Hawaii Procedural Requirements for Wage Garnishment

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Hawaii Procedural Requirements

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. Alias summons shall also be issued and served upon the garnishee in any of the manners described under _ 6522.5 [1].

At the time of service, any and every element of any garnishee fund [2] 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. 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 Statutee, the service of process upon the garnishee shall operate only to secure the garnishee fund within the circuit, circuits, or district in which the process is served. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 6521.

In all cases in which the garnishee is summoned after judgment, the garnishee fund, or such part thereof as may be sufficient for that purpose, shall be liable to pay the judgment. The plaintiff on praying out execution shall be entitled to have included in the execution an order directing the officer serving the same to make demand of the garnishee for the debt or wages secured in his hands or the moneys held by him for safekeeping. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 6522.

Whenever any person summoned as a garnishee may be desirous of so doing, the person may apply to the district judge or any judge of the court from which the summons may have issued, and the judge having caused reasonable notice to be given to the plaintiff in the action, shall proceed to take the deposition of the person thus summoned, and make such orders as may be proper in the premises, at any time previous to the date appointed for hearing the cause, and the person summoned as garnishee, shall be taken to have obeyed the summons. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 6529.

Section 6529 shall be printed or written conspicuously on every summons issuing out of any court of the Statutee which is intended to be served on any alleged attorney, factor, trustee, or debtor of a defendant in any action. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 65211. Every garnishee shall be allowed $3 in cases in the circuit courts and $1 in cases in the district courts for filing a return on or before the return day or for appearance on the return day, as the case may be, and, in special or exceptional cases in which the court may deem proper, such further sums as the court may deem reasonable for counsel fees and other necessary expenses. The allowance for return or appearance of the garnishee shall be deposited with the clerk of the court in order to hold for the garnishee and shall be paid to the garnishee when the garnishee makes the garnishee's return and files the same in court or when the garnishee makes the garnishee's appearance in court.

The garnishee, if discharged, may collect from the plaintiff on execution any unpaid allowances or, if held, may retain the same out of goods, effects, or credits of the defendant in the garnishee's hands. As between the plaintiff and defendant, if the garnishee is discharged, the costs of the garnishment proceeding, including $1 for each copy of summons and $1 for each service of summons, shall be taxed against the plaintiff; but, if the garnishee is held, such costs and all such allowances as have been paid by the plaintiff to the garnishee shall be taxed against the defendant. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 65213.


Interest Rate at which Judgments Accrue

At the rate of ten percent a year, and no more, shall be allowed on any judgment recovered before any court in the Statutee, in any civil suit. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 4782. Applicable Forms 1 Service of the copy upon the garnishee may be made in any of the manners here described, namely:

(1) If the garnishee lives or has an office in the district in which process is issued, by the serving officer's handing a copy to the garnishee in person or leaving it in the garnishee's office in charge of some deputy or clerk or other employees or attache of the office; or

(2) If the garnishee lives in a district other than that in which the process was issued, by the serving officer's handing a copy to the garnishee in person, or by mailing it in a sealed envelope, registered or certified, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, and addressed to the garnishee's last known home or business address. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 6522.5. 2

The term "garnishee fund" includes the goods and effects of the defendant then in the hands of the garnishee, any debt then owing from the garnishee to the defendant, moneys of the defendant then in the possession of the garnishee for safekeeping, and a portion of the defendant's wages, salary, stipend, commissions, annuity, or net income under a trust, remaining after the deduction of any amounts required by law. Haw. Rev. Statute. _ 6521.