you own is expressly subject to garnishment under Tex. R. Civ. P. 669.

c. Promissory note

If someone is paying you money on a promissory note to you, that note can be garnished. Thompson v. Gainesville National Bank, 18 S.W. 350 (Tex. 1886); Davis v. First National Bank, 135 S.W.2d 259, 261 (Tex. Civ. App.-Waco 1939, no writ). In other words, your debtor on the note will have to make the payments to your judgment creditor.

d. A Trust fund to which you are a beneficiary

Assets in a trust fund and the revenue from trust funds can be garnished. The only exception is when the trust fund is a spend-thrift trust. Nunn v. Titche-Goettinger Co., 245 S.W. 421, 422-23 (Tex. Comm'n App. 1922, judgm't adopted); Bank of Dallas v. Republic National Bank of Dallas, 540 S.W.2d 499, 501-02 (Tex. Civ. App.-Waco 1976, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

e. Judgments You Own

If you're a judgment creditor in another matter, that judgment can be garnished. Industrial Indemnity Co. v. Texas American Bank - Riverside, 784 S.W.2d 114, 119-120 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1990, no writ). In other words, your judgment debtor in that case will pay your judgment creditor in the case in which you are the judgment debtor.

So, just because Texas doesn't allow your wages to be garnished to collect a judgment, don't think you're completely immune to other forms of garnishment. An aggressive judgment creditor still has plenty of options available to enforce a judgment against you.