(a) Before judgment. When any goods or effects of a debtor are in the possession of an attorney, agent, factor, or trustee (in this chapter jointly and severally included in the term “garnishee”), or when any debt is due from any person (also included under the term “garnishee”) to a debtor, or when any person has in the person’s possession for safekeeping any moneys of the debtor, any creditor may bring the creditor’s action against the debtor and in the creditor’s petition for process, or by amendments of the complaint at any time before judgment, after meeting the requirements of section garnishment; procedures” class=”unlinked-ref” datatype=”S” sessionyear=”2022″ statecd=”HI”>652-1.5, may request the court to insert in the process a direction that service of a true and attested copy thereof be made upon the garnishee[,] in any of the manners described under section 652-2.5[,] and to summon the garnishee to appear personally upon the day or term appointed in the process for hearing the action or at any other time appointed by the court and then and there on oath to answer all of the following inquiries, herein inclusively referred to as the “disclosure”:

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 652-1

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
  • month: means a calendar month; and the word "year" a calendar year. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-20
  • Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
  • oath: includes a solemn affirmation. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-21
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(1) Whether at the time the copy was served on the garnishee, the garnishee had any of the goods or effects of the defendant in the garnishee’s hands and, if so, the nature, amount and value thereof;
(2) Whether at the time of service, the garnishee was indebted to the defendant and, if so, the nature and amount of the debt; or
(3) Whether at the time of service on the garnishee, the garnishee had any moneys of the defendant in the garnishee’s possession for safekeeping and, if so, the amount thereof.

The summons and direction shall be signed and issued as is usual in other civil process after proceedings under section 652-1.5. The summons shall specify an amount or value of money, debt or goods or effects to be garnished which shall not exceed one hundred twenty per cent of the amount of the plaintiff‘s claim, including cost and interest. The summons shall be served upon the garnishee in any of the manners described under section 652-2.5. From the time of service, the garnishee shall secure in the garnishee’s hands to pay such judgment as the plaintiff shall recover in the action, such of the following property or choses then in the garnishee’s possession or owing to the defendant as shall equal the amount or value specified in the summons, except what the court has expressly found to be exempt from execution pursuant to section 652-1.5(d) or (f):

(1) The goods and effects of the defendant then in the hands of the garnishee;
(2) Any debt then owing from the garnishee to the defendant;
(3) Moneys of the defendant then in the possession of the garnishee for safekeeping; and
(4) A portion of the defendant’s wages, salary, stipend, commissions, annuity, or net income under a trust (in this chapter included under the term “wages”), remaining after the deduction of any amounts required by law to be withheld by withholding the amount to be determined as follows: five per cent of the first $100 per month, ten per cent of the next $100 per month, and twenty per cent of all sums in excess of $200 per month, or an equivalent portion of the above amount per week, whether then or thereafter to become owing.

The property or choses described in (1), (2), (3), and (4) of this paragraph are included under the term “garnishee fund” (in this chapter). The cumulative total value of the fund, in advance of final judgment, shall be no more than the amount specified in the summons.

Except as provided in section 652-1.5, the summons and direction shall be sufficient notice to the defendant to enable the plaintiff to bring the plaintiff’s action to trial, unless the defendant is an inhabitant of the State or has some time resided therein, in which case a like copy shall be served personally upon the defendant or left at the defendant’s last and usual place of abode.

The court shall order the garnishee fund released at the hearing provided in section 652-1.5 or thereafter upon the filing by the debtor with the court of a bond or bonds issued by a surety or sureties licensed to do business as such in the State, in an amount sufficient to pay the claim of the creditor together with costs and interest, and conditioned upon judgment rendered in favor of the creditor and to the extent the claim or any portion thereof, together with costs and interests, if any, is awarded.

(b) After judgment. Wages may be garnisheed after judgment at the rate specified in subsection (a). In any action brought by a creditor against a debtor, the creditor may, after judgment rendered in the creditor’s favor, request the court to summon any garnishee to appear personally, upon a day appointed in the summons for hearing the cause as against the garnishee, and make full disclosure; or in any action brought in the district court by a creditor against a debtor, the creditor may, ten days after judgment rendered in the creditor’s favor, file a certified copy of the judgment and the creditor’s affidavit as to the amount due and unpaid on account of the judgment with the employer of the judgment debtor and the employer shall thereupon either file a disclosure within one week or shall withhold from the wages of the judgment debtor the amounts as provided herein and pay the same to the judgment creditor.

Alias summons shall also be issued and served upon the garnishee in any of the manners described under section 652-2.5. At the time of service, any and every element of any garnishee fund then in the hands of the garnishee shall be there secured to pay the judgment already recovered and may not otherwise be disposed of by the garnishee.

(c) Return by garnishee. Any garnishee summoned, whether before or after judgment, may file in the court issuing the summons, on or before the return day thereof, a return under oath containing a full disclosure. A copy of the return shall be served on the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney on or before the return day. The filing of the return shall be deemed prima facie a compliance with the summons; provided that either party to the action may, upon written notice served upon the garnishee, require the garnishee to appear and be examined under oath as to such disclosure or as to the garnishee’s liability as garnishee.
(d) Garnishee fund excessive. At any time after service of summons, the court, upon the consent of the plaintiff or upon motion of the defendant or of the garnishee and notice to the plaintiff, shall determine whether the garnishee fund is excessive in amount in comparison with subsection (a) of this section or with the judgment rendered and may thereupon release the remainder thereof from being so secured.
(e) If any party named in the process as garnishee is a corporation, firm, or person having places of business in more than one judicial circuit or district in the State, the service of process upon the garnishee upon service in any one circuit or district shall operate to secure the garnishee fund in each place of business in the State.
(f) No employer shall be liable to anyone for deductions and payments to judgment creditors from wages of judgment debtor employees, as herein provided, when the employer in good faith believes, or has reason to believe, that service of the certified copy of the judgment and affidavit of the judgment creditor as provided in [subsection] (b) herein affects the same.

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