I got a court judgment against someone. What are the steps to get paid?

A garnishing order is, indeed, a separate court order. Given you’ve won your case, you won’t have to prove your claim again. But you will need to fill out and file new forms (and pay more fees) to have the court get the money from the debtor and pay you.

The steps involved

A garnishing order could be sent to an employer, but it could also be sent to a bank. Here are the steps.

1. Get the full legal name and address of the employer or bank. 

2. Complete a garnishing order form. See below for links to the forms involved.

3. Complete an affidavit in support of the garnishing order. See below for a link to the affidavit form. You will need to have the affidavit sworn, which typically happens before a notary public or lawyer. Or, to save time, you can also ask for an authorized person at the court registry to do this for you when you file the form (call in advance to make sure this is possible).

4. File these forms at the court registry and pay filing fees (around $100, give or take).

5. Take the validated order given to you by the registry and serve it on the bank or employer, and on the debtor that owes you. You can do this personally or by registered mail. 

6. File an affidavit of service. The form is linked below. Filing this form proves that you served everybody correctly. 

7. The money will then get paid into the court. You then have to apply to the court to have the money paid to you.

The forms involved

For small claims cases (up to $35,000), here are the forms for the affidavit, the garnishing order form, and affidavit of service.

For Supreme Court (over $35,000), here’s the full package of forms, along with a forms guide for proof of service.

Garnishing a bank or an employer

The advantage of garnishing a bank account is that the entire amount can be taken all at once (if it’s available). When you garnish wages, you’re limited to 30% of the debtor’s net income, although this rises to 50% for child- or spousal-support payments. Also, a garnishing order applies only to wages payable within the next seven days. (Unless it’s for child- or spousal-support payments, which don’t need a new application.) So you’d have to reapply for each pay period. 

Garnishing wages is a fussy process. But if the debtor's bank account is empty, garnishing their wages guarantees that you’ll at least get something.

Other steps to consider

As you’ve now learned, this is all fairly time-consuming. There are other approaches to consider: 

1. Reach out to the debtor directly with a demand letter. Give them a deadline to pay. Let them know other penalties and fees might be owing. You could even sweeten the deal by saying you’re willing to accept less than the total amount of the judgment. Check out these tips on writing a demand letter to help get you started. 

2. If you want to get more detail on their financial situation, you can file an application to examine them in person or get them to respond to you in writing. There are rules around the types of questions you can ask, but it can help you find out if they have a steady job. 

3. Do they own property? You might want to consider seizing their assets for sale.

Ideally, after step 1, they will have paid you (or otherwise have abided by the order). If you need to move to steps 2 or 3 or to file a garnishing order, see this detailed guidance on getting your judgment paid. You could also check out this online guide (for Supreme Court) and this page (for small claims court).