Non-periodic garnishment in Michigan is a one-time seizure of a lump-sum asset — most often the balance of your bank account — by a creditor who already holds a court judgment against you. The creditor serves a writ on a third party (your bank, an insurer, anyone holding money for you), and that party immediately freezes the funds. You then have 14 days from the date you are served with the writ to file an objection. Miss that deadline and the money leaves your account after a 28-day holding period. File on time, and the funds stay frozen but out of the creditor’s hands until a judge decides whether they should be released back to you.
How a Non-Periodic Garnishment Works
Non-periodic garnishment targets a single amount rather than a stream of income. Where a wage garnishment takes a slice of every paycheck, a non-periodic writ grabs whatever the third party is holding on the day it’s served. That third party is called the garnishee. It is usually a bank, but it can also be an insurance company, a business that owes you money, or a government agency holding a tax refund.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.4011 – Garnishment
The moment the writ is served, the garnishee must freeze the debtor’s funds. You lose access to the money right away. The garnishee cannot hand the money over to the creditor immediately, though. Michigan law builds in a 28-day holding period so you have time to claim exemptions or raise objections.2Michigan Courts. MC 13, Request and Writ for Garnishment (NonPeriodic) The process is governed by Michigan Court Rule 3.101 and the Revised Judicature Act, and every step runs on strict deadlines.
The Timeline Running Against You
Several clocks start ticking the moment the garnishee is served, and each one matters for a different reason.
Within 7 days of being served, the garnishee must deliver or mail a copy of the writ to you. This is usually how you first learn your account has been frozen. Within 14 days, the garnishee must file a verified disclosure with the court, the creditor, and you, stating whether it holds any of your money or property and how much.3State Rules. Rule 3.101 Garnishment After Judgment – Michigan
The deadline that matters most to you is separate: you have 14 days from the date you are served with the writ to file an objection.4Michigan Courts. Objections to Garnishment and Notice of Hearing After 28 days from service on the garnishee, if no objection is on file, the garnishee releases the withheld funds to the creditor.2Michigan Courts. MC 13, Request and Writ for Garnishment (NonPeriodic)
One practical warning about the balance in the account: many banks charge a processing fee for handling a garnishment. At larger institutions, $100 is common, and the fee comes out of the frozen account before any money moves to the creditor.
Money the Creditor Cannot Take
Michigan garnishment law uses the same exemptions that apply to execution of judgments generally, and several important protections come from federal law on top of that.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.4031 – Exemptions; Attachment and Garnishment; Partial Exemptions Knowing what qualifies as exempt is the substance of most successful objections.
Federally Protected Benefits
Federal law prohibits any execution, levy, attachment, or garnishment of Social Security funds, which covers both retirement and disability benefits.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 407 – Assignment of Benefits Other protected categories include:
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI), protected under the same federal provision.
- Veterans’ benefits, protected from creditor garnishment under federal law.
- Federal retirement and disability payments, including civil service and military retirement, which generally cannot be seized by private creditors.
Federal regulations also require banks to automatically protect at least two months’ worth of federal benefit deposits from garnishment. If you receive $1,200 per month in Social Security, up to $2,400 traced to those deposits should be shielded without any action on your part. Amounts above that cushion may still be exempt, but you have to prove where they came from.
State-Level Exemptions
Michigan protects several additional categories from garnishment:
- Public assistance benefits, including Family Independence Program (FIP) payments and Food Assistance Program (FAP) benefits.
- Workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits, which are generally protected from seizure by private creditors.
- Retirement and pension funds. Accounts covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) receive substantial protection, and Michigan extends exemptions to certain state and public employee pension plans.
Commingled Funds
Exempt money doesn’t lose its protection just because it sits in the same account as non-exempt money. If your paycheck and your Social Security both land in the same checking account, the Social Security portion is still exempt. The catch is that you carry the burden of proving which portion came from a protected source. Bank statements, deposit records, and benefit award letters are the kind of documentation courts expect. Without that paper trail, a court may allow the whole balance to be garnished. This is where people lose money they were legally entitled to keep.
Joint Accounts
A joint account creates a real problem when only one owner owes the debt. Michigan courts generally presume that each joint account holder has equal access to the whole balance, so a creditor can potentially freeze the entire account even if only one owner is the judgment debtor.
A non-debtor co-owner can challenge the garnishment, but the burden falls on them to show which funds are theirs. Pay stubs, deposit records, and statements tracing contributions are the standard evidence. Courts look at who actually deposited the money and whether the non-debtor’s share can be separated from the debtor’s.
For married couples, Michigan recognizes tenancy by the entireties, a form of joint ownership that can shield the account when only one spouse is the judgment debtor. If the account qualifies as held by the entireties, a creditor with a judgment against only one spouse generally cannot reach those funds. Both spouses must be named on the account, and the account must be intended as joint marital property. The protection does not apply to joint debts or to accounts shared with anyone other than a spouse.
Filing an Objection
To object, complete the Objection to Garnishment form (MC 49) and file it with the court that issued the writ. You must file within 14 days of being served, and you must serve copies on both the creditor and the garnishee.4Michigan Courts. Objections to Garnishment and Notice of Hearing
Common grounds include:
- The seized funds are exempt (Social Security, veterans’ benefits, public assistance, and so on).
- The judgment has already been paid.
- The garnishment amount is wrong.
Filing the objection triggers a court hearing. Bring anything that traces the source of the money in the account: benefit award letters, bank statements showing deposit dates and amounts, pay stubs, or records establishing that specific funds are exempt or belong to someone else. Both sides get to be heard, and the judge issues an order either releasing the funds back to you or allowing the garnishment to proceed.4Michigan Courts. Objections to Garnishment and Notice of Hearing
What Happens If You Miss the 14-Day Deadline
If you do nothing, the garnishee releases the frozen funds to the creditor once 28 days have passed from the date the writ was served on the garnishee.3State Rules. Rule 3.101 Garnishment After Judgment – Michigan No further court approval is required. The money simply moves to your creditor.
A late objection is still possible, but it does not automatically stop the payout. A late objection only suspends payment if the court specifically orders it, which means convincing a judge to intervene after the fact.3State Rules. Rule 3.101 Garnishment After Judgment – Michigan If exempt funds have already been turned over to the creditor, recovering them is much harder and may require a separate motion.
Treat the 14-day objection window as a hard cutoff, even if you’re not sure yet whether your funds qualify as exempt. Filing costs nothing and preserves your right to a hearing. Not filing can cost you the whole account.