Can You Garnish a Bank Account in Delaware After a Judgment?

One of the most common assumptions judgment creditors make in Delaware is that they can garnish the debtor's bank account the same way they'd garnish wages. They can't — and this statutory surprise catches nearly everyone off guard.

The Bank Attachment Exemption: 10 Del. C. § 3502(b)

Under Delaware law, banks, trust companies, savings institutions, and loan associations operating in the state are exempt from the general attachment and garnishment statutes. This means you cannot serve a standard garnishment writ (Form 17) on a Delaware bank and expect it to freeze or turn over the debtor's checking or savings account.

This is not a quirk or an oversight. It's a deliberate statutory carve-out in 10 Del. C. § 3502(b). Delaware — as the state where most U.S. banks are chartered — has long protected banking institutions from the burden of responding to every creditor's attachment order against their customers' accounts.

The only exception: if the bank is the debtor's employer, a wage garnishment served on the bank for the debtor's earned wages is valid. But that's a wage attachment, not an account levy.

What Generic Legal Advice Gets Wrong

Plenty of national legal websites and self-help guides tell you to "garnish the debtor's bank account" as a standard collection step. In most states, that's valid advice. In Delaware, it's wrong. If you file a Form 17 property garnishment and name a Delaware banking institution as the garnishee for account funds, the bank has a statutory basis to refuse compliance.

Alternatives That Actually Work

Non-bank third-party garnishment: Form 17's property garnishment process still works against non-banking entities that hold money belonging to the debtor. If the debtor is owed contract payments, trade receivables, or other debts from a non-bank business, you can serve Form 17 on that entity and reach those funds.

Out-of-state domestication: If the debtor holds bank accounts in another state where local law permits bank account attachment, you can domesticate the Delaware judgment in that state and pursue a bank levy there. This is the primary workaround for reaching liquid assets held at a banking institution, though it requires additional filing fees and time.

Wage garnishment: If the debtor is employed, garnishing 15% of disposable earnings through their employer is usually more practical than attempting to reach bank balances.

Real estate lien: If the debtor owns property, a judgment lien through the Superior Court Prothonotary encumbers the property for 10 years. You can't reach the debtor's cash directly, but you can ensure you're paid when the property is sold.

Credit Unions and Other Financial Institutions

The statute names banks, trust companies, savings institutions, and loan associations. Before treating a particular credit union or other institution as a non-bank garnishee, confirm whether it falls within one of those listed categories.

The Practical Impact

For many judgment creditors, the bank attachment exemption means that the debtor's most liquid assets — the money sitting in a checking account — are out of reach through Delaware courts. That makes wage garnishment the primary collection tool for employed debtors and property levies or real estate liens the fallback for everyone else.

The Delaware Judgment Collection Guide covers the bank exemption in detail and includes the full decision flowchart for choosing the right enforcement tool when bank attachment isn't available.

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