Georgia § 18-4-11 - Garnishee answer; property located in area with restricted access; physical filings allowed.

§ 18-4-11. Garnishee answer; property located in area with restricted access; physical filings allowed.

Within the time prescribed by Code Section 18-4-10, the garnishee shall file a garnishee answer. Concurrently with the garnishee's answer, the garnishee shall send or deliver to the court the money or other property admitted in the garnishee's answer to be subject to garnishment except, when the conditions of subsection (d) of Code Section 18-4-5 have been satisfied, the specified amounts of money in each answer shall, instead, be paid directly to the plaintiff. If in responding to the summons of garnishment the garnishee shall state that the property of the defendant includes property in a safe-deposit box or similar property, the garnishee shall respond to the court issuing the summons of garnishment as to the existence of such safe-deposit box and shall restrict access to any contents of such safe-deposit box until the earlier of: Further order of such court regarding the disposition of the contents of such safe-deposit box; or The elapsing of 120 days from the date of filing of the garnishee answer unless such time has been extended by the court. If the garnishee has been served with a summons in more than one garnishment case involving the same defendant, the garnishee shall state in each garnishee answer that the money or other property is being paid or delivered to a specifically named court subject to the demands of other cases and shall give the numbers of all such cases in each garnishee answer. If the garnishee is unable to respond with the specific information required by this Code section, the garnishee's inability shall be stated in the garnishee's answer, together with all the facts plainly, fully, and distinctly set forth, so as to enable the court to give judgment thereon. The form for a garnishee answer is set forth in Code Section 18-4-84, and the form for a financial institution garnishee answer is set forth in Code Section 18-4-85. A garnishee may elect to file, and a court shall not reject, a physical answer or answers of garnishment even in courts otherwise subject to electronic filing requirements. (Code 1981, § 18-4-11 , enacted by Ga. L. 2016, p. 8, § 1/SB 255; Ga. L. 2020, p. 691, § 9/SB 443.) The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, rewrote subsection (a), which read: "Within the time prescribed by Code Section 18-4-10, the garnishee shall file a garnishee answer. Along with the garnishee's answer, the garnishee shall pay or deliver to the court the money or other property admitted in the garnishee's answer to be subject to garnishment." and added subsection (f).