Title 2, Procedure in Civil Proceedings

(1) It is the policy of this state: (a) To afford protection to the debtor and the debtor’s family homestead through the homestead exemption; (b) To maintain dependent children from the financial resources of both parents of those children; (c) That the homestead exemption should…

A homestead described in ORS 18.395 consists, when not located in any town or city laid off into blocks and lots, of any quantity of land not exceeding 160 acres, and when located in any such town or city, of any quantity of land not exceeding one block. However, a homestead unde…

ORS 18.395 to 18.422 do not apply to construction liens for work, labor or material done or furnished exclusively for the improvement of the homestead property, to purchase money liens, to mortgages lawfully executed, or to the enforcement of a seller’s rights under a land sale c…

(1) At any time after the date of execution of an agreement to transfer the ownership of property in which a homestead exemption exists pursuant to ORS 18.395, the homestead owner or the owner’s transferee may give notice of intent to discharge the property from the judgment lien…

(1) Any holder of an interest in a judgment described in a notice sent pursuant to ORS 18.412 may file objections to the notice and a request for a hearing upon the application for an order made pursuant to ORS 18.422 (4). The objections and the request for a hearing must be file…

(1) If a deposit, as required by ORS 18.412 (1)(c), is made by a transferee of any property, the transferee may credit the amount of the deposit against the consideration owed by the transferee for the transfer. (2) The holder of any judgment described in ORS 18.412 (1) is entitl…

As used in ORS 18.600 to 18.850: (1) “Account” means an account at a financial institution, including a master account or subaccount, to which an electronic payment may be directly routed. (2) “Check” has the meaning given that term in ORS 73.0104. (3) “Creditor” means a person t…

For the purposes of ORS 18.600 to 18.850, garnishment is the procedure by which a creditor invokes the authority of a circuit court, justice court or municipal court to acquire garnishable property of a debtor that is in the possession, control or custody of a person other than t…

(1) Garnishment may be used to acquire garnishable property for application against the following debts: (a) A judgment requiring the payment of money that has been entered in the register of a circuit court or docketed in the docket of a justice, county or municipal court. (b) I…

(1) Except as otherwise provided by law, a writ of garnishment must be in substantially the form provided by ORS 18.830. Notation on the writ of additional information for purposes of identifying the debtor or the garnishable property believed to be held by the garnishee does not…

(1) A writ of garnishment is valid only if the writ is delivered not more than 60 days after the writ is issued. If the writ is delivered within the time specified in this section, the writ acts to garnish property for the period of time specified by ORS 18.625. (2) If the court …

(1) Only the following courts have authority over a writ of garnishment issued for the enforcement of a judgment: (a) The court in which the judgment to be enforced was originally entered or first registered; (b) The circuit court for the county in which a judgment debtor resides…

Except as specifically provided in ORS 18.600 to 18.850, a writ of garnishment delivered to a garnishee garnishes all personal property of the debtor, including but not limited to property in safe deposit boxes, stocks, wages, monetary obligations owing to the debtor that are the…

(1)(a) Notwithstanding ORS 18.615, the following are not garnishable property: (A) Equitable interests, except to the extent allowed under ORS chapter 130. (B) Property in the custody of the law. (C) Property in the possession of a conservator. (D) Property in the possession of a…

(1) Notwithstanding ORS 18.615, a garnishee may apply a setoff against amounts owing to the debtor under the terms of a land sale contract, under the terms of a promissory note or other evidence of indebtedness that is secured by a mortgage or trust deed, or under the terms of a …

(1) For any property other than wages, a writ of garnishment acts to garnish only garnishable property of the debtor that is in the garnishee’s possession, control or custody at the time the writ is delivered, including money that is owed but not yet due. (2) Except as provided i…

(1) Except as otherwise provided by law, the first writ of garnishment delivered to a garnishee has priority over all other writs delivered to the garnishee for the same debtor. A garnishee shall make payments or deliver property under a subsequently delivered writ only if there …

(1) A writ of garnishment may be issued only by a person specified in this section. (2) The court administrator may issue a writ pursuant to ORS 18.638 and 18.640 only: (a) For the enforcement of a judgment that requires the payment of money and that has been entered in the regis…

(1) Unless there are grounds for denying issuance of a writ of garnishment under ORS 18.640, the court administrator shall issue writs of garnishment upon proper application and payment of all required fees. A writ of garnishment issued by the court administrator must be signed b…

(1) The court administrator shall refuse to issue a writ of garnishment that is not substantially in the form required by ORS 18.830. (2) The court administrator shall refuse to issue a writ of garnishment that is incomplete or contains improper instructions. Grounds for refusing…

(1) The administrator, as defined in ORS 25.010, may issue writs of garnishment for the collection of past due support in the manner provided by this section. Except as otherwise specifically provided in ORS 18.600 to 18.850, the provisions of ORS 18.600 to 18.850 apply to all wr…

(1) All of the following items must be delivered to a garnishee: (a) The original writ of garnishment in substantially the form provided by ORS 18.830 or a copy of the writ. (b) A garnishee response form in substantially the form provided by ORS 18.835. (c) An instructions to gar…

(1) A writ of garnishment may be delivered to the garnishee personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested. Delivery is effective upon receipt of the writ by the garnishee. If the garnishee refuses to accept delivery by certified mail, the garnishor may attempt persona…

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a writ of garnishment may be delivered to any of the following persons: (a) If the property of the debtor is in the possession, control or custody of an individual, the writ may be delivered to the individual. If the individual is…

(1) Following delivery of a writ of garnishment to a garnishee, the person who delivered the writ must mail or deliver promptly the following documents to the debtor whose property is being garnished by the writ: (a) A copy of the writ of garnishment. (b) The original of the debt…

(1) Upon receiving a writ of garnishment, the garnishee shall determine whether a garnishee response is required under ORS 18.680 and 18.682. The garnishee has no duty to determine whether the garnishor, sheriff or other person has complied with the requirements of ORS 18.600 to …

(1) Notwithstanding any provision of ORS 18.600 to 18.850, a garnishee may pay to the garnishor or to the court administrator any money that the garnishee reasonably believes may have been garnished and may deliver to the sheriff in the manner provided by ORS 18.600 to 18.850 any…

(1) A garnishee has no duty to hold or deliver any property under a writ of garnishment if the property has been released by a court order or a release of garnishment has been delivered to the garnishee under ORS 18.770. (2) The duty of a garnishee to hold or deliver any property…

Garnishment does not impair the powers of a personal representative over estate property for the purposes of administration. If a personal representative receives a writ of garnishment, the personal representative must prepare and deliver a garnishee response in the manner provid…

(1) Except as specifically provided under ORS 18.682, a garnishee must prepare a garnishee response in substantially the form provided by ORS 18.835 and must deliver the response in the manner provided in ORS 18.690. (2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, a gar…

A garnishee has no duty to prepare and deliver a garnishee response if: (1) The writ of garnishment is not delivered to the garnishee within the time provided under ORS 18.609; (2) The garnishor fails to serve the garnishee with all items required under ORS 18.650; (3) The garnis…

A garnishee must note upon a garnishee response the date on which the garnishee received the writ of garnishment. The garnishee must also note upon the response the following information and deliver the response in the manner provided by ORS 18.690: (1) If the garnishee discovers…

In addition to the requirements of ORS 18.685, if a garnishee employs the debtor, the garnishee must so note on the garnishee response and indicate the pay period and the next payday for the debtor. [2001 c.249 §27]

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a garnishee who is required to deliver a garnishee response must mail or personally deliver: (a) The original of the response to the garnishor; (b) A copy of the response to the debtor; and (c) A copy of the response to th…

(1) The garnishee shall prepare a supplemental garnishee response and deliver the supplemental garnishee response to the garnishor and to the debtor, if either of the following occurs after the garnishee has delivered an initial garnishee response and before the garnishee deliver…

(1) A debtor may use a challenge to a garnishment to claim such exemptions from garnishment as are permitted by law. A challenge to a garnishment may also be used by a debtor: (a) To assert that the amount specified in the writ of garnishment as being subject to garnishment is gr…

(1) Without unreasonable delay, a court administrator who has received a challenge to a garnishment under ORS 18.700 shall provide written notice of the challenge as provided in this section. The notice must include a statement reflecting the consequences of failure of a garnisho…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, upon receiving notice of a challenge to a garnishment under ORS 18.702, a garnishor who is a creditor must send to the court specified in the writ of garnishment all amounts received by the garnishor that the debtor has cl…

(1) Upon receiving notice of a challenge to a garnishment under ORS 18.702, a garnishee who would otherwise be required to make a payment to the garnishor shall mail or deliver the payment, by cash or by check made payable to the court, to the court administrator. The garnishee m…

(1) A debtor’s challenge to a garnishment shall be adjudicated in a summary manner at a hearing before the court with authority over the writ of garnishment. The court administrator shall immediately set a hearing date and send notice of the hearing to the garnishor, garnishee an…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, if a challenge to a garnishment is allowed by the court, the court administrator shall mail to the debtor from any payments made to the court administrator all amounts determined to be exempt from or not subject to garnish…

(1) A court may impose sanctions against any person who files a challenge to a garnishment in bad faith. The sanctions a court may impose under this subsection are a penalty of not more than $100 and responsibility for attorney fees under ORS 20.105. (2) The court shall order a c…

(1) Notwithstanding ORS 18.700 (2), if a writ of garnishment is issued pursuant to ORS 25.083, the debtor may: (a) Challenge the enforcement of the past due support in the appropriate tribunal of the state upon whose request the writ was issued as indicated in the writ of garnish…

Any person other than a debtor who has an interest in any garnished property or in any part of the garnished property may assert that interest by filing with the court administrator for the court specified in the writ of garnishment an application in substantially the form set fo…

(1) Unless the court has directed otherwise or the garnishee has received notice that a challenge to the garnishment has been filed by the debtor, a garnishee shall make payments of money under a writ of garnishment to the garnishor. (2) Except as provided in ORS 18.645 and 18.74…

(1) If the property garnished by a writ of garnishment is money that is owed to the debtor and that is not due to be paid at the time the writ is delivered but that will become due within 45 days after the delivery date, the garnishee is not required to deliver the money until pa…