The Silence of the Lambs – Is a Judgment Debtor not meant
to be heard in Garnishee Proceedings?
Of all judgment enforcement procedures available under civil
law, garnishee proceedings is, arguably, the most straightforward
and less stressful or so it would seem. It essentially involves
attaching monies belonging to a judgment debtor in the possession
of a 3rd party to satisfy a judgment debt that remains unsettled by
the judgment debtor.
That seems pretty straightforward, right? Not quite. Virtually
every time a garnishee matter comes up in court, scenarios arise
that just complicate an otherwise straightforward procedure.
One time, in a garnishee proceeding before a Magistrates'
Court, the Presiding Magistrate, in his ruling refusing an ex parte
application for a garnishee order nisi, ordered that the other
parties on record be put on notice.
