garnishment
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Related to garnishment: garnishment order
garnishment,
in law, means of requiring a third party who holds a debtdebt,obligation in services, money, or goods owed by one party, the debtor, to another, the creditor. When contested, debts are collected by a civil suit upon which the judge renders a judgment, and an execution is levied on the debtor's property.
..... Click the link for more information. (including wages) due a defendant to retain the property temporarily. The garnishment consists of a warning, in the form of a judgmentjudgment,
decision of a court of law respecting the issues before it. The term ordinarily is not applied to the decree (order) of courts of equity. The outstanding characteristic of a legal judgment, in contrast to an equitable decree, is its finality and fixity; thus, except
..... Click the link for more information. , to the third party, called the garnishee, not to deliver the goods or money due to the defendant, but to hold them in trusttrust,
in law, arrangement whereby property legally owned by one person is administered for the benefit of another. Three parties are ordinarily needed for the relation to arise: the settlor, who bequeaths or deeds the property for another's benefit; the trustee, in whose hands
..... Click the link for more information. pending the outcome of the plaintiff's suit. This provisional remedy guarantees the plaintiff at least some recovery if he wins the case.