You won your judgment, but the debtor’s bank account sits nearly empty. The business continues invoicing customers every week, which means revenue is still flowing through its operations. The problem is that those funds have not yet reached an account you can access through ordinary enforcement. Florida law lets you intercept those payments before they reach the debtor, and knowing how the process works helps you decide whether it fits your situation.
Debts a receivables garnishment can reach
Accounts receivable are the payments a business is still owed by its customers. Under Florida’s garnishment statute, a judgment creditor can subject any debt a third person owes the debtor. Each customer who owes the debtor money becomes a potential garnishee, the third party that receives the court order. After receiving the writ, that customer must hold the payment for the court rather than release it to the business you are pursuing.
The writ process after judgment
Once you hold a judgment, the garnishment process is generally more straightforward than it is before trial. You file a motion stating the judgment amount, and the court issues a writ to the customer. That customer then has 20 days to answer, identifying what it owes the business, if anything.
Service of the writ also creates a lien, so the customer becomes responsible for that money from the moment it arrives. This is the same court-ordered path used to reach wages and bank accounts, aimed instead at payments that the debtor’s own customers are obligated to make.
Limits that narrow what you collect
A receivables garnishment does not sweep in every future invoice. The writ captures debts the customer already owes or debts that will come due purely with the passage of time, so money the debtor has not yet earned generally stays out of reach. A single writ also reaches only what the customer owes up through its answer, which often means serving fresh writs as new invoices mature.
The calendar matters too. If you do not move toward final judgment within six months, the writ dissolves on its own, though you may extend it once. When the debtor is an individual rather than a company, certain exemptions can apply as well.
Turning a judgment into real recovery
A judgment on paper does not collect itself, and a debtor with thin bank balances is not necessarily out of assets. Its receivables may be the steadiest place to look, because a working business has to keep billing to survive.
Before you serve anyone, build a list of the debtor’s known customers and recent invoices, since a garnishment works only when you can name the third party holding the money. That groundwork turns your judgment from a court record into real payment.
