How to Garnish a Bank Account in Ontario Small Claims Court

Bank Garnishment Captures Funds in One Shot

Unlike wage garnishment, which takes 20% of each paycheque over months, a bank garnishment captures funds held in the debtor's account at the moment the bank is served. If the debtor has $8,000 sitting in their chequing account and you serve a garnishment for a $10,000 judgment, the bank may hold up to $8,000 and must pay it to the court clerk within 10 days after service (or 10 days after the debt becomes payable, whichever is later).

That makes bank garnishment potentially faster than wage garnishment — one successful service can recover a large chunk of the judgment in a single garnishment. The clerk distributes the first payment 30 days after receiving it. The flip side: if the account is nearly empty when you serve, you get nearly nothing, and you've spent $144 in court fees.

Timing matters. Serve the garnishment right after payday, and the account is likely to have the most money in it.

The Filing Process

The filing is the same as wage garnishment — Form 20P (Affidavit for Enforcement Request) and Form 20E (Notice of Garnishment) — but the target is a financial institution instead of an employer.

1. File Form 20P with the court, calculating the total owing including post-judgment interest
2. Request Form 20E ($144 court fee)
3. Serve Form 20E on the financial institution first
4. Serve Form 20E on the debtor within 5 days of serving the bank
5. File Form 8A (Affidavit of Service) proving service on both

The critical detail: you must serve the correct location. Rule 20.08(6.2) requires a notice of garnishment against a financial institution to be served at the branch where the debt is payable. For major Canadian banks (TD, RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC), confirm which branch handles the account; do not assume service at a central processing centre or head office is sufficient.

Check the bank's garnishment service address. Major banks publish their legal department or garnishment processing centre addresses. Getting this wrong is one of the most common reasons bank garnishments fail in Ontario.

No Automatic 80% Exemption for Bank Accounts

Here's the key difference from wages: ordinary commercial bank account balances do not carry the Wages Act's 80% exemption. The financial institution must remit funds up to the full judgment amount.

However, if the bank account contains protected funds — Ontario Works, ODSP, CPP, OAS, or other exempt income that was recently deposited — the debtor can request a Garnishment Hearing (Form 20Q) to trace and release the protected portion. The bank may initially freeze the entire balance, and the hearing sorts out what's protected.

Joint Accounts and the 50% Presumption

This is where bank garnishment gets complicated. If the debtor holds a joint account with someone else — a spouse, a business partner — Rule 20.08(2) creates a statutory presumption: 50% of the account balance is deemed payable to the debtor and subject to garnishment.

The co-owner or the creditor can request a Garnishment Hearing within 30 days to argue that the actual split is different. If the co-owner can prove they deposited 90% of the funds, they may get 90% released. If you can prove the debtor deposited most of the money, you may get more than 50%.

You must also serve a Notice to Co-owner of Debt (Form 20G) on the joint account holder to notify them that their shared account is being garnished. Failing to serve Form 20G is a procedural error that can derail the garnishment.

What the Bank Must Do After Service

The financial institution must pay any debt it owes to the debtor to the clerk within 10 days after service or 10 days after the debt becomes payable, whichever is later. It must file a Garnishee's Statement (Form 20F) within 10 days only if it wishes to dispute the garnishment or pays less than the amount shown in the notice, including because the debt is jointly owned. If the statement indicates that the debt is jointly owned, the financial institution must serve copies on the creditor and debtor.

If the bank admits a balance exists, it freezes and remits the garnishable amount to the court clerk. The clerk holds the funds for 30 days (to allow for any disputes or garnishment hearings), then distributes them to you.

If the bank fails to pay an amount it owes and does not file a required Form 20F, you can request an order against it under Rule 20.08(17), making the bank liable for the amount shown in the notice. Banks rarely let it get to this point.

When Bank Garnishment Makes Sense

Bank garnishment works best when:

• You know the debtor's specific bank and account details (discovered through an examination hearing)
• The debtor is self-employed or receives irregular income that accumulates in a bank account
• You can time the service to coincide with a known deposit (payroll, client payment, tax refund)
• The debtor keeps significant balances — contractors waiting for project payments, businesses with operating accounts

It works poorly when the debtor lives paycheque to paycheque (the account will be near-empty most of the time) or when you don't know which bank the debtor uses (you're guessing, and each wrong guess costs $144 in court fees).

This is why the examination hearing (Form 20H, $68) should come first — the debtor must disclose their bank accounts under oath, giving you the exact information you need to make a garnishment effective.

For step-by-step bank garnishment instructions, including the correct service addresses for major Canadian banks, see our Ontario judgment enforcement guide.

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