The Attachment of Debts Act

The Attachment of Debts Act governs garnishment proceedings. A garnishment is a process by which money due to a debtor by another person (the "garnishee") is paid into court and applied to the debt owed by the debtor.

The Act does not apply to a debt due under a maintenance order, as defined in The Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act, 1997, as that Act contains its own garnishment process. In addition, debts due to a municipality can not be garnished.
Wages can be garnished only after the creditor has obtained a judgment, but any other debt may be garnished before judgment. Although the wages of employees of the provincial government may be garnished, the Act requires that a notice of intention to garnish be served on the employer at least 30 days before the garnishee summons is issued.

To obtain a garnishee summons, the creditor must file an affidavit with the Court of Queen's Bench.

The local registrar of the court issues a garnishee summons that must be served on the garnishee. Service of the garnishee summons on the garnishee binds any debts due, or that will become due, from the garnishee to the debtor, and all wages or salary that become due or payable at any time within five days of the date of service. A copy of the garnishee summons must be served on the debtor. The garnishee is then required to pay the money into court.

The debtor, garnishee, or any other person claiming to have an interest in the money may apply to the Court to set aside a garnishee summons.

If the garnishee disputes his or her liability, or claims that the debt is not attachable, the garnishee may instead file an objection with the Court. The Act provides a procedure for resolving the issue.

If the garnishee does not pay the money into Court and does not dispute the debt due from him or her to the debtor, the Court may, on the application of the creditor, order that a judgment be entered against the garnishee. The creditor may then recover the debt from the debtor or the garnishee.

A portion of a person's wages are exempt from attachment. Each person is entitled to an exemption of $500 a month for themselves and $100 a month for each dependant they support.

If the amount of the exemption to which the debtor is entitled is paid into Court by  the garnishee, the debtor may file an application for payment out of that money with  the Local Registrar of the Court of Queen's Bench.