Monday, April 19, 2010

attachment/garnishment - exempt property - court rules

Posted Today! In Re: Amendment of Rules 3111, 3111.1, 3140, 3141, 3252 and 3253 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, No. 523 Civil Procedural Rules Docket
Opinion By: per curiam
Posted By: W.D. Prothonotary
Date Rendered: 4/16/2010
Date Posted: 4/19/2010
Opinion Type: Rules523civ.pdf

Date Rendered: 4/16/2010
Date Posted: 4/19/2010
Opinion Type: Rules523civ.attach.pdf

Date Rendered: 4/16/2010
Date Posted: 4/19/2010
Opinion Type: Rules523civ.rpt.pdf


Rule 3111. Service of the Writ on Garnishee. Effect

(a) * * *

(b) * * *

Note: For limitations on the power to attach tangible personal property see Rule 3108(a).

See Rule 3111.1 providing that service of the writ does not attach [the defendant’s funds on deposit in a bank or other financial institution in an account in which funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and are identified as funds which upon deposit are exempt from attachment] the first $10,000 of each account of the defendant in which any funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and are identified as funds that upon deposit are exempt from attachment, or each account of the defendant in which funds on deposit exceed $10,000 at any time, if all funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and are identified as being funds that upon deposit are exempt from attachment.

* * *

Explanatory Comment

New Rule 3111.1 was promulgated in 2007 to address the failure of the rules of civil procedure to protect funds held in accounts of banks and other financial institutions that are exempt from execution, levy, and attachment pursuant to federal and state legislation. The current rule protects from attachment all funds in an account in which any funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and are identified as being funds that upon deposit are exempt from execution, levy, or attachment. The amendment to subdivision (1) of Rule 3111.1 provides that only the first $10,000 held in an account may not be attached whenever the account includes any funds that are identified as being exempt from execution, levy, or attachment. If an account holder believes the remainder is also exempt, he or she may petition the court for relief. Under new subdivision (2) any funds that exceed $10,000 in an account may be attached unless all funds in the account are identified as exempt funds.

By the Civil Procedural Rules Committee

Stewart L. Kurtz

Chair