Plain English Breakdown
The official text mentions the bill was enacted and chaptered in October 2025, but leaves the effective date blank.
Changes to Rules for Collecting Court Judgments
This law updates how people verify addresses and file documents when collecting money owed by court orders, changes rules about sending wage withholding notices to employees, allows late filing of exemption claims in some cases, adds reporting details for employers, and lets creditors ask courts to restore released liens.
What This Bill Does
- Allows mailing a legal document via first-class mail, certified mail, or other U.S. Postal Service methods with a return receipt as proof that an address is correct.
- Extends the deadline to file an address verification form with the court from 5 business days to 10 business days after delivering it to the levying officer.
- Allows the address verification declaration to be signed by someone who knows about the process, such as a records custodian or the creditor's attorney.
- Removes the rule requiring creditors to send wage withholding orders directly to employees whose pay is being taken.
- Permits people claiming their property should not be seized to file a claim after the standard 20-day deadline if the debt is for personal reasons as defined by law.
- Allows levying officers to release funds to the creditor at any time after the 20-day period ends, even if a late exemption claim might come later.
- Clarifies that filing an ex parte application instead of a motion does not count as appearing in court for jurisdiction purposes.
- Requires employers to report exactly when they gave notice of wage garnishment to an employee, who provided it, and how it was delivered.
- Allows creditors to ask courts to restore a lien on property that was previously released.
Who It Names or Affects
- Judgment creditors trying to collect money owed by court order
- Judgment debtors whose wages or property may be taken to pay debts
- Employers who must withhold employee earnings for wage garnishment
- Levying officers and courts that handle enforcement documents
Terms To Know
- Judgment creditor
- The person or company owed money by a court order.
- Levying officer
- A government official who takes property to pay off a debt.
- Claim of exemption
- A request from the debtor saying certain property cannot be taken by law.
- Judgment lien
- A legal claim on a person's real or personal property to secure payment of a debt.
Limits and Unknowns
- The official text does not state the specific date this law becomes effective.
- Late filing for exemption claims is allowed only for debts defined as 'personal debt' by other laws, but this summary does not list all examples of such debts.